VIENNA (Reuters) – The European Central Bank’s “strong vigilance” message on tackling inflation still applies despite added economic uncertainty after Japan’s huge earthquake and unrest in North Africa, ECB policymaker Ewald Nowotny said.

ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet used the phrase “strong vigilance” earlier this month — a term the bank used repeatedly during its 2005-2007 rate hike cycle, typically one month before it raised rates, although there were exceptions to that rule.

VIENNA (Reuters) – The European Central Bank’s “strong vigilance” message on tackling inflation still applies despite added economic uncertainty after Japan’s huge earthquake and unrest in North Africa, ECB policymaker Ewald Nowotny said.

ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet used the phrase “strong vigilance” earlier this month — a term the bank used repeatedly during its 2005-2007 rate hike cycle, typically one month before it raised rates, although there were exceptions to that rule.

VIENNA, March 9 (Reuters) – A former official at Libya’s
sovereign wealth fund has asked Austria’s top court to release
his assets that Vienna froze in a hunt for offshore wealth of
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his inner circle.

Attorneys for Mustafa Zarti, 40, filed an appeal on
Wednesday with Austria’s Constitutional Court against the March
4 asset freeze order from the central bank, a spokesman for
Zarti said.

VIENNA (Reuters) – Austria will not extradite to Serbia a former Bosnian army general arrested last week on a Serbian warrant demanding he face war crimes charges, the foreign ministry said on Monday.

Police arrested Jovan Divjak at Vienna airport on Thursday, triggering protests that brought out hundreds of his supporters in Vienna on Monday and thousands in Sarajevo at the weekend.

VIENNA (Reuters) – A top Libyan official accused Austria on Saturday of betraying its liberal traditions by freezing his assets as part of a hunt for offshore wealth held by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his inner circle.

Austria on Friday added Mustafa Zarti, deputy head of the Libya Investment Authority (LIA) sovereign wealth fund, to its blacklist of suspected Gaddafi cronies, calling him a “close confidant of the regime in Libya.

VIENNA (Reuters) – Austria widened an asset freeze list on Friday to include a top Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) official suspected of links to Muammar Gaddafi’s inner circle, a move the man dismissed as a joke.

The Austrian central bank measures against LIA deputy chief Mustafa Zarti, who has an Austrian passport, follow international sanctions on Gaddafi’s family and associates.

VIENNA, March 4 (Reuters) – Austria widened an asset freeze
list on Friday to include a top official at the Libyan
Investment Authority (LIA) because of possible links to Muammar
Gaddafi’s inner circle.

The move against LIA deputy chief Mustafa Zarti, who has an
Austrian passport, follows international sanctions on Gaddafi’s
family and associates.

VIENNA, March 3 (Reuters) – Austria is seeking to widen an
asset freeze list to include a top official at the Libyan
Investment Authority because of possible links to Muammar
Gaddafi’s inner circle, the foreign ministry said on Thursday.

The ministry said it had asked Austria’s National Bank to
consider the measures against Mustafa Zarti, the investment
body’s deputy chief, following the imposition of international
sanctions on Gaddafi’s family and associates.

VIENNA/FRANKFURT, March 3 (Reuters) – Oesterreichische
Volksbanken’s (OTVVp.VI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) divestment of its eastern European arm
is turning into a hard sell just when Austria’s fourth-biggest
lender needs money to start repaying state aid.

Russian lender Sberbank (SBER03.MM: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) — widely tipped as the
favourite to buy the Volksbank International (VBI) unit — threw
a cat among the pigeons last week when Chief Executive German
Gref appeared to remove his bank from the race.

VIENNA, March 1 (Reuters) – Austria took steps to freeze any
assets of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s family and other
associates subject to European Union sanctions, its central bank
said on Tuesday.

The bank said around 1.2 billion euros ($1.66 billion) in
Libyan assets were deposited in Austrian institutions.