Once-reclusive billionaire eyes power in Georgia

TBILISI (Reuters) - Until a year ago, few people in Georgia knew what billionaire businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili looked like.

The 56-year-old tycoon was best known in the former Soviet republic as a free-spending philanthropist with a spectacular home overlooking Tbilisi, and for keeping penguins, kangaroos and lemurs at a private zoo at another home outside the capital.

But he hated publicity and avoided photographers. When he bought Pablo Picasso's "Dora Maar au Chat" for $95.2 million in 2006, he did so anonymously, adding it to an art collection that includes works by Damien Hirst and Roy Lichtenstein.

All that changed last October when he announced he was entering politics, abandoning his privacy for what he says is a love of his homeland and a battle to oust a government he accuses of allowing the gap between rich and poor to widen.

"At the age of 56 it's hard to learn how to be a politician. I don't belong to myself. But the main thing is my country," he said in an interview this summer in his Tbilisi office.

Exit polls showed his Georgian Dream coalition beating President Mikheil Saakashvili's United National Movement in voting on party lists in an election in Monday, but uncertain of winning the race in individual constituencies.

"We will win it for sure," he told Reuters in an interview after the exit polls were published, although Saakashvili's party also claimed victory. "People won't be frustrated."

Ivanishvili made his fortune, estimated by Forbes magazine at $6.4 billion, mainly in Russia, with businesses ranging from banking to agricultural products after he started out selling computers.

He has distributed some of his money across the country of 4.5 million people with philanthropic gestures, particularly in his home village of Chorvila and nearby areas.

Residents say he has paved roads, built villagers new homes with water, electricity and gas, provided each household with 200 lari ($120) a month and given newlyweds $3,000.

BATTLES TO SHAKE OFF ACCUSATIONS

Critics have accused him of trying to win votes with his generosity, a charge he denies, and he has also dismissed suggestions that he could be a Russian stooge if he comes to power because of his ties with Georgia's former Soviet master.

Saakashvili has hinted he believes Ivanishvili is doing the bidding of Russian President Vladimir Putin, his bitter foe since a five-day war in 2008. Saakashvili said during the election campaign: "Those who thought they could carry out Putin's orders in our country will be very disappointed."

Ivanishvili says Saakashvili played the "Russian card" to draw attention away from Georgia's problems, and he has responded by selling his assets in Russia.

The tycoon set his sights months ago on becoming prime minister although he has said he would stay in the job for only two years before stepping aside for professional politicians.

He has already reshaped the political scene in Georgia, identifying voters' concerns about poverty and corruption, and posing a genuine challenge for Saakashvili after almost a decade in power since the "Rose Revolution" of 2003 that overthrew ex-Soviet rulers.

Ivanishvili has promised to boost the economy by reducing bureaucratic controls, ending monopolies and taking steps to woo foreign investors. He says he will improve health care and agriculture, make the justice system more independent and ensure the tax and customs departments are more transparent.

Making clear that he is prepared to help fire up the economy by again dipping in to his personal fortune, he says an investment bank he owns will offer loans at special rates.

Critics say his program lacks detail and that he could struggle to hold together a coalition that may be more united by hostility towards Saakashvili than a shared political vision.

Like Saakashvili, he wants Georgia to join NATO and the European Union. But he believes he would be better than Saakashvili at building bridges with Russia, with which diplomatic ties have been frozen since a five-day war in 2008 over the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Stability in the area is vital for Western governments as Georgia is an important transit route for gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe that would reduce Europe's reliance on Russia.

(Writing by Timothy Heritage; Editing by Michael Roddy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/profile-once-reclusive-billionaire-eyes-power-georgia-213248360.html

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'A surprise': Weather on Mars surprisingly warm

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is enjoying some nice, warm weather on the Red Planet ? and spring hasn't even come to its landing site yet.

Curiosity's onboard weather station, which is called the Remote Environment Monitoring Station (REMS), has measured air temperatures as high as 43 degrees Fahrenheit (6 degrees Celsius) in the afternoon. And temperatures have climbed above freezing during more than half of the Martian days, or sols, since REMS was turned on, scientists said.

These measurements are a bit unexpected, since it's still late winter at Gale Crater, the spot 4.5 degrees south of the Martian equator where Curiosity touched down on Aug. 5.

"That we are seeing temperatures this warm already during the day is a surprise and very interesting," Felipe G?mez, of the Centro de Astrobiolog?a in Madrid, said in a statement. [7 Biggest Mysteries of Mars]

Curiosity's main goal is to determine if the Gale area is, or ever was, capable of supporting microbial life. Most researchers think present-day Mars is too dry and cold to host life as we know it, but they may have to rethink some of their assumptions if temperatures climb considerably through the spring and summer.

"If this warm trend carries on into summer, we might even be able to foresee temperatures in the 20s [Celsius], and that would be really exciting from a habitability point of view," G?mez said. "In the daytimes, we could see temperatures high enough for liquid water on a regular basis. But it?s too soon to tell whether that will happen or whether these warm temperatures are just a blip.?

While Curiosity's days are relatively pleasant weather-wise, the same can't be said for the rover's nights. Air temperatures drop dramatically after the sun goes down, plunging as low as minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 70 Celsius) just before dawn, scientists said.

Such big swings occur because the effects of solar heating are much more pronounced on Mars than they are on Earth. The Red Planet's surface is much drier, and its atmosphere is just 1 percent as thick as Earth's.

REMS measurements also suggest that atmospheric pressure is on the rise at Gale Crater, researchers said. This information is in line with mission scientists' expectations.

In winter, Mars gets cold enough for carbon dioxide at the poles to freeze, forming seasonal "dry ice" caps. Since carbon dioxide dominates the Red Planet's thin atmosphere, this freeze-out process causes pressures to vary from season to season.

Models and data from previous missions had predicted that Curiosity would land when pressures were around their lowest. The rover's measurements have borne this out, rising from a daily average of around 730 pascals during Curiosity's first three weeks on Mars to about 750 pascals more recently, researchers said.

?The pressure data show a very significant daily variation of pressure, following a fairly consistent cycle from sol-to-sol," said REMS principal investigator Javier G?mez-Elvira. "The minimum is near 685 pascals and the maximum near 780 pascals."

Even that maximum value is nowhere near what we're used to here on Earth. Average atmospheric pressure at sea level on our planet is 101,325 pascals ? about 140 times what Curiosity is experiencing inside Gale Crater.

REMS sustained some minor damage during landing, when rocks kicked up by the engines on Curiosity's sky crane descent stage apparently knocked out wind sensors on one of the instrument's two booms.

But wind sensors on the other boom are working fine, so mission scientists don't anticipate too much of an impact.

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Copyright 2012 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/weather-mars-surprisingly-warm-curiosity-rover-finds-200053271.html

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Video: The legitimacy of the ruling party

Theme parks offer frightfully good fun for Halloween

Halloween is still a month away, but it seems the bloodsuckers and flesh munchers are already on the prowl. For now, though, they?re not showing up on people?s doorsteps, but rather, in theme parks from Orlando to Anaheim.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/49248233#49248233

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National Democrats investing in Ariz. Senate race (The Arizona Republic)

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Ultrabooks not yet ultradesirable, says report

8 hrs.

Suzanne Choney

Ultrabooks are supposed to help satisfy MacBook Air lust? ? by being thin, light Apple knockoffs for Windows users ? but so far this year, they've been priced too high and buyers aren't ready to bite, according to IHS iSuppli.?

The research firm expected 22 million ultrabooks would be shipped worldwide in 2012; now the firm says that number will be 10.3 million, and most of those will be in the last quarter of this year.

For 2013,?IHS iSuppli had forecast shipments?of 61 million ultrabooks;?now, it says, it's looking more like 44 million.

"So far, the PC industry has failed to create the kind of?buzz and excitement?among consumers that is required to propel ultrabooks into the mainstream," said?Craig Stice, senior principal analyst for compute platforms at IHS, in a statement.

"This is especially a problem amid all the hype surrounding media tablets and smartphones," he said, specifically citing the iPhone 5, Kindle Fire HD and Microsoft Surface tablet, due out next month. "When combined with other factors, including prohibitively high pricing, this means that ultrabook sales will not meet expectations in 2012."

"High pricing"???at around $1,000???is definitely an issue when standard laptops still can be bought for much less,?many of them budget-priced models?at $400 and $500.

"Ultrabooks need to get?more systems?down to the $600?price?range in order to hit the volume level needed to enter the mainstream, down from prices at the $1,000 level now," Stice said.?

"If ultrabooks?using the new?Windows 8?operating system?come close to the $600 to?$700?range next year, while adding in an attractive new consumer feature such as a touchscreen,?a good chance?exists?for strong sales in 2013. If not???and ultrabooks stay at the $1,000 level???their sales?will?continue to struggle in 2013?as they must compete against?lower-priced options, such as tablets and smartphones."

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on?Facebook,?and on?Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/ultrabooks-not-yet-ultradesirable-says-report-6206726

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Spain Debt Rises on Aid to Banks, Regions, Finance Cost

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Guinea secures $2.1 billion debt relief from IMF, World Bank

By Saliou Samb

CONAKRY | Wed Sep 26, 2012 4:47pm EDT

CONAKRY (Reuters) ? Guinea secured $2.1 billion in debt relief from the World Bank and the IMF Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, paving the way for accelerated development of the minerals-rich West African state, officials said.

The debt relief comes as a vote of international confidence in Guinea?s transition back to civilian rule since a 2008 military coup that hampered its economy, discouraged investment, and led partners to freeze aid.

?Reaching the HIPC completion point represents an important achievement for Guinea. It reflects the significant progress made in economic management following the first democratic elections in December 2010,? Harry Snoek, IMF mission chief for Guinea, said in the IMF press statement.

Guinea is the world?s top supplier of the aluminum ore bauxite and holds rich deposits of iron ore, gold and diamonds, but decades of political turmoil since independence have left most of its people in poverty.

?I applaud the courage of the Guinean people, without whom this important step in restoring the confidence of our partners would never have been possible,? President Alpha Conde said in a press release issued by his office.

?This gives us the historic opportunity for a new start.?

Conde?s office said the debt relief would free up some $150 million a year for programs to combat poverty in Guinea, and would allow the government to raise public salaries by 10 percent starting in October.

Conde won a hotly contested election in 2010, closing the book on nearly two years of military junta rule, but the government has since struggled to set the legislative elections needed to complete the transition.

Conde?s regime has taken criticism from human rights groups and the United Nations for heavy-handed security crackdowns on opposition protesters, who claim his government is seeking to rig the parliamentary elections in advance.

TROUBLED TRANSITION

Guinea?s Finance Minister Kerfalla Yansane said the debt relief, which clears two-thirds of the country?s total foreign debt, will allow the country invest in infrastructure, water, electricity, and food security.

?We must ensure that the daily needs of people are taken care of, but we must also lay the groundwork for longer-term productivity and self-reliance,? he said.

He added that Guinea was aiming for double-digit growth within two years on the back of its development projects, up from the IMF?s projected 4.7 percent in 2012.

?This is a process that is going to pave the way for better controlled development and we hope that later, in the two years ahead, that we will hit double-digit growth.?

Mining firms have signed billions of dollars worth of deals targeting Guinea?s reserves, though ongoing political uncertainty, labor strife, and a government review of mining contracts has cooled recent investment.

Guinea said in July that world No. 1 miner BHP Billiton is pulling out of an iron ore project, and a source at Vale said on Tuesday the company was putting its planned Simandou development down its list of priorities.

Yansane said bad governance remained a top threat to Guinea?s development plans, which he said was the main reason for the government reviewing existing contracts ? particularly those signed during the military junta rule.

A report by the Paris Court of Accounting seen by Reuters showed that some 1.5 billion euros ($1.93 billion) of contracts were signed by the former military junta under opaque conditions.

?Guinea needs to follow a more democratic path, in consultations, in collaboration, so that we can have a sustainable development and growth that can be shared by all including the poor,? he said.

Inflation in Guinea is running at about 14 percent, down from 40 percent in 2006, Yansane said. He added, however, that Guinea?s poverty rate has risen to 55 percent in 2010 from 48 percent in 2002. ($1 = 0.7788 euros)

(Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Bate Felix, Ron Askew and Myra MacDonald)

Source ? Reuters

Source: http://zoominta.com/10326/world-news/guinea-secures-2-1-billion-debt-relief-from-imf-world-bank/

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