A former Russian federal official has been elected president of South Ossetia, a Russia-backed breakaway region of Georgia, in a September 18 vote that Moscow praised as evidence of closer ties while the European Union rejected the election as illegitimate and warned of deepening tensions in the South Caucasus.
Federal prosecutors charged two Eastern European nationals with running AudiA6, a cryptocurrency mixing service that allegedly laundered nearly $400 million in Bitcoin since 2021. The pair were arrested in Georgia following international investigations involving the US, Europol, and 10 other countries.
Early voting has started across Georgia for the June 16 primary runoff election, which will determine the final candidates for governor and U.S. Senate in the fall general election after no candidates secured majorities in last month's primary.
Tether announced plans to launch GEL₮, a stablecoin pegged to Georgia's national currency, in partnership with the Georgian government. This represents one of the first cases of a sovereign government directly partnering with a stablecoin issuer to digitize its national currency on blockchain infrastructure.
Health officials in at least a dozen countries, including four U.S. states (California, Arizona, Georgia, and others), are monitoring dozens of passengers who traveled aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship following a deadly hantavirus outbreak onboard.
