TBILISI: Georgian authorities arrested a leader of an opposition party on Saturday on suspicion of attempted arson of the court chancellery building in the capital Tbilisi.
The Interior Ministry said Aleksandre Elisashvili had broken into the building at dawn by smashing a window with a hammer, and then poured gasoline and attempted to set the building alight.
In a statement posted on its Facebook page, the ministry said Elisashvili, a former opposition MP, was carrying a firearm and injured a court bailiff during his arrest. It published video showing a handgun lying on the ground and a smashed window.
Elisashvili, 47, is a founder of the Citizens party, which is part of the Lelo-Strong Georgia coalition, one of Georgia’s three main opposition groups. Those groupings are facing a ban by the ruling Georgian Dream party, which has said it will soon file a lawsuit to the Constitutional Court to outlaw their activities.
A spokesperson for Lelo said the party had no contact with Elisashvili and did not comment further.
Once among the most democratic and pro-Western of the successor states to emerge from the Soviet Union, Georgia has become increasingly authoritarian since the start of the war in Ukraine, government critics say. On Friday, street protesters in Tbilisi marked 365 days of continuous demonstrations against Georgian Dream, which has jailed nearly all opposition politicians and made nightly arrests of rallygoers outside parliament since last November, when the government said it was pausing accession talks to the European Union, an abrupt reversal of a longstanding national goal.
Ties with the European Union, which Georgia aspires to join, have come under growing strain over concerns of democratic backsliding in the South Caucasus nation, with Brussels saying Tbilisi is no longer on track to become a member. Elisashvili, who was an MP until last year, participated in a brawl in parliament during a debate in April 2024 over a bill on “foreign agents,” which government critics decried as a Russian-style law aimed at quashing civil society and dissent. Amid a heated debate over the legislation, which ultimately passed, Elisashvili punched Mamuka Mdinaradze, leader of Georgian Dream’s parliamentary faction and a key force behind the bill, in the face while the latter was speaking from the despatch box.
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Georgia arrests opposition figure for attempted arson of government building
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Georgia arrests opposition figure for attempted arson of government building
- Interior Ministry says Aleksandre Elisashvili had broken into the building at dawn by smashing a window with a hammer
- Elisashvili is a founder of the Citizens party, which is part of the Lelo-Strong Georgia coalition
Trump hikes US global tariff rate to 15 percent
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump raised the global duty on imports into the United States to 15 percent on Saturday, doubling down on his promise to maintain his aggressive tariff policy a day after the Supreme Court ruled much of it illegal.
Trump said on his Truth Social platform that after a thorough review of Friday’s “extraordinarily anti-American decision” by the court to rein in his tariff program, the administration was hiking the import levies “to the fully allowed, and legally tested, 15 percent level.”
Shortly after the court’s 6-3 ruling that rejected the president’s authority to impose tariffs under a 1977 economic emergency powers act, Trump had initially announced a new 10 percent global levy by invoking a different legal avenue.
At the same time, the Republican launched an extraordinary personal attack on the conservative justices who had sided with the majority, slamming their “disloyalty” and calling them “fools and lap dogs.”
The ruling was a stunning rebuke by the high court, which has largely sided with the president since he returned to office, and marked a major political setback in striking down Trump’s signature economic policy that has roiled the global trade order.
Saturday’s announcement is sure to provoke further uncertainty as Trump carries on with a trade war that he has used to cajole and punish countries, both friend and foe.
It is the latest move in a process that has seen a multitude of tariff levels for countries sending goods into the United States set and then altered or revoked by Trump’s team over the past year.
Several countries have said they are studying the Supreme Court ruling and Trump’s subsequent tariff announcements.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Sunday urged Donald Trump to treat all countries equally.
“I want to tell the US President Donald Trump that we don’t want a new Cold War. We don’t want interference in any other country, we want all countries to be treated equally,” Lula told reporters in New Delhi.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Saturday he would hold talks with European allies to formulate “a very clear European position” and joint response to Washington before he travels to the US capital in early March.
On the domestic front, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, said on X it was time for Trump to “listen to the Supreme Court, end chaotic tariffs, and stop wreaking havoc on our farmers, small business owners, and families.”
The new duty by law is only temporary — allowable for 150 days. According to a White House fact sheet, exemptions remain for sectors that are under separate probes, including pharma, and goods entering the US under the US-Mexico-Canada agreement.
