Georgian PM Ends Criminal Investigation into Ex-Officials

TBILISI, January 1 (RIA Novosti) – Georgia’s Prime Minister, Bidzina Ivanishvili, has announced that the criminal proceedings into former officials will be wound up.

“We must now forgive all those who, willingly or not, participated in this [corrupt] system. We must forgive them and think about something like an amnesty,” Ivanishvili said in his televised New Year’s address.

Soon after Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream coalition secured victory in the October 1 parliamentary elections, the new government launched criminal investigations into former officials and leading members of President Saakashvili’s United National Movement, accusing them of corruption.

Over the past two months numerous individuals who had occupied key posts – including the former justice, energy, defense, education, and finance ministers – were detained on charges of abusing their authority.

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Belarusian President Hails 2013 Economic ‘Watershed’

MINSK, January 1 (RIA Novosti) – In his New Year’s address, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko hailed 2013 as a ‘watershed year’ for the country's economy.

“The coming year will be a watershed for the economy. We have no other choice,” Lukashenko said.

He stressed the importance of modernization as key to the state’s resilience and the population’s prosperity. And, praising the economy’s stability, he noted that the country was little touched by the financial and economic crisis in 2012.

EU sanctions on Belarus were extended in 2012 due to continuing concerns within Europe over political persecution and human rights.

A recent World Bank report on the country's economy, covering the period to 2011, notes the advances made in reducing poverty and boosting growth over the past decade. However it also points to “loose macroeconomic policies” as causing “a severe balance of payments and foreign exchange crisis, accelerated inflation and the loss of the previous year’s income gains,” in 2011.

Russia’s trades union federation recently likened one headline-grabbing move – banning timber industry workers from resigning – to serfdom.

In December, Russian Trade Union Federation head Mikhail Shmakov wrote an open letter to Lukashenko criticizing the law and calling for it to be repealed.

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EU Urges Talks in Central African Republic

BRUSSELS, January 1 (RIA Novosti) – The EU’s Foreign Policy chief Catherine Ashton has again expressed concern over continuing violence in the Central African Republic (CAR) and urged the parties to negotiate a peaceful settlement.

“I call immediately on authorities to take all necessary measures to end, without delay, all exactions against populations in Bangui neighborhoods that undermine chances of a peaceful dialog,” Ashton said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Central African Republic’s President Francois Bozize on Tuesday reiterated his willingness to negotiate with the Seleka rebel alliance over forming a coalition government – but asked them to allow him to serve out the rest of his term.

Seleka accuse the president of rolling-back on a 2007 peace deal under which rebels who laid down their arms were to be paid and given jobs, and have voiced their doubts that he will step down at the end of his term in 2016.

On Sunday Boizize announced he was ready to negotiate with Seleka and expressed his readiness to participate in African Union-organized talks.

Seleka fighters seized control of key towns in several areas as they moved towards the capital, with reports surfacing over the weekend of renewed fighting between Seleka and government forces in the vicinity of Bangui. On Saturday night the capital was put under curfew.

As of Tuesday, Seleka were reportedly holding positions just 75 km from Bangui.

In response to the worsening situation in CAR, France sent additional troops to Bangui, while the United States deployed 50 servicemen to neighboring Chad.

Troops from Chad are currently deployed in the CAR under a Central African States’ multinational force joint mandate (FOMAC). Boizize thanked them in his New Year’s message “without the Chadian army we would no longer be here.”

On December 24, Mikhail Margelov, the Russian president’s special envoy for cooperation with African countries warned that, given the escalation of the internal conflict in the Central African Republic, the involvement of neighboring Chad, and instability in Mali, Darfur, South Sudan, Sudan, and Congo – the conflict in CAR “threatens the stability of the continent as a whole.”

The EU is the country’s main foreign donor. The Central African Republic is rich in natural resources such as timber, gold, diamonds and uranium, but 70 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, according to EU data.

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Tymoshenko Supporters Greet New Year Outside Hospital

KIEV, January 1 (RIA Novosti) – Over a hundred supporters of Yulia Tymoshenko, Ukraine’s former prime minister, ushered in the New Year outside the hospital where she is undergoing treatment, the party press service confirmed Tuesday.

“Despite the political persecution by the current regime, which has imprisoned Yulia Tymoshenko, we really had a magical celebration. Locals put a tree up outside the hospital, decorated it, and lit sparklers at midnight,” the local Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party press spokesperson said.

She added that the participants hoped that Tymoshenko will have been freed by this time next year.

Tymoshenko is serving out a seven-year sentence for abuse of office over a 2009 gas deal with Russia. Critics view the sentence as politically motivated.

Tymoshenko's Batkivshchyna party came second in the country's October 2012 parliamentary elections, losing to the ruling Party of Regions.

International election observers criticized what they called the abuse of administrative resources, a lack of media freedom during the campaign season, and the opaque campaign finances of the Party of Regions.

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Russians Anticipate Higher Wages, Higher Prices in 2013

MOSCOW, January 1 (RIA Novosti) – Russians can expect to see their real wages rise in 2013, but along with that will come higher utilities tariffs, according to Economic Development Ministry forecasts.

Take-home pay is set to rise 3.7 percent in 2013, the ministry forecasts, and the minimum wage is also expected to rise, although it will still lag significantly behind that in place in Portugal, France or Luxembourg, according to the Vesti news site.

Russians will also see pensions rise; by the end of 2013 the minimum pension will be just over 9,394 rubles, or around $ 310, Vesti reports. However, utilities bills will also rise in 2013, with power costing 12 to 15 percent more, while heating bills will rise by 8 to 10 percent.

Children, students and the elderly will also have to undergo annual medical examinations, as part of a government initiative to keep people healthy by boosting preventive medicine and catching problems early, local media report.

The minimum price of vodka, per bottle, will rise from the current 125 rubles (about $4) to 170 rubles (nearly $6), while the minimum price for a bottle of cognac will be just shy of $10, local media report.

The New Year also sees beer fully classified as an alcoholic beverage, and the consequent restrictions on location and time of sale will come into force, local media report. January 1 also sees a raft of changes come into force for Russian drivers, with gas prices rising and harsher punishments for driving violations, Business FM reported in December 2012.

However, public transport passengers’ lives will be eased, Russkaya Sluzhba Novostei (Russian News Service) reports, as compensation for damages incurred in an accident rises to a maximum of 2 million rubles (just over $64,000), although the subway system will be exempt.

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