PACE President Pedro Agramunt. (Council of Europe.) TBILISI, DFWatch–The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will discuss a proposal to dismiss its chairperson in early October after a motion was tabled on Friday. The motion to dismiss PACE President Pedro Agramunt was backed by 158 out of the 636 member […]
Gianni Buquicchio. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–A Council of Europe official is in despair over the way Georgian leaders have handled the drafting of a new constitution, calling the debacle a ‘crisis’. “I’m disappointed and become more and more disappointed for every hour,” head of the Venice Commission Gianni Buquicchio […]
President Giorgi Margvelashvili. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgians will go to the polls to elect new mayors and local governments in the end of October, President Giorgi Margvelashvili announced on Tuesday. The local elections will be held in the ‘end the third week of October’, the president said, […]
Zaal Udumashvili launched his bid for the mayor post on Monday. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s main opposition party is hoping that a popular news anchor will bring it back to power in the politically important position of Tbilisi mayor. The nomination of Zaal Udumashvili, host of the main news program on Georgia’s largest TV channel Rustavi 2, […]
TBILISI, DFWatch–President Giorgi Margvelashvili rejects a draft new Constitution presented by the ruling GD government because it is not based on a consensus. “The entire Georgian society believes we need a consensus document, but Georgian Dream […]
Kamran Mahmudov (right) pictured next to his Azerbaijani colleague Afgan Mukhtarli, whose abduction in Tbilisi in May caused a public outcry in Georgia. (Facebook.) TBILISI, DFWatch–A journalist at Radio Free Europe’s now closed office in Azerbaijan was detained on Thursday and told that he cannot leave the country. Kamran Mahmudov, a former producer for RFE/RL, was detained at the border on the way into Georgia and taken to the […]
Helmut Kohl (wikiwand.com) Helmut Kohl, in hand with Edward Shevardnadze, Michael Gorbachev, and George H.W. Bush, convinced Europe to rise to the occasion and believe that history can progress, that unity and national sovereignty can go hand-in-hand, and that conflict is not inevitable when Germany is united. […]
Speaker of Parliament Irakli Kobakhidze. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s ruling party will defer until 2024 to fulfill one of its main promises: to overhaul an election system that has favored the incumbent force for decades. The system of single-mandate districts, so-called majoritarians, was supposed to have been phased out […]
TBILISI, DFWatch–The Georgian parliament decided Friday to declare a temporary ban on the sale of agricultural lands to aliens until a constitutional ban comes into force. 87 MPs voted in favor of the amendment to the Law on Ownership of Agricultural Land, amid fierce pressure […]
TBILISI, DFWatch–The EU Parliament calls on Georgia to thoroughly investigate the disappearance of an Azerbaijani investigative journalist in the center of Tbilisi two weeks ago. MEPs further urge Baku to immediately release Afgan Mukhtarli and drop all charges. […]
Mishka Mgaloblishvili. (Rustavi 2.) TBILISI, DFWatch–The Appeals Court in Georgia released on bail two rappers whose controversial arrest on drug charges may have hastened a review of the drug policy. The court released the two on bail Monday after their arrest June 10 for possession of between 1.5 and 2.3 grams […]
TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s prime minister promised to soften the country’s drug policy Saturday evening as a large crowd gathered in the capital Tbilisi in support of two detained rappers who claim drugs were planted on them by police as revenge for a music video. […]
TBILISI, DFWatch–Strong rain with hail hit Tbilisi and some other parts of Georgia on Saturday, causing damage to cars, infrastructure and crops. As some Tbilisians feared a repeat of the tragic flooding in 2015, the police blocked Vake-Saburtalo Road in Tbilisi following advice […]
Elman Nasirov. TBILISI, DFWatch–A member of Azerbaijan’s parliament claims Georgian and Azerbaijani intelligence agencies collaborated on abducting a journalist in Tbilisi and send him back to Baku to face jail. Elman Nasirov, a member of Azerbaijan’s national assembly Mili Meclis, […]
TBILISI, DFWatch–The arrest of two rappers for drug crime in Georgia on Friday adds fuel to criticism against the country’s law enforcement agencies, which are already under fire for suspected involvement in the mysterious abduction out of the country of an Azerbaijani journalist eleven days ago. […]
Nika Gvaramia. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Rustavi 2 director general Nika Gvaramia resigns. Gvaramia’s resignation was reported yesterday by several Georgian media outlets and confirmed Friday morning by one of the TV company’s editors who spoke to DFWatch on condition of anonymity. […]
TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s ruling party has decided to ban the sale of agricultural land to foreigners by adding a clause to the Constitution. PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili announced Thursday that a passage will be added to the Constitution to ban the sale of land […]
WBO world middleweight champion Avtandil Kurtsidze. TBILISI, DFWatch–A Georgian world boxing champion has been arrested in the United States along with a martial arts practicioner, also from Georgia, for alleged ties to a Russian crime syndicate. Avtandil Khurtsidze, who currently holds a World Boxing Organization middleweight title, […]
TBILISI, DFWatch–An earthquake of magnitude 5.1 rattled Georgia late Wednesday evening with only minor damage reported in one village. The quake occurred at about 10.30pm with the epicenter near Dedoplistskaro in Kakheti, 100km east of Tbilisi, […]
Zaal Udumashvili speaking at a demonstration in Tbilisi in February, 2017. (Rustavi 2.) Independent candidate Aleksandre Elisashvili may also have a chance. (DFWatch.) TBILISI, DFWatch–A news anchor on Georgia’s biggest private television channel has confirmed that he may run for mayor of Tbilisi as a candidate for the biggest opposition party UNM. The entry of Zaal Udumashvili, host of the evening news on Rustavi 2, […]
(Liberali.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgian journalists covered their heads with plastic sacks during a meeting of the parliament’s human rights committee on Tuesday to protest the abduction of an Azerbaijani investigative journalist in Tbilisi. But the committee did not discuss […]
Kakhi Kaladze. (Ministry of Energy.) TBILISI, DFWatch–The ruling party in Georgia is expected to name Energy Minister Kakhi Kaladze as its candidate for new Tbilisi mayor, to replace the incumbent Davit Narmania. Georgian Dream MPs and members of government met on Sunday behind closed […]
TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s president and prime minister have expressed their condolences to the families of victims of the recent London terror attack, which left seven dead and over 48 injured. “I am deeply outraged over the brutal terrorist incidents in #London. […]
Brzezinski at the Munich Security Conference, 2014. (www.securityconference.de) To anyone close enough to speak with him in first name terms, he was Zbig. A typical American habit of kerbingconsonant-rich names that echo history to sound short, familiar, and approachable. […]
TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s head of government Thursday denied that his country’s authorities had been involved when a journalist was abducted three days earlier in Tbilisi and delivered into the hands of Azerbaijani police for criminal prosecution. […]
