NewsGeorgia unrest: Protests crushed as EU talks suspended
Georgia unrest: Protests crushed as EU talks suspended
This happened while you were sleeping. Here's what the world agencies reported during the night from Thursday to Friday.
ed. JUL
29 November 2024 07:44
- Special forces brutally dispersed protests in Georgia. Water cannons and pepper spray were used. At least 10 journalists and many protesters were reported injured. In the morning, there were mass arrests. Protests erupted in many cities across Georgia after the government announced its decision to suspend talks on joining the EU. "We decided not to address the issue of opening talks with the EU until the end of 2028. We are also giving up all EU budgetary grants until the end of 2028," was declared. "The government has declared war on its own people," commented the President of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili.
- The law passed on Thursday by the National Assembly of Venezuela, fully controlled by President Nicolas Maduro's government, establishes penalties of 25 to 30 years in prison combined with fines, even up to a million pounds, for "persons involved in any way in imposing sanctions on the government and the state institutions of Venezuela." The law also provides for the deprivation of political rights for 60 years for anyone convicted under its provisions.
- The government of Chad announced on Thursday its withdrawal from the defence cooperation agreement with France. This means that French soldiers will have to leave the Central African country, which is a key Western ally in the fight against jihadists in the region, reported Reuters. Chad has cooperated closely with Western armies, but in recent years it has moved closer to Russia, according to Reuters.
- The trial of three Bulgarians accused of spying for nearly three years for Russia and handing over information to Moscow, including about dissidents and journalists, began on Thursday in a court in London. Thirty-three-year-old Katrin Ivanova, thirty-year-old Vanya Gaberova, and thirty-nine-year-old Tihomir Ivanchev are charged with passing information to Russia from August 2020 to February 2023. They deny the allegations.
