Pakistan is off FATF’s grey list after 4 years

Pakistan is off FATF’s grey list after 4 years

• The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global watchdog on terror financing and money laundering, on Friday announced its decision to free Pakistan from its “grey list”.
• The global watchdog also said that Pakistan “strengthened effectiveness of its AML/CFT regime and addressed technical deficiencies to meet commitments of its action plans regarding strategic deficiencies that FATF identified”.
• There has been significant progress on the part of Pakistan to combat financial terrorism and money laundering which resulted Pakistan being taken off from the increased monitoring mechanism or the grey list.
• This development comes more than four years after the FATF put Pakistan on its grey list in 2018 for the country’s failure to check the risk of money laundering, leading to corruption and terror financing.

Italy’s far right leader Giorgia Meloni forms new government

• Giorgia Meloni on Friday formed Italy’s new ruling coalition, giving the country its first far­right­led government since the end of World War II and becoming the first woman tapped to serve as the country’s premier.
• A presidential palace official announced that Ms. Meloni and her Cabinet would be sworn in on Saturday. Ms. Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, a party with neo­fascist roots, was the top vote getter in Italy’s national election last month.
• A few hours before the new government’s formation were announced, Ms. Meloni, