Georgia

TBILISI, September 4. /TASS/: At least one person was killed and some more were wounded in an explosion outside the Tbilisi concert hall in the center of the Georgian capital, the Interpressnews agency reported on Friday.

According to the agency, the explosion rocked Tbilisi on Friday afternoon. The police and emergency services have arrived at the site.

There were no immediate reports of the causes of the blast. The emergency services promised to make an official statement later.

SUKHUM, January 13. /TASS/: Abkhazia’s parliament has authorized Prime Minister Valery Bganba to act as president following Raul Khajimba’s resignation from the post, a TASS correspondent reported on Monday.

The decision was taken unanimously by all the 34 lawmakers present at the session.

SUKHUM, January 11. /TASS/: Abkhazia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) will propose a date for a new presidential election in the country within the next five days, Givi Gabniya, a member of the Central Election Commission who represented it at the court hearing on the legitimacy of the presidential election, informed TASS.

"The ruling by the Court of Cassation states that a decision on holding new elections should be made within five days. The CEC will hold a meeting within the next five days," he said.

SUKHUM, January 11. /TASS/: Despite the third day of protests in the country, the Abkhaz government is operating as normal, Prime Minister Valeri Bganba told TASS on Saturday, adding that the state is led by President Raul Khajimba, while resignation demands of the opposition are illegal.

TBILISI, December 25. /TASS/: Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Garibashvili signed an agreement with his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar for Turkey to allocate 100 million lira (around $17 million) to Georgia to carry out a reform in the military logistics sphere during Garibashvili’s official visit to Turkey, the Georgian Defense Ministry’s press service reported on Wednesday.

SUKHUMI, November 22. /TASS/: Preliminary reports suggest that two people have died in gunfire in the center of Abkhazia’s capital, Sukhumi, a spokesperson for the Interior Ministry of Abkhazia told TASS.

"According to the preliminary information, the gunfire killed two," he said.

Abkhaz Interior Minister Garri Arshba told TASS that the victims were identified - a man and a woman, Abkhaz citizens. The woman was a waitress.

PEACHTREE CORNERS, Ga. (AP) — Growth and urbanization, along with President Donald Trump’s struggles among previously GOP-leaning white college graduates, have put Georgia on the cusp of presidential battleground status.

The question is how close.

Republicans acknowledge demographic change but are skeptical the state will swing to Democrats.

As with any competitive electorate, Georgia’s direction will turn on a combination of variables within an electorate that now exceeds 7 million registered voters.

FORT STEWART, Ga. (AP) — U.S. Army officials say three soldiers were killed and three others were injured when the armored vehicle they were riding in rolled over into water during training at Fort Stewart in Georgia.

Officials with the Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield’s 3rd Infantry Division said in a news release that the crash occurred around 3:20 a.m. Sunday. The release had few additional details and did not identify the soldiers.

The soldiers were with the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team and were in a Bradley fighting vehicle.

WOODBINE, Ga. (AP) — A former Georgia police officer who fatally shot a fleeing, unarmed black man was acquitted Saturday of voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter.

The jury, however, found Zechariah Presley guilty of violating his oath of office in the 2018 shooting of Tony Green, 33, in coastal Camden County near the Georgia-Florida state line.

Presley was ordered to be jailed pending sentencing Oct. 18. He faces a prison term of one to five years.

TBILISI, October 4. /TASS/: Tbilisi calls for boosting humanitarian and tourism cooperation with Moscow, as well as for easing tensions, the Georgian Prime Minister’s Envoy for Relations with Russia Zurab Abashidze told TASS on Friday.