Financial
The Titan of Tbilisi
Is Georgia’s elfin billionaire and new political phenomenon big enough to take down President Mikheil Saakashvili?

I am standing in the foyer of my hotel in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. An unshaven young man with an enquiring expression comes up to me and asks, “Thomas?” I nod and he says the one word, “Bidzina.”
My assignation with the most talked-about man in Georgia is about to begin.
We climb into a Toyota Landcruiser, ascend to the top of a hill in Tbilisi, and then enter a small private drive. Electronic gates slide open and we are soon outside a soaring glass-and-steel construction, a futurist castle constructed by the Japanese architect Shin Takamatsu, surrounded by a small forest of modern sculpture.
I am ushered into the presence of the man himself. Bidzina Ivanishvili is quite small, a little elfin, immaculately dressed, and smiling. I have never interviewed a billionaire before but his manner is easy. He starts by showing me the pictures on the wall: Egon Schiele, Claude Monet, Lucian Freud. He admits that they are, in fact, high-quality copies; the originals are in London. There is a chatty simplicity about him but also huge self-confidence and self-control.
We sit down, he under a Lucien Freud portrait, and I ask a variation on the same question he has been asked 100 times in the last month: “What motivated you to go into Georgian politics?”

In one month, it is no exaggeration to say, Ivanishvili has turned the politics of his country upside down. Georgia has had a turbulent decade. First, the peaceful Rose Revolution of 2003 swept aside Eduard Shevardnadze‘s tired old regime. Then, Mikheil Saakashvili became Europe’s youngest head of state at the age of 36 and embarked on a series of hair-raising modernizing reforms. The volatile Saakashvili also went head-to-head with Russia over the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, a confrontation that burst out into full conflict in 2008. After defeat in the war, Saakashvili’s popularity plummeted, but he clung to power. He and his governing party slowly recovered the initiative and, as the next elections approached in 2012-13, they found themselves again in a commanding position, with a virtual monopoly over the executive, parliament, local government, and the media. Read the rest of this entry »
Afghan Parliament Approves Central Bank Governor, Spy Chief

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Saturday, 26 November 2011 16:48 Last Updated on Saturday, 26 November 2011 18:44 Written by TOLOnews.com
Afghanistan‘s House of Representatives on Saturday approved President Hamid Karzai‘s candidates for the posts of the head of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), the governor of the Central Bank and a member of the High Office of Oversight.
At total of 228 MPs attended the session and each of the candidates needed 115 “yes” votes to secure his position.
The new NDS director, Rahmatullah Nabil, got 208 votes in his favour; the new head of the Central Bank, Noorullah Delawari, got 173 vote of approval; and Mohammad Munir got 155 votes endorsing his membership of the High Office of Oversight.
At the session, the three officials outlined their future plans and strategies, and responded to the questions of the representatives.
Mr Nabil has serviced as the acting director of the NDS for the past year and President Hamid Karzai put him forward to continue in the role after MPs praised the security measures put in place during the four-day Loya Jirga earlier this month.
Mr Delawari worked as head of the Central Bank from 2004 to 2007.
Anti-money laundering experts inspect Vatican

Sunday, November 27, 2011
VATICAN CITY (AP) — European inspectors fighting money laundering on Saturday wrapped up a week of meetings with church officials as part of ensuring that the Holy See’s law conforms with international efforts to combat financing of terrorism, the Vatican said.
The officials will issue a report that will that will be discussed by experts at the Council of Europe, likely in mid-2012, the Vatican said in a statement.
Earlier this year, Italian prosecutors ordered the release of (euro) 23 million ($33 million) seized from a Vatican Bank account as part of a money-laundering probe. Italian financial police had seized the money in September 2010, and placed the bank’s two top officials under investigation, over allegations that the bank broke the law by trying to transfer funds without identifying the sender and recipient. Read the rest of this entry »
Venezuela begins gold shipments

Published: Nov. 26, 2011 at 1:05 PM
CARACAS, Venezuela, Nov. 26 (UPI) — The head of the Central Bank of Venezuela said shipments of gold to the bank from Europe gave the country a larger degree of financial independence.
“It has historic value. It has symbolic value. And it has financial value,” bank chief Nelson Merentes said about the first shipment of gold to arrive from Europe under orders from President Hugo Chavez, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported Saturday.
Chavez has ordered 85 percent of the country’s gold — about $11 billion worth — to be physically returned to Venezuela.
“The gold is returning to where it was always meant to be: the vaults of the Central Bank of Venezuela,” Chavez said.
Merentes supported the move, saying, “The country’s finances will be backed by autonomous wealth, so we are not subject to pressure from anyone.”
But some have complained that moving the gold has no purpose and is an expensive project. Read the rest of this entry »
Euro crisis claims another leader as Berlusconi agrees to step down
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi offered to resign if the parliament passed an austerity package. His move comes on the heels of the exit of Greece’s prime minister, George Papandreou.
Italian Premier Silvio Berlusoni waves to journalists as he leaves the Quirinale, Presidential palace, after meeting with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, in Rome, Tuesday. Berlusconi says his decision to resign after parliament passed economic reforms is for the good of the country, and to settle financial markets that have lost confidence in Italy’s ability to rein in debt and spur growth.
Roberto Monaldo/LaPresse/AP
Fact Sheet: Combating the Financing of Terrorism, Disrupting Terrorism at its Core
Monday, September 26, 2011 at 19:40
Terrorist organizations rely on financing and support networks to sustain operations and launch attacks. The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI) has developed a sophisticated and comprehensive approach – including intelligence analysis, sanctions administration and enforcement, financial regulatory action, policy expertise, and outreach to the international community and financial sector – to aggressively identify, disrupt and deter the funding networks of terrorist organizations. The U.S. Treasury Department is the only finance ministry in the world to develop such an office, and TFI continues to play a leading role within the United States Government and the international community in combating terrorist Read the rest of this entry »
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