Georgia

Warnock, Walker: Starkly different choices for Black voters

ATLANTA (AP) — Raphael Warnock is the first Black U.S. senator from Georgia, having broken the color barrier for one of the original 13 states with a special election victory in January 2021, almost 245 years after the nation’s founding.

Now he hopes to add another distinction by winning a full six-year term in a Tuesday runoff. Standing in the way is another Black man, Republican challenger Herschel Walker.

Russian opposition calls for protests against Putin's 'criminal war'

TBILISI, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Russia's opposition on Wednesday called for protests against President Vladimir Putin after he ordered the mobilisation of 300,000 reservists for what Kremlin foe Alexei Navalny said was a failing criminal war.

Putin on Wednesday ordered Russia's first mobilisation since World War Two and backed a plan to annex swathes of Ukraine, warning the West he was not bluffing when he said he would be ready to use nuclear weapons to defend Russia. 

Putin calls for calm amid deadliest Azerbaijan-Armenia clashes since 2020

TBILISI, Sept 13 (Reuters) - At least 49 Armenian soldiers and 50 Azeri military personnel were killed on Tuesday in the deadliest fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia since a 2020 war, each side said, spurring Russian President Vladimir Putin to appeal for calm.

Armenia and Azerbaijan, neighbouring former Soviet republics, blamed each other for the renewed fighting which began overnight at several points along their border, raising fears of another major armed conflict in the area of the old Soviet Union while Russia's military is tied up in Ukraine.

Georgia does not join war against Russia and welcomes tourists — ruling party

TBILISI, August 11. /TASS/: Georgian authorities are not planning to join a war against Russia and open a second front, they also welcome Russian tourists, the secretary general of the ruling Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia party, Kakha Kaladze, told journalists on Thursday.

"We have repeatedly made statements that Georgia is not launching a war (against Russia - TASS) and it does not join a war. There won’t be a second front in Georgia, Georgia does not join the sanctions. And this is very important. We welcome the tourists," said Kaladze, who is also Mayor of Tbilisi.

Georgia to fulfill EC recommendations to receive EU candidate status, says Prime Minister

TBILISI, June 20. /TASS/: Georgia will start working on the implementation of the European Commission (EC) recommendations, which were given to the republic in order to obtain candidate status in the European Union, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said at a government meeting on Monday.

Alan Gagloyev winning runoff presidential polls in South Ossetia — preliminary results

TSKHINVAL, May 8. /TASS/: Alan Gagloyev, leader of the Nykhas political party and candidate for South Ossetia’s president, is leading Sunday’s runoff polls with 59.21% of the vote, the country’s Central Election Commission (CEC) said after counting 18% of protocols from district election commissions.

Jailed former president of ex-Soviet Georgia faces court

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — The imprisoned former president of ex-Soviet republic Georgia appeared in court Monday on charges of abuse of office, proceedings that triggered scuffles between his supporters and police.

Mikheil Saakashvili, who served as president in 2008-13, left Georgia for Ukraine after the end of his second term and was later convicted in absentia of abuse of power and sentenced to six years in prison. He was arrested on Oct. 1 after returning to Georgia to try to bolster opposition forces before nationwide municipal elections.

Georgian ex-president threatened and abused in prison hospital - rights official

TBILISI, Nov 9 (Reuters) - The prison hospital treating Georgia's hunger-striking former president Mikheil Saakashvili lacks proper medical equipment and fellow inmates there have threatened and abused him, a Georgian human rights official said on Tuesday.

"Particular attention should be paid to the environment in which Mikheil Saakashvili is placed, which grossly violates human rights," Public Defender Nino Lomjaria, Georgia's rights ombudsman, said in a statement.

Many Trapped After Residential Building Collapses In Western Georgia

TBILISI, Oct 9 (NNN-XINHUA) – A multi-block residential building collapsed yesterday, in Georgia’s western coastal city of Batumi, leaving several people trapped under the ruins.

A woman and a child have been rescued from the rubbles, according to local media reports.

Georgian Prime Minister, Irakli Garibashvili, who arrived in Batumi soon after the incident, announced that, about 300 rescuers were searching for 10-15 people trapped in the ruins.

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