Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili accused Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of meddling in his country’s political situation by commenting on protests there last week, prompting an angry response from Kyiv. During the protests against a “foreign agents” law that critics said signaled an authoritarian shift in Georgia, Zelenskyy thanked protesters …
Read More »US mass shooting leaves 9 children wounded, including 5-year-old, in Georgia
At least nine children have been wounded in a mass shooting at a gas station in Columbus, Georgia, US, as gun violence assumes alarming proportions in the United States. The nine victims, including a 5-year-old boy, were taken to a local hospital for treatment for non-life-threatening injuries, authorities said, adding …
Read More »Residents search for missing after Hurricane Ian rips through Florida’s Gulf Coast
Rescue workers and residents of Florida’s Gulf Coast searched for missing people and picked up the pieces from wrecked homes on Thursday after Hurricane Ian tore through the area with howling winds, torrential rains, and raging surf and caused massive power outages. One of the mightiest storms to hit the …
Read More »USA | Georgia Republicans purge Black Democrats from county election boards
Protesters filled the meeting room of the Spalding County Board of Elections in October, upset that the board had disallowed early voting on Sundays for the Nov. 2 municipal election. A year ago, Sunday voting had been instrumental in boosting the turnout of Black voters. But this was an entirely …
Read More »US prisons face staff shortages as officers quit amid COVID-19
At a Georgia state House of Representatives hearing on prison conditions in September, a corrections officer called in to testify, interrupting his shift to tell lawmakers how dire conditions had become. On a “good day,” he told lawmakers, he had maybe six or seven officers to supervise roughly 1,200 people. …
Read More »Nine killed as block of flats collapses in Georgia’s Black Sea resort of Batumi
Nine people died after a block of flats partly collapsed in Georgia’s Black Sea resort of Batumi, the interior minister said on Saturday, with unsafe renovation work blamed for the accident. Around five floors of the building collapsed on Friday, crushing several cars parked outside and leaving “up to 15 …
Read More »Georgians vote in local election after arrest of ex-president
Georgians vote in local elections on Saturday that could escalate a political standoff between the ruling party and the opposition a day after the arrest of ex-president and opposition politician Mikheil Saakashvili. Saakashvili, who left Georgia in 2013 and was sentenced to prison in absentia in 2018, was arrested on …
Read More »USA | Georgia apartment ‘explosion’ leaves residents trapped, at least one with ‘severe burns,’ police say
An explosion broke out at an apartment complex in a northern suburb of Atlanta Sunday afternoon, trapping people inside and causing at least one person to suffer severe burns. The Dunwoody police department said it received multiple calls just before 1:30 p.m. regarding an explosion at the Arrive Apartments off …
Read More »Gorillas at Atlanta zoo in US being treated for COVID-19 after testing positive
Several gorillas at Zoo Atlanta in the southern US state of Georgia have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, the zoo said. The western lowland gorillas were tested after keepers saw them coughing and other symptoms, it said. Initial tests indicated they were positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes …
Read More »Hospitals in US South are running low on oxygen amid high COVID-19 hospitalizations
Hospitals in the Southeast are running low on oxygen, with the worst-hit left only 12 to 24 hours’ worth, said Premier Inc., a hospital-supply purchasing group. This comes amid the region’s struggle over the summer with high numbers of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. Now Hurricane Ida is set to hit …
Read More »Protests erupt in Georgia after beaten journalist dies
Several thousand people protested in front of the Georgian parliament on Sunday evening, demanding that the ex-Soviet nation’s prime minister resign over the death of a journalist who was attacked and beaten by anti-LGBT protesters. Cameraman Alexander Lashkarava was found dead in his home by his mother earlier Sunday, according …
Read More »US police hunt for killer after 3 bodies found at golf club
Police in the southern US state of Georgia were searching Monday for a shooter after a suspect drove onto a golf course, killed one employee there, and then fled, leaving two corpses in the bed of his pickup truck. Five shots were heard Saturday on the Pinetree Country Club in …
Read More »1 dead, 2 wounded after shootout erupts over masking rules in Georgia store
A store clerk was fatally shot and a suspected assailant and a police officer injured after a dispute over a face mask requirement escalated into a firefight inside a store in Georgia. After getting into an argument with a cashier at a Decatur, Georgia supermarket on Monday afternoon, 30-year-old Victor …
Read More »Georgia frees opposition leader Melia after court ruling
Nika Melia’s release is seen as a significant step in an EU-backed plan to help end a prolonged political crisis. Jailed Georgian opposition leader Nika Melia has been freed from prison after a court-ordered his release on bail – a significant step in a European Union-backed plan to help end …
Read More »Schools face big virus test as students return to classroom
Reopening schools is easy. Keeping them open will be the hard part. As educators prepare to welcome students back to class for the first time in months, schools’ ability to quickly identify and contain coronavirus outbreaks before they get out of hand will be put to the test in thousands …
Read More »Georgia’s Kemp suspends all local mask mandates, encourages but doesn’t require masks for residents
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Wednesday suspended all local government mask mandates despite the rise in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in his state. Under the executive order the Republican governor extended the state’s public emergency and said face coverings are “strongly encouraged,” but not required. Kemp’s executive order voids masks …
Read More »Suspects in Black American Ahmaud Arbery’s Killing get Murder Charges
A Georgia prosecutor on Wednesday said three white men charged in the death of Ahmaud Arbery, a black man who was shot dead while running in a residential neighborhood in February, have been indicted by a grand jury on murder charges. The three men — Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael and …
Read More »Seattle bans police use of tear gas, pepper spray & chokeholds as crowd reigns over the city
The Seattle City Council has voted to make it illegal for police to deploy tear gas, pepper spray, and chokeholds on peaceful demonstrators, as part of the city is being overrun by activists declaring it an “autonomous zone.” All nine members of the council voted to strip the city police …
Read More »Man dies after being shot by Atlanta police
A man was killed after reportedly being shot by an Atlanta police officer late Friday night, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. At 10:33 p.m. local time officers responded to a Wendy’s restaurant after receiving a complaint that a man was asleep in a parked car in the drive-thru, …
Read More »National Guard dances the ‘Macarena’ before enforcing Atlanta curfew.
A video of National Guardsmen in Georgia rocking out to a ubiquitous dance song from the 90s has caused discomfort among observers, who have described the gimmick as a way of making military-enforced curfews more palatable. A line of soldiers was spotted dancing the Macarena in downtown Atlanta just minutes …
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