Sunday, December 21, 2025

One of 17 detained Saudi princes is honorary citizen of Georgia

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and PM Irakli Garibashvili
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal meets with PM Irakli Garibashvili in Tbilisi, 2015. (Facebook.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–One member the Saudi royal family who was arrested on Saturday night holds a title of honorary citizen of Georgia.

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal was arrested along with 16 other princes, four ministers and tens of other former or current high ranking officials.

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South Ossetia plans to impose customs tax at checkpoint near Akhalgori

Razdakhan border crossing
(cominf.org)

TBILISI, DFWatch–Breakaway South Ossetia plans to charge customs tax for goods to the region’s lower east corner, to the detriment of the Georgians living there who depend on the trade.

A customs point will be opened at the Razdakhan checkpoint near Akhalgori,

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Abkhazia calls Georgian PM’s language initiative ‘hypocritical’

PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili
PM Kvirikashvili’s initiative to protect Abkhaz language was met with a cold shoulder by the separatists in Sokhumi. (Interpressnews.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–An initiative by the prime minister of Georgia to protect the Abkhaz language has been rejected by Abkhazia’s de facto authorities as ‘Georgian populism’, ‘hypocrisy’ and ‘cynicism’.

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Georgians in Abkhazia cancel harvest, claim pesticide withheld by regime

Gali, Abkhazia
(Photo by Dominik K. Cagara.)

GALI, DFWatch–Georgian hazelnut farmer in Abkhazia canceled this year’s harvest after de facto authorities failed to hand out vital pesticide to battle a bug.

The bug has already ravaged farms in Western Georgia but the damage is even worse in the breakaway region

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President Margvelashvili questions the benefits of total GD victory

President Giorgi MargvelashviliTBILISI, DFWatch–The will of the Georgian people was expressed in the local elections, but it is questionable whether a total win by one political party will be beneficial for the country, President Giorgi Margvelashvili said in his first comments on the local elections, which were held on Saturday.

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Georgia denies South Ossetia's claim to have opened representation in Catalonia

Dimitri Medoev (center) meets with members of Italy’s “Northern League”, Eliseo Bertolasi and Palmarino Zoccatelli. (South Ossetia foreign ministry.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–The Georgian breakaway region claims it opened an official representation in Catalonia during a visit by its unofficial foreign minister. Georgia rejects the claim and says the visit was purely private in nature.

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