Global Daily Info

By Rayhan Demytrie BBC South Caucasus correspondent A long-running feud between two political heavyweights has left many Georgians weary about Saturday's parliamentary election, as poverty, unemployment and debt blight their lives. Mikheil Saakashvili, one of the duellists, is not even physically in the country. Now a politician in exile in Ukraine, he is famous for having lost a war against Russia while he was president in 2008. His rival, billionaire businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili, is not officially involved in politics. Georgian voters are being offered a great choice of parties, and all of them are promising a better life. But the two parties that the billionaire and the exiled ex-president represent are the main contenders. A recent survey suggested more than half of Georgians were undecided about who to vote for "We are in great need, our pensions are too low," says Nana Kotetishvili, as she queues with her husband for free food given to the poor...

AFP Image caption Much of eastern Aleppo lies in ruins Rebel-held eastern parts of the Syrian city of Aleppo may face "total destruction" in two months, with thousands killed, the UN's envoy says. Staffan de Mistura told reporters that he was prepared to personally accompany al-Qaeda-linked jihadists out of the city if it would stop the fighting. He also appealed to Russia and Syria's government not to destroy the city for the sake of eliminating militants. Troops have been besieging the east, where 275,000 people live, for a month. "The bottom line is, in a maximum of two months, two and a half months the city of eastern Aleppo at this rate may be totally destroyed," Mr de Mistura told a news conference in Geneva. "Thousands of Syrian civilians, not terrorists, will be killed and many of them wounded." Life under siege in rebel-held Aleppo The seven-year-old tweeting from Aleppo How Moscow’s Syria campaign has paid off Alepp...