Georgians protest against ‘Russian law’ that will test the country’s future direction
Thousands of people in Georgia have protested for the third consecutive night over a bill they say is inspired by laws used in authoritarian Russia to crush dissent.
The law would force non-government organisations and media outlets that get more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as an “organisation serving the interests of a foreign power”.
It is seen as a major test of whether Georgia will move closer to the West or to Russia. It is also being watched closely by the European Union, as it considers the country’s bid for full membership.
Some 10,000 people were on the streets of the capital Tbilisi on Wednesday evening, many of them waving Georgian and European flags, holding signs reading “Yes to Europe, no to the Russian law”.
Pic: Reuters
Pic: AP
The protesters managed to defeat a similar bill last year, with the government citing the need to reduce “confrontation” as it dropped the proposal.
This time the bill passed the first of two readings it needs to be brought into law, but not without controversy – opposition politicians boycotted the vote and four of them were removed from the rowdy parliamentary session amid calls of “No to the Russian law”.
Soon after the vote, the EU said: “This is a very concerning development and the final adoption of this legislation would negatively impact Georgia’s progress on its EU path.
“This law is not in line with EU core norms and values.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Georgia’s President is asked: Is Georgia pro-EU or pro-Russia?
It said the proposed bill would “limit the capacity of civil society and media organisations to operate freely, could limit freedom of expression and unfairly stigmatise organisations that deliver benefits to the citizens of Georgia.”
The bill’s main backer, Georgian prime minister Irakli Kobakhidze, claimed Western officials had provided “no arguments” against the bill and he would not bow to countries, including the US and UK, that have urged a change of heart.
President Salome Zourabichvili said she would veto the law if it was passed – but parliament can override her veto.
Activist Paata Sabelashvili said: “It is very hard to predict any scenario, because the government is unpredictable, unreliable, untruthful, sarcastic and cynical.
“People here are just flowing and flowing and flowing like rivers.”
Pic: AP
Opposition politician Aleksandre Ellisashvili said those who voted for the bill were “traitors” and the rest of Georgia would show them that “people are power, and not the traitor government”.
Zaza Bibilashvili, from civil society group Chavchavadze Centre, said the law would keep Georgia “in the Russian sphere of influence and away from Europe”.
Surveys show up to 90% of Georgia’s 3.7 million people want their country to be in the EU but the bloc has said it must reform its political and judicial systems.
Brussels has also been frustrated by the Georgian government’s closeness to Russia – it has not imposed sanctions like other Western countries have, and it has restored direct flights.
But many Georgian people are suspicious of Russia, at least partly because it helped two breakaway Georgian regions – Abkhazia and South Ossetia – to get de facto independence in the 1990s and in 2008.
World
Trump ‘very disappointed’ in Russian strikes on Ukraine and calls for Putin to ‘sit down and sign a deal’
Donald Trump has said he’s “very disappointed” with Russia as he continues to push for a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine.
On Saturday, the US president met with Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Vatican for their first face-to-face meeting since their explosive White House summit.
The Ukrainian president said the meeting ahead of Pope Francis’s funeral could end up being “historic.” Hours later, Mr Trump questioned Vladimir Putin’s appetite for peace in a Truth Social post.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
From Saturday: Trump meets Zelenskyy at funeral
Speaking before boarding Air Force One on Sunday, Mr Trump again said the meeting went well, and that the Ukrainian leader was “calmer”.
“I think he understands the picture, I think he wants to make a deal,” he said, before turning to Mr Putin and Russia.
“I want him to stop shooting, sit down and sign a deal,” the US president said, adding he was “very disappointed that they did the bombing of those places (including Kyiv, where nine people were killed in a Russian airstrike on Friday) after discussions”.
However, Mr Trump said he thinks Mr Zelenskyy is ready to give up Crimea, which the Ukrainian leader has repeatedly said he would refuse to do.
He added that “we’ll see what happens in the next few days” and said “don’t talk to me about Crimea, talk to Obama and Biden about Crimea”.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, while Barack Obama was president.
Meanwhile, US secretary of state Marco Rubio told Sky’s US partner network NBC News that a peace deal to end the war was “closer in general than they’ve been any time in the last three years, but it’s still not there”.
“If this was an easy war to end, it would have been ended by someone else a long time ago,” he added on the Meet the Press show.
Read more:
Child among 11 dead after Vancouver car attack
Liverpool win Premier League title to equal Man Utd’s record
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
It comes after North Korea confirmed it had deployed troops to fight for Russia, months after Ukraine and Western officials said its forces were in Europe.
State media outlet KCNA reported North Korean soldiers made an “important contribution” to expelling Ukrainian forces from Russian territory, likely to be the Kursk region.
👉 Follow Trump100 on your podcast app 👈
KCNA said leader Kim Jong Un made the decision to deploy troops to Russia and notified Moscow, and quoted him as saying: “They who fought for justice are all heroes and representatives of the honour of the motherland.”
It also quoted the country’s ruling Workers’ Party as saying the end of the battle to liberate Kursk showed the “highest strategic level of the firm militant friendship” between North Korea and Russia.
Last June, Mr Kim and Mr Putin signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty after a state visit – his first to the country in 24 years.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
From June 2024: Putin drives Kim around in luxury limo during state visit
The North Korean leader promised at the time “full support and solidarity to the Russian government, army and people in carrying out the special military operation in Ukraine”.
World
40 killed in blast at Iran’s biggest port as Tehran denies explosion ‘linked to fuel for missiles’
At least 40 people have been killed and several hundred more injured after an explosion and fire at Iran’s largest port, according to state media.
The blast, at the Shahid Rajaei container hub near the southern city of Bandar Abbas, happened on Saturday as Iran held a third round of talks with the US in Oman about Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Shipping containers burned, goods inside were badly damaged and the explosion was so powerful that windows several miles away were shattered, reports said.
Iranian Red Crescent rescuers work at the site of the blast. Pic: Reuters
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
The blast at the Shahid Rajaei port happened as Iran and the US met for the third round of negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Helicopters and aircraft dumped water from the air on the blaze and by Sunday afternoon it was 90% extinguished, the head of Iran’s Red Crescent Society told state media.
Officials said port activities had resumed in unaffected parts of Shahid Rajaei.
Out of the 752 people who had received treatment for their injuries, 190 were still being treated in medical centres on Sunday, according to Iran’s crisis management organisation.
Chemicals at the port were suspected to have worsened the blast, but the exact cause of the explosion was not clear.
Iran’s defence ministry denied international media reports that the explosion may be connected to the mishandling of solid fuel used for missiles.
The reports were “aligned with enemy psyops [psychological operations]”, according to a ministry spokesperson, who told state TV the blast-hit area did not contain any military cargo.
Firefighters work to extinguish the blaze. Pic: AP
Pic: AP
Read more:
Nine die after vehicle hits crowd at Vancouver street festival
Pictures of Pope Francis’s tomb released as it opens to public
According to the Associated Press, British security company Ambrey said that the port in March received sodium perchlorate, which is used to propel ballistic missiles and the mishandling of which could have led to the explosion.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
The Financial Times previously reported two Iranian vessels had shipped from China enough of the ingredient to propel up to 260 mid-range missiles.
It was reportedly to help Tehran replenish stocks after its missile attacks on Israel in 2024.
Iran’s military has sought to deny the delivery of sodium perchlorate from China.
Iran’s state-run Irna news agency reported on Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin deployed several emergency aircraft to Bandar Abbas to provide help.
Anna and Irene have already been queuing for an hour or so, and they know they have a long wait still to come.
“Two hours, three hours, ten hours – what does it matter?” says Irena. “This is about eternity.”
They have come to Rome from Slovenia, Catholics who felt “Papa Francis would have wanted us to be here”.
People take photos of the grave of late Pope Francis inside St. Mary Major Basilica. Pic: AP/Andrew Medichini
A single white rose left on the tomb. Pic: Vatican
And under the sun outside Santa Maria Maggiore, they are awaiting the opportunity to visit his tomb.
Francis, says Irena, “was like a rainbow” who lit up the world. Anna nods along: “We are so happy to be here.”
The Pope’s tomb has become a new source of pilgrimage.
More than 30,000 people came to view it during the first morning after the Pope’s funeral, the queue snaking from the front of the mighty basilica and then up and down across the square at the back.
Some were curious visitors, others were devout followers – priests and nuns mixing in the queue with tourists and devoted locals.
All of these admired Francis; a very few actually knew him.
Father Alessandro Masseroni is a deacon who came to Rome to train to become a priest. On his phone, he shows me a photo of him and Francis, with the Pope offering words of encouragement.
Father Alessandro Masseroni meeting the Pope
He says: “I had the honour to serve Pope Francis and to talk to him many times and it was a special experience. I understand why he was so loved by all the people – he was simple and direct.
“He was sunny. St Francis was his role model and when I saw the first picture of the Pope’s tomb, the first thing I thought was of the tomb of St Francis of Assisi.
“Pope Francis will leave a legacy – it doesn’t end with his death but will continue.”
People attend the funeral of Pope Francis. Pic: Reuters/Yara Nardi
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Video shows Pope’s tomb
What are your emotions now, as you wait to visit his tomb, I ask. Father Alessandro pauses and smiles.
“Many emotions of course, but mainly, I think… thankfulness.”
That has been a recurring aspect among so many of the people we have met in Rome over the past week – the sense that sadness for Francis’s death is outweighed by the sense that his was a life that should be celebrated.
Volodymyr Borysyak flew in from London on the morning of the Pope’s funeral to make his third pilgrimage to Rome.
Barely had he arrived than his phone was stolen, a crime he responded to by praying for the thief.
Read more:
Vatican shares details of Pope’s private burial
How the new pope will be chosen
Volodymyr is a refugee from western Ukraine who worries that his home country’s plight is being forgotten by some of the world.
Now, the Pope who inspired him has died.
You might imagine that he would be resentful and angry. Instead, he is full of smiles.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
The farewell to Pope Francis
“We are happy to be the pilgrims of the world and this is a special day,” he tells me. “I know the pope used to pray in this basilica so that is why we will stay so long here to visit Santa Maria Maggiore.
“I think Pope Francis was, is and will be the pope for the world, because of the mercy of his heart and his love for everybody.”
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway