PARIS, Feb 3 (Reuters) – A French teacher was stabbed by a pupil in a school in Sanary-sur-Mer, in southern France, on Tuesday, the French Education Minister Edouard Geffray said on X, adding he was immediately heading to the school.
BFM TV, citing the local Var department prefect, said the 60-year old teacher was stabbed with a knife by a 14-year old in her classroom and that her life was at risk.
The pupil is being detained, BFM TV said. It was not immediately clear why the stabbing occurred.
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten)
ANKARA (Reuters) -Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler said on Monday it would take at least two months to reach initial findings and analyse the black box of a Turkish cargo plane that crashed in Georgia last week and left 20 soldiers dead.
The C-130 cargo aircraft had left Azerbaijan for Turkey and crashed in Georgia, marking the NATO member’s highest military death toll since 2020. Ankara has said it was investigating the cause of the crash.
Speaking to reporters after a cabinet meeting in Ankara, Guler said the black box of the aircraft was being inspected by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAS), adding that despite the crash, the C-130 planes – which Turkey has been operating since 1957 – were “generally safe”.
“According to preliminary findings, although not definitive, the tail breaks off first. It then splits into three. This will be found in the (inspection of the) black box,” he said, and added that, apart from an engine fire in 1999 after which the aircraft had landed safely, there had been no issues with the C-130s.
Turkey’s defence ministry said last week the aircraft was carrying a 10-person maintenance team for Turkish F-16s that had earlier taken part in Victory Day celebrations in Azerbaijan, as well as the flight crew and maintenance equipment.
Turkey’s defence ministry announced last month an agreement with Britain to procure 12 C-130 aircraft that need to undergo modernisation and maintenance.
It also said last week that the crashed plane was bought from Saudi Arabia in 2012, started flights in 2022, and completed its last maintenance a month ago, adding all planned flights by Turkey’s 18 C-130s were suspended pending inspection.
(Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever; Writing by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Toby Chopra)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A state prosecutor on Friday said he was taking control of a sprawling criminal case in Georgia accusing U.S. President Donald Trump and several allies of election interference, a move that prolongs the high-profile prosecution but does not fully resolve uncertainty about its future.
Peter Skandalakis, director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, said in a statement that he had appointed himself as the prosecutor in the case, which accuses Trump and several co-defendants of unlawfully conspiring to subvert former President Joe Biden’s 2020 election win in Georgia. They have pleaded not guilty, and on Friday, Trump lawyer Steve Sadow said he remains confident that “a fair and impartial review will lead to a dismissal of the case.”
The move allows the 2023 case to live on following an appeals court ruling that disqualified the prosecutor who initially brought the case, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, an elected Democrat in Atlanta.
OTHER PROSECUTORS DECLINE APPOINTMENT
Skandalakis said he appointed himself after being unable to find another prosecutor willing to take over the case.
“Several prosecutors were contacted and, while all were respectful and professional, each declined the appointment,” he said in a statement. “Out of respect for their privacy and professional discretion, I will not identify those prosecutors or disclose their reasons for declining.”
The Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia is a government agency that supports the state’s local prosecutors.
As head of the agency, Skandalakis was required by law to identify a replacement for Willis. An appeals court ruled last year that Willis had created an “appearance of impropriety” by having a romantic relationship with the special prosecutor she had hired to lead the case.
Skandalakis’ announcement came the day of a judge-imposed deadline for him to pick a replacement prosecutor.
Skandalakis has the authority to dismiss the indictment, and there is precedent for such a decision. Last year, Skandalakis concluded that charges should not be brought against Georgia Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones, a Republican investigated by Willis, over his efforts to overturn Trump’s 2020 election defeat in Georgia.
TBILISI (Reuters) -The speaker of Georgia’s parliament said on Tuesday that the ruling Georgian Dream party is asking the constitutional court to ban the country’s three largest opposition parties, Interpress news agency reported.
(Reporting by Felix Light; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
TBILISI (Reuters) -Georgian prosecutors on Monday charged five opposition figures with attempting to overthrow the government, after protests on Saturday culminated in clashes between police and demonstrators in the capital of the South Caucasus country of 3.7 million.
Georgian opposition supporters rallied in central Tbilisi on Saturday, with some leaders promising a “peaceful revolution” on the day of local elections that were boycotted by the largest opposition blocs.
Minutes before polls closed, a smaller group of protesters attempted to seize the presidential palace, before being repelled by riot police using gas and water cannon.
The charges against the five men carry a maximum prison sentence of nine years. Officials have said the protests represented an attempt to seize power.
Georgia has been rocked by protests for over a year, with supporters of the opposition accusing the ruling Georgian Dream party of authoritarianism, and of seeking to drag the country, once among the Soviet Union’s most pro-Western successor states, back towards Russia, allegations it rejects.
The protest movement has dwindled in recent months, though nightly demonstrations still close Tbilisi’s central Rustaveli Avenue.
In October 2024, Georgian Dream won a comfortable victory in parliamentary elections. The opposition said the outcome was fraudulent; Georgian authorities said the polls were free and fair.
Under Georgian Dream, ties with Western countries have soured. In November, the party said it was freezing European Union accession talks, abruptly halting a long-standing national goal.
Georgian Dream says it is not pro-Russian and that it eventually wants to join the EU, whilst also keeping the peace with Moscow and preserving what it calls Georgia’s traditional Orthodox Christian values.
The party is widely seen as controlled by billionaire ex-prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, who is sanctioned by the U.S. for what it calls his promotion of Russian interests.
(Reporting by Felix LightEditing by Andrew Osborn)
TBILISI (Reuters) -Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said on Sunday that protesters who sought to force entry to the presidential palace had been trying to topple the government and accused the European Union of meddling in Georgian politics.
Georgian riot police used pepper spray and water cannons to drive demonstrators away from the presidential palace and detained five activists on Saturday, as the opposition staged a large demonstration on a day of local elections.
Kobakhidze said that up to 7,000 people attended the rally but their “attempt to overthrow the constitutional order” had failed despite what he said was support from the EU.
“They moved to action, began the overthrow attempt, it failed, and then they started distancing themselves from it,” Georgian news agency Interpress cited the prime minister.
“No one will escape responsibility. This includes political responsibility.”
He accused EU Ambassador Paweł Herczynski of meddling in Georgian politics and urged him to condemn the protests.
“You know that specific people from abroad have even expressed direct support for all this, for the announced attempt to overthrow the constitutional order,” Kobakhidze said.
“In this context, the European Union ambassador to Georgia bears special responsibility. He should come out, distance himself and strictly condemn everything that is happening on the streets of Tbilisi.”
There was no immediate comment from the EU on the claims, but in July the EU’s diplomatic service rejected what it said was the “disinformation and baseless accusations” by the Georgian authorities about the EU’s alleged role in Georgia.
“Recent statements falsely claiming that the EU seeks to destabilize Georgia, drag it into war or impose so-called ‘non-traditional values,’ constitute a deliberate attempt to mislead the public,” it said in July.
The governing Georgian Dream party said on Saturday it had clinched victory in every municipality across the South Caucasus country of 3.7 million people in an election boycotted by the two largest opposition blocs.
Georgia’s pro-Western opposition has been staging protests since October last year, when GD won a parliamentary election that its critics say was fraudulent. The party has rejected accusations of vote-rigging.
Once one of the most pro-Western nations to emerge from the ashes of the Soviet Union, Georgia has had frayed relations with the West since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
(Reporting by Reuters in Moscow and Tbilisi; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
TBILISI (Reuters) -Georgian riot police used pepper spray and water cannon to force protesters away from the presidential palace on Saturday as the opposition staged a large demonstration on the day of municipal elections.
The governing Georgian Dream (GD) party said it had clinched victory in every municipality across the South Caucasus country of 3.7 million in an election boycotted by the two largest opposition blocs.
Shortly before polls closed on Saturday, a group of demonstrators attempted to force entry to the presidential palace in the capital Tbilisi, a Reuters witness said, after opposition figures called for a “peaceful revolution” against GD, which they accuse of being pro-Russian and authoritarian.
PROTESTS UNDER WAY SINCE LAST OCTOBER
Georgia’s pro-Western opposition has been staging protests since October last year, when GD won a parliamentary election that its critics say was fraudulent. The party has rejected accusations of vote-rigging.
Once one of the most pro-Western nations to emerge from the ashes of the Soviet Union, Georgia’s ties with the West have frayed since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The government froze accession talks to the European Union soon after last year’s vote, abruptly halting a longstanding national goal and triggering large demonstrations that have continued since.
On Saturday, thousands of protesters gathered on Tbilisi’s central Freedom Square and Rustaveli Avenue, waving Georgian and EU flags.
Davit Mzhavanadze, who attended the demonstration, said the protests were part of “a deep crisis which is absolutely formed by our pro-Russian and authoritarian government.”
“I think this protest will continue until these demands will be responded to properly from our government,” he said.
A smaller group of demonstrators marched to the presidential palace and were repelled by police after attempting to break into the building. Some of them then barricaded a nearby street, lighting fires and facing off with riot police.
Georgian Dream, which is widely seen as controlled by founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, the country’s richest man and a former prime minister, denies it is pro-Moscow. It says it wants to join the EU while preserving peace with Russia, its huge neighbour to the north.
(Reporting by Lucy Papachristou and Felix Light; Editing by Mark Potter and Timothy Heritage)
HELSINKI (Reuters) -A Finnish district court ruled on Friday that Finland does not have jurisdiction to prosecute the captain and two officers of the Eagle S oil tanker, who were accused of breaking undersea power and internet cables in the Baltic Sea.
(Reporting by Elviira Luoma, editing by Essi Lehto and Terje Solsvik)
This is part of Reason‘s 2025 summer travel issue. Click here to read the rest of the issue.
The people of Georgia might well be the first folks who ever got properly wine-drunk.
Straddling the Promethean Caucasus mountains, wedged between both Black and Caspian seas, Georgia is a cultural crossroads between Europe and Asia. Its fertile valleys and slopes yielded the oldest archaeological evidence of wine production currently on record. During my short yet delightfully buzzed visit last fall, it was apparent that they’ve only gotten better at both the making and the drinking. Georgian winemaking traditions are hard won; in the Soviet era, many indigenous grape varieties were lost to brutish demands for quantity, not quality. Some families preserved precious varieties in secret.
Photo: Hunt Beaty
I saw this heady spirit in the small town of Kachreti at the Burjanadze family home. At a traditional supra (banquet), my host and tomada (toastmaster) poured glass after glass of his own inky red Saperavi, each after a heartfelt toast, before bursting into a polyphonic song alongside his father. The wine came from a qvevri, a traditional clay pot submerged in his backyard, and the bottle’s label was stamped with his family’s fingerprints, several of whom shared the table and the cherished moment.
Georgia also gave the world one of the 20th century’s worst tyrants, Josef Stalin. Born in Gori, west of capital city Tbilisi, Stalin’s dark shadow lingers. Venture across the Kura River a few miles outside the city center and find yourself down a dank underground museum where a young revolutionary Stalin printed secret pamphlets during the Bolshevik Revolution. A charming yet perhaps contextually overeager docent asks you to sign a guest book scattered among USSR memorabilia.
Soviet-era grisliness aside, it’s an understatement to say Georgian politics have been complicated. Surrounded on all sides by great powers, the seismic situation encompasses many languages, plus the friction of competing political ideas and faiths in Armenia and Azerbaijan. Most notably it shares a contested border with Russia, the bear next door with an appetite.
If geography really is destiny, then the Georgian situation has understandably necessitated a stiff, perpetual drink.
After the Soviet Union’s collapse and at least a decade’s worth of post-Soviet corruption, a young Mikheil Saakashvili climbed Parliament’s stairs with flowers in hand. The Rose Revolution swept Saakashvili into office peacefully; he reduced government corruption and increased economic liberalization, spurred on by his libertarian-leaning minister of economy, Kakha Bendukidze. Georgia’s economy received a jolt, as if the whole country had taken a shot of its beloved brandy chacha (second only to the wine) and raised eyebrows in the Western world with the speed and success of those reforms.
Though Saakashvili left a mixed legacy (he’s now imprisoned on abuse of power charges), the stickiness of those free market ideas and reforms is notable, however fraught the country remains. Girchi, the only official libertarian party in a post-Soviet state outside of Russia, was formed by dissenters from Saakashvili’s United National Movement party after his collapse. It has since advocated both economic and drug liberalization, while staging stunts against conscription and state crackdowns on sex workers, going so far as opening a brothel in its party headquarters.
Georgia remains a swirl of political foment, as I realized by stumbling accidentally onto Rustaveli Avenue before fall parliamentary elections. Thousands of Georgians paraded, draped in Georgian and European Union colors, marching in support of then-President Salome Zourabichvili, as she tried to hold off billionaire and former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream party. Ivanishvili’s ties to Russia and presence in politics still loom large, much like his Bond villain–esque mansion perched high above Tbilisi.
Despite the turbulence, pockets of Tbilisi buzz with young entrepreneurs reclaiming and redefining the Georgian trajectory, one pointed decidedly west. Down an unassuming street, there’s Lasha Devdariani selling handcrafted silk robes from his cozy studio, some of which cloaked Tilda Swinton in Only Lovers Left Alive. Walk into Sololaki where traditional meets modern at Iasamani restaurant—bare candles burning over peeling paint, cracked tiles, and khachapuri hint at the history of both the room and the nation. Around the corner the gents at 41 Degrees Art of Drinks sling cocktails from a handwritten book that taste like the throng on Rustaveli Avenue felt: fiery and self–assured.
John Steinbeck heard of Georgia’s magic before arriving in 1947 at the start of the Cold War. In A Russian Journal,he noted: “People who had never been there and possibly never could go there spoke of Georgia with a kind of longing and great admiration. They spoke of Georgians as supermen, as great drinkers, great dancers, great musicians, great workers and lovers. And they spoke of the country in the Caucasus and around the Black Sea as a kind of second heaven.”
More people, especially free thinkers and drinkers, should visit. Drink the wine, pet the dogs (tagged strays roam lazily, freely, even into bars and hotel lobbies), shoot the chacha, stare at giant Jesus in Holy Trinity Cathedral, devour khinkali (hands only), and let the hospitality intoxicate you in its distinctly Georgian way.
The Sighnaghi World War II Memorial; Adam Jones/Creative Commons
Day 1 Flight to Tbilisi
It’s best to have a car to see Georgia at your own pace. Pick up a rental and head to your hotel.
Stay in Tbilisi for three nights.
Day 2 Explore Tbilisi
The Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi; Marcin Konsek/Creative Commons
Start your adventure by getting a feel for Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi. This is a place where the old meets the new, offering a mix of historic sites and trendy bars and restaurants.
The Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi is the largest Orthodox church in Georgia and boasts fantastic views of the city. Next, take the Tbilisi Funicular up to Mtatsminda Pantheon, where some of Georgia’s most prominent writers, artists, and national heroes are buried. Up there, you can enjoy Mtatsminda Park and get a view of former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili’s stunning house. Take the Rustaveli-Mtatsminda Cable Car back down the hill to end the trip.
Day 3 Free day in Tbilisi
Underground Printing House Museum; Hunt Beaty
Go where the wind blows today, and be sure to drink some wine along the way.
8000 Vintages wine shop and bar. Sighnaghi; Andrey Khrobostov/Alamy
Optional activities: 8000 Vintages wine shop and bar, Cafe Daphna, Dry Bridge Market, Queen Darejan Palace, Tbilisi State Academy of Arts, the National Gallery, Underground Printing House Museum
Day 4 Self-Drive to Sighnaghi
The Sighnaghi World War II Memorial; Adam Jones/Creative Commons
Head east for your two-hour drive to Sighnaghi, known as “the city of love” and located in the heart of Georgia’s wine region. Revel in the colorful buildings, the medieval architecture, and the stunning Caucasus mountains on the horizon. And of course, the wine. Visit the Kerovani Winery to sample an assortment of Georgian wines and learn about the traditional Kakhetian method of winemaking in qvevri (clay vessels).
Stay in Sighnaghi for two nights.
Day 5 Free day in Sighnaghi
Enjoy your final day in Georgia!
Optional activities: Sighnagi National Museum, St. George Church, Marriage Palace, The Sighnaghi World War II Memorial, Sighnaghi Wall
Day 6 Flight Home
Drive back to Tbilisi for your return flight home.
This article originally appeared in print under the headline “The Possible Birthplace of Wine and Definite Birthplace of Stalin.”
