Okropir Rukhadze is a correspondent with RFE/RL's Georgian Service.
As part of an occasional series on how the end-of-year holidays are celebrated in some parts of our broadcast region, we talked to Okropir Rukhadze from RFE/RL's Georgian Service about how Christmas is celebrated in his country.
The common-law wife of a former Chechen fighter gunned down in Berlin says his killing bears the hallmarks of a professional hit job amid claims the suspect worked for Russian military intelligence. The killing has raised concerns about the safety of other Chechens seeking asylum in Germany.
Georgia’s strict laws on marijuana have become the subject of a hot debate in the former Soviet republic as the government considers decriminalizing the use of cannabis.
A museum in Italy has been burning its own paintings to draw attention to the underfunding of culture in the country. Curator Antonio Manfredi says his museum will have to shut down if it doesn't receive financial help from Italian or European authorities.
The German port city of Hamburg is no stranger to pirates. The city harbors innumerable legends about the bandits of the sea, many stretching as far back as the 14th century. Now, for the first time in 400 years, the city is preparing to hold a court trial involving real pirates -- 10 men from Somalia charged with hijacking a German ship.
