U.S. Vice President Mike Pence arrives in Estonia

Georgia's Senate runoff elections will decide whether Joe Biden's agenda is destined for doom or triumph. And it is clear that the race will be a close one. DW reports from Atlanta.

US President-elect Joe Biden blasts President Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Atlanta, Georgia for Democratic Senate candidates Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, on the eve of runoff races that will decide control of the Senate. "I don't know why he still wants the job," Biden says of Trump, "he doesn't want to do the work." Biden adds that a Democrat-controlled Senate would provide struggling Americans with $2,000 stimulus checks.

In our first edition for 2021, we take a look at the American political powerhouse otherwise known as Stacey Abrams who spent a decade working to promote the Democratic vote in Georgia and flipped the state to blue. Plus the French cabinet has given the green light for draft legislation targeting radical Islam that includes a crackdown on forced marriages. Annette Young talks to Natacha Henry, a French specialist on gender-based violence about the best ways to end the practice.

Around 2,000 people rally in Georgia against plans to construct two giant hydropower plants which critics say pose major environmental risks. Locals and environmental activists have long fumed about plans to build the plants in Georgia's western Rioni Valley, pointing to seismic and environmental risks.

Opposition lawmakers are demanding the prime minister resign after the death of cameraman Alexander Lashkarava. His colleagues have told DW about the circumstances that led to his death.

It's reportedly the biggest ever drug bust in the small Balkan country. Montenegro has stepped up its fight against organised crime in recent years as it aspires to join the EU.

Protesters have blocked roads in Montenegro as the Serbian Orthodox Church prepares to inaugurate Montenegro's next top cleric. They reportedly threw stones at police, shouting: "This is not Serbia."

Mikhail Saakashvili said he returned to Georgia in support of the opposition as local elections get underway this weekend. Current Prime Minister, Irakli Garibashvili, had vowed to arrest Saakashvili if he returned.

Mikheil Saakashvili was arrested Friday after returning from Ukrainian exile to campaign in critical nationwide municipal elections. The still-popular politician has called on supporters to take to the streets.

Mikheil Saakashvili's partner said he has been transferred to "the most dangerous place for his life." He has been on hunger strike since his arrest upon returning from exile on October 1.

In Montenegro, the construction of a motorway to open up the Balkan nation – a project launched in 2014 – is now more than two years behind schedule. With its high environmental and financial costs (more than $1 billion), this pharaonic project has dangerously increased the debt of the country of 600,000 inhabitants. FRANCE 24 investigates. The work is being financed by a Chinese bank and largely carried out by a Chinese state-owned company and a local firm close to the previous government, which signed the deal. But if Montenegro defaults on its loan, the contract stipulates that the country must relinquish sovereignty over certain parts of its territory. This burden on the country’s new government has aggravated the strong suspicions of corruption around the building site.

Opposition leader and former president Mikheil Saakashvili says charges against him for his role in suppressing a 2007 protest are "trumped up." Amnesty International called his arrest "political revenge."