As Donald Trump visits China, CEOs and US officials part of his entourage are carrying temporary devices instead of personal smartphones.
Day: May 14, 2026
Purpose of Georgia’s price commission
According to Shota Berekashvili, chairman of Georgia’s parliamentary commission on prices, the main purpose of the temporary commission set up at the initiative of Georgian Dream was not to reduce prices, but to identify problems in the market and provide a basis for further analysis.
The temporary parliamentary commission on prices was established in February 2026 for a three-month term. Earlier, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze of the ruling Georgian Dream party said that in some cases food prices in Georgian supermarkets were significantly higher than in European countries. He said high mark-ups and possible violations of anti-monopoly legislation by supermarket chains could be behind the discrepancy, and called on law enforcement agencies to investigate the issue.
According to Shota Berekashvili, Georgia’s average inflation rate was 3.9% in 2025, close to the National Bank’s target, although rising food prices remained one of the country’s most pressing concerns.
Berekashvili said the commission’s goal was to identify the causes of food inflation, after which further analysis and a concrete action plan would be required.
He said the commission’s 104-page report included short-term measures, medium-term structural reforms and a long-term strategy.
According to Berekashvili, the commission studied the experience of other countries and concluded that direct and radical market intervention often creates additional problems. For that reason, the commission does not recommend introducing price caps on essential goods.
“We could easily have recommended price caps on essential goods, but the result could have been serious disruption to the market,” Berekashvili said.
The temporary commission concluded its work on 1 May 2026. Its final report said profit margins in Georgia’s retail sector did not indicate excessive mark-ups and were broadly in line with international practice.
According to commission chairman Shota Berekashvili, the main recommendation was to avoid “aggressive intervention” in the food market.
Purpose of Georgia’s price commission
Azerbaijan is developing its “Open Banking” infrastructure with plans to extend participation beyond banks to include non-banking financial institutions, AzerNEWS reports, citing the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (Central Bank of Azerbaijan). Elmar Didakanan, a specialist at the Central Bank’s Financial Technologies and Innovations Department, said the system will allow businesses to integrate bank accounts into digital platforms and, in the next phase, make payments and conduct transactions directly, as individual users do. The long-term goal is to move toward a broader “Open Finance” model involving insurers, investment firms, and other financial players.
A key benefit of Open Banking is…
Freedom House, a U.S.-based human rights watchdog, said it will present the Mark Palmer Prize to Georgia’s fifth president, Salome Zourabichvili, at its annual awards and 85th anniversary celebration in Washington on May 20.
“The award recognizes her exceptional achievements advancing democracy through diplomacy and public service,” the organization said in a May 13 post on X.
According to the organization’s official website, the Mark Palmer Prize is awarded to diplomats or officials serving in intergovernmental institutions. The award is named for the late Mark Palmer, a longtime Freedom House trustee and U.S. ambassador to Hungary from 1986 to 1990. It has been awarded to diplomats and international civil servants from around the world.
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Global oil prices posted modest gains on Thursday as investors closely monitored upcoming talks between the United States and China, while geopolitical tensions surrounding the Iran conflict continued to fuel uncertainty in energy markets. On the London ICE (InterContinental Exchange Futures) exchange, the price of Brent crude rose by…
Nino Saghiridze, who had contributed to Civil.ge as a photographer, was among the demonstrators recently sent to several days in custody for protesting on sidewalks, as judges continue to deliver detention rulings under laws that extended protest restrictions to pedestrian zones in December.
Judge Tornike Kapanadze delivered the ruling against Saghiridze on May 13. A molecular biologist with a passion for photography, Saghiridze has reportedly been taken to the Telavi detention facility in Georgia’s eastern Kakheti region. Over several months in 2025, Saghiridze covered the protests, providing photo material from the field and documenting regional campaigns led by family members of detained protesters.
Her detention comes as cases continue to pile up of protesters being sent behind bars under the stricter protest rules that took effect in December 2025, introducing detention and eventual criminal sentences for “obstructing” pedestrian movement, among others. The offense carries a maximum punishment of 15 days’ detention. While most cases date back to the initial weeks of the law’s enforcement in the winter months, judges continue to deliver rulings to this day.
In a separate ruling on the same day, Judge Zviad Tsekvava sentenced Elene Gelashvili, a student at Tbilisi’s Agriculture University, to two days of administrative detention for rallying on a sidewalk on Rustaveli Avenue.
Gelashvili was detained after attending a lecture on campus. Video taken on the site showed students and several lecturers applauding her and thanking her “for fighting for the homeland” as she was handcuffed and taken into a detention vehicle by police.
Another protest participant, Natia Chelidze, was sentenced to two days of administrative detention on May 14. Judge Tornike Kapanadze found her guilty of obstructing the road outside Parliament during the protest on January 31.
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