Groups Launch Campaign Against Amended Law on Parties Election watchdog and legal advocacy groups, joined by some media outlets, have launched a campaign aimed at convincing lawmakers to revise controversial election-related legislative amendments passed by the Parliament in late December. To highlight one of their concerns that restrictions set by legislative amendments, including those to the law on political parties and their funding, may apply to broad circle of organizations and individuals, the campaign has been named by the groups as “This Affects You Too”.

Georgia: Could US Free Trade Pact Promote Better Workplace Conditions in Tbilisi? Twenty-year-old Tbilisi supermarket clerk Kristina works seven days a week, eight hours a day, making a pre-tax monthly salary of about $121 (200 laris). She’s an hourly worker, but since late December she has not been paid. Still, she keeps working: in an economy where jobs are scarce, it’s not like she has a lot of options. Like most Georgians, Kristina may have heard the news that US President Barack Obama on January 30 called a Free Trade Agreement with Georgia “a possibility,” but she has little sense of what difference it could make for her own working conditions.

President Nicolas Sarkozy confirms France election bid French President Nicolas Sarkozy has formally declared he will stand for re-election in the presidential polls on 22 April. Mr Sarkozy's candidacy has never been in doubt but he issued the confirmation during an interview on France's TF1 channel. Mr Sarkozy's main challenger in the election is the Socialist candidate Francois Hollande.Opinion polls suggest Mr Hollande will win both the first round and a run-off.