On Friday, the White House said US trading partners that reached separate tariff deals with Trump’s administration would also face the new global tariff.
- High court defeat -
Friday’s court ruling did not impact sector-specific duties Trump separately imposed on steel, aluminum and various other goods. Government probes still underway could lead to additional sectoral tariffs.
But it nevertheless marked Trump’s biggest defeat at the Supreme Court since returning to the White House 13 months ago. The court has generally expanded his power.
Trump heaped praise on the conservative justices who voted to uphold his authority to levy tariffs — Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh, a Trump nominee — thanking them “for their strength and wisdom, and love of our country.”
The president alleged the majority of six justices, including two nominated during his first term, had been “swayed by foreign interests.”
“I think that foreign interests are represented by people that I believe have undue influence,” he said.
Shares on Wall Street — a metric closely watched by Trump — rose modestly Friday after the decision, which had been expected.
Business groups largely cheered the ruling, with the National Retail Federation saying this “provides much-needed certainty” for companies.
In court arguments, the Trump administration said companies would receive refunds if the tariffs were deemed unlawful. But the Supreme Court’s ruling did not address the issue.
Trump said he expected years of litigation on whether to provide refunds. Kavanaugh noted the refund process could be a “mess.”
Trump said on his Truth Social platform that after a thorough review of Friday’s “extraordinarily anti-American decision” by the court to rein in his tariff program, the administration was hiking the import levies “to the fully allowed, and legally tested, 15 percent level.”
Shortly after the court’s 6-3 ruling that rejected the president’s authority to impose tariffs under a 1977 economic emergency powers act, Trump had initially announced a new 10 percent global levy by invoking a different legal avenue.
At the same time, the Republican launched an extraordinary personal attack on the conservative justices who had sided with the majority, slamming their “disloyalty” and calling them “fools and lap dogs.”
The ruling was a stunning rebuke by the high court, which has largely sided with the president since he returned to office, and marked a major political setback in striking down Trump’s signature economic policy that has roiled the global trade order.
Saturday’s announcement is sure to provoke further uncertainty as Trump carries on with a trade war that he has used to cajole and punish countries, both friend and foe.
It is the latest move in a process that has seen a multitude of tariff levels for countries sending goods into the United States set and then altered or revoked by Trump’s team over the past year.
Several countries have said they are studying the Supreme Court ruling and Trump’s subsequent tariff announcements.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Sunday urged Donald Trump to treat all countries equally.
“I want to tell the US President Donald Trump that we don’t want a new Cold War. We don’t want interference in any other country, we want all countries to be treated equally,” Lula told reporters in New Delhi.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Saturday he would hold talks with European allies to formulate “a very clear European position” and joint response to Washington before he travels to the US capital in early March.
On the domestic front, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, said on X it was time for Trump to “listen to the Supreme Court, end chaotic tariffs, and stop wreaking havoc on our farmers, small business owners, and families.”
The new duty by law is only temporary — allowable for 150 days. According to a White House fact sheet, exemptions remain for sectors that are under separate probes, including pharma, and goods entering the US under the US-Mexico-Canada agreement.
On Friday, the White House said US trading partners that reached separate tariff deals with Trump’s administration would also face the new global tariff.
- High court defeat -
Friday’s court ruling did not impact sector-specific duties Trump separately imposed on steel, aluminum and various other goods. Government probes still underway could lead to additional sectoral tariffs.
But it nevertheless marked Trump’s biggest defeat at the Supreme Court since returning to the White House 13 months ago. The court has generally expanded his power.
Trump heaped praise on the conservative justices who voted to uphold his authority to levy tariffs — Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh, a Trump nominee — thanking them “for their strength and wisdom, and love of our country.”
The president alleged the majority of six justices, including two nominated during his first term, had been “swayed by foreign interests.”
“I think that foreign interests are represented by people that I believe have undue influence,” he said.
Shares on Wall Street — a metric closely watched by Trump — rose modestly Friday after the decision, which had been expected.
Business groups largely cheered the ruling, with the National Retail Federation saying this “provides much-needed certainty” for companies.
In court arguments, the Trump administration said companies would receive refunds if the tariffs were deemed unlawful. But the Supreme Court’s ruling did not address the issue.
Trump said he expected years of litigation on whether to provide refunds. Kavanaugh noted the refund process could be a “mess.”
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