It became known yesterday that Mikhail Kareli, former governor of Shida Kartli Region in Georgia and close advisor to former Georgian defense minister Irakly Okruashvili, has asked for political asylum in France. Nothing had been known of the fate of the politician, who is accused in Georgia of abuse of office, extortion and corruption, since last November, when he was released from custody on $140,000 bail and immediately disappeared. ...