Russia's central bank increased its key interest rate to 6.5% on Friday to curb stubbornly high inflation and indicated that further rate increases were possible even after the 100 basis point hike, its sharpest since late 2014.

The European Union is planning to allocate only €150 million to Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said, calling it unfair that the EU is going to provide much larger sums to Armenia and Georgia.

The 110th Combat Service Support Battalion and the 122nd Tactical Support Detachment, Georgia National Guard, will participate in Agile Spirit 2021 in the Country of Georgia, July 26-August 6, 2021.

An Australian activewear firm has been fined £2.6m (5m Australian dollars) for claiming its clothing "eliminated" and stopped the spread of Covid.

"We are discussing various incentives to activate the vaccination process even more, for instance, introducing the lottery," said Amiran Gamkrelidze, head of the National Center for Disease Control, in response to a question from bm.ge about the incentives to promote vaccination.

"It is necessary to give employees one or two days off after vaccination" - said Amiran Gamkrelidze, head of the National Center for Disease Control, at a press conference after the meeting of the Interagency Council in response to a question from bm.ge about the introduction of vaccination promotion incentives.

The Minister of Health does not rule out that wearing of face mask can become mandatory again. However, she notes, that the recommendation should be enough for citizens to manage their own behavior.

“The project provides 5 tunnels, which covers 10 villages. We see how great is its potential, as those 10 villages will become into New Gudauri”, - said Irakli Karseladze.

The International Monetary Fund welcomes the fact that the Ministry of Finance considers future risks from state-owned companies in its fiscal risk analysis.

As of July 23, 391 781 COVID-jabs have been administrated in total, including 136 734 citizens are fully vaccinated.

The Head of the government underlined that the potable water supply problem in approximately three thousand villages and rehabilitation of internal roads and bridges remained unsolved.

According to stopcov.ge, as part of the intensive testing, 38,945 tests were conducted across the country in the last 24 hours, including 20,419 antigen tests and 18,526 PCR tests.

With the revisions to the state budget for 2021, the deficit is lowered from 7.6% to 6.9%, the government debt is reduced to 54.6 percent, overall budget receipts grow by 1,174.9 million GEL to 17,933.1 million GEL, and budget allocations total 19,498.8 million GEL.

"In total, 6 billion 93 million GEL is provided in the budget for health and social directions. It is such an important resource that the government spends only in these areas", - Kovzanadze stated.

Proposals have been submitted to amend the Belarusian Constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, Chairman of the Constitutional Commission, Chairman of the Constitutional Court Piotr Miklashevich told the media, BelTA reports.

Ben & Jerry’s said Monday it was going to stop selling its ice cream in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and contested east Jerusalem, saying the sales in the territories sought by the Palestinians are “inconsistent with our values.”

Russia has “successfully disconnected” from the world wide web during tests of its “sovereign internet” technology.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has urged Israel to suspend exports of spying technology amid allegations it was used to target more than a dozen heads of state and hundreds of journalists.

According to the Ptukha Institute for Demography and Social Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, from three to five million Ukrainians work abroad.

Turkey has exported its autonomous rotary-wing attack drones – also known as kamikaze drones – produced by Turkish defense company STM for the first time.