"Overall, also taking into account that due to seasonally weak activity January makes up only around 6.8% of the full year GDP, we leave our latest projection of GDP recovering by around 4% in 2021 and rebounding by 7.5% in 2022 unchanged", - the report reads.

The airline industry is expected to remain cash negative throughout 2021, a new analysis released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has shown. Previous analysis of November 2020 indicated that airlines would turn cash positive in the Q4 2021. At the industry level, airlines are now not expected to be cash positive until 2022.

Today marks one year since the first case of COVID-19 was detected in Georgia. On the night of February 26, 2020, the Minister of Health's statement that the virus had been detected in a citizen from Iran caused panic in Georgia. Societal panic took place in the supermarkets where queues lined up. Very soon after the first case, Georgia began to tighten border controls.

TikTok has agreed to pay $92 million to settle dozens of lawsuits alleging that the popular video-sharing app harvested personal data from users, including information using facial recognition technology, without consent and shared the data with third-parties, some of which were based in China.

Berdia Sichinava is especially grateful to Giorgi Gakharia - the Deputy Head of the Government Administration has also resigned. BMG offers readers Berdia Sichinava's Facebook post:

The Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Gharibashvili says that the shortage of vaccines in the world has made it difficult to start vaccinating the population of Georgia. This is stated in the address issued by Gharibashvili, in which he assesses 1 year of the fight against coronavirus.

A Rossiya Airlines Boeing 777 cargo plane made an emergency landing at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on Friday due to a problem with an engine control sensor, the airline said.

India issued strict new rules on Thursday for Facebook (FB), Twitter (TWTR) and other social media platforms weeks after the country's government attempted to pressure Twitter to take down accounts it deemed incendiary.

A panel of expert advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to recommend authorization of a one-dose COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson on Friday, setting the stage for the unleashing of millions more doses across the country next week.

The Germany-headquartered telecommunications firm last year logged turnover of more than €100 billion for the first time, on the back of its expansion in the US, acquiring competitor Sprint.

Blessed are the young, Herbert Hoover said, for they shall inherit the national debt.

The Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Gharibashvili had a telephone conversation with the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adanom Gebreisus, so that despite the global supply crisis, Georgia has more active support from the organization to receive the first doses of the vaccine as soon as possible.

In a blow to Democrats, the Senate parliamentarian ruled the chamber cannot include President Joe Biden’s proposed $15-an-hour minimum wage in a $1.9 trillion coronavirus bill the party aims to pass without Republican votes, lawmakers said on Thursday.

Greece and Austria are urging other EU states to adopt coronavirus vaccination "passports" which could help revive Europe's stricken tourist industry.

Online booking platform Airbnb has said it is preparing for a "significant" travel rebound as the world emerges from coronavirus lockdowns.

The National Tourism Administration says that general regulations and protocols are developed and they are available to all interested parties. The acting head of the Tourism Administration also notes, that some regulations should be adopted to the existing reality.

"Society must help us, we must vaccinate over 1,7 million persons. If we do this by the end of the year, we will put an end to the disease in the country. The country will be fully opened late the year and gradually return to normal life," Gamkrelidze said.

"We always said that we support humane relations - tourism. This is our approach. Our position was to resume flights to various countries as soon as the pandemic allowed us, including Russia. However, Russia has not expressed any willingness yet”, Zurab Abashidze said.

The Guardian reports an article in pictures about Georgia, where modernist art and poetry flourished until the Red Army’s arrival ushered in censorship and the Great Terror of 1937.

Economic growth also had a negative impact on exports, which fell by 16.2%.