Georgia

The billionaire Bidzina Ivanišvili after three years of absence from politics has announced that he will directly take over the reins of the 'Georgian Dream', the pro-Russian party he founded that governs the country. He claims he wants to 'unite Georgia' with a view to joining the European Union in 2030.

With the war in Ukraine the business moved to Georgia, Chinese couples among the "clients." The women who lend themselves are mostly from Central Asia, in need of money. Now Tbilisi assumes a restrictive law, but many agencies already plan to move to Belarus or Azerbaijan.

The decision on Georgia's membership application is expected at the European Council next week. Brussels has already opened up to enlargement as a strategic objective, but asks for guarantees on freedom of public opinion and the role of the oligarchs in the country.

Less than a year after the parliamentary vote, the ruling Georgian Dream party has regained support, cashing in on the European Commission's favourable recommendation for EU candidate status. A result that Patriarch Ilya II himself hailed as a 'result of the efforts of our people and the authorities leading the country'.

During rock group "The Killers" in Batumi, an incident revealed local population's impatience with Russian tourists. Which may not fail to influence in the election battle for the new Tbilisi parliament in 2024.

Today's headlines: Putin will not attend the G20 in New Delhi; Japan wants to sue China at WTO over seafood import ban after Fukushima water release; Anti-crime mayoral candidate wounded in attack in Nazareth; Georgian 6th-century monastery buried by a landslide.

Yet another hospitalization for a president of the Caucasian republic during a visit to the Kremlin. Over the past three years Moscow has proposed several "harmonization plans" of laws and political-economic systems to Sukhumi. The Abkhazians have so far put on a good face, partly in order not to lose the funding allocated by the Russian government, but always maintaining a certain distance and autonomy.

In the pro-Russian breakaway republic of Georgia proclaimed in 2008, there is a big debate about the need to write new textbooks on the contemporary history of the region. Former parliament speaker Kociev: "How can you rewrite it in the midst of a fist and knife fight?".

Metropolitan Šio hospitalized for a week with suspicious substances detected in his blood. Already in 2017, when Patriarch Ilja II had appointed him as his right hand man, internal conflicts had emerged. After all, internal struggles have a long history under the domes of Tbilisi, where even Stalin as a young seminarian had dreamed of an ecclesiastical career.

The news of the day: Heavy monsoon rains continue across Asia, with new deaths. In Indonesia, a man was arrested after he was accused by a religious foundation. Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said that he will create a new party if the one he currently leads is dissolved. In China, a kindergarten teacher was executed. Russia and the United States are vying for ASEAN support.

Today's headlines: the US imposes new sanctions on Burma's coup junta, but without hitting major projects. In China at least 31 people died in a restaurant explosion. The South Korean president arrived in Vietnam today. Pakistan will grant the port of Karachi to the Emirates in exchange for emergency funds. The Catholic Archbishop of Moscow interviewed by Ria Novosti about the Vatican's peace initiatives.

One year after the elections, questions are being asked about the real possibility of alliances between the various groups and movements opposing the government. But the distances remain marked and difficult to overcome. There is concern that the repercussions of what is happening in Ukraine may also excessively condition life in Georgia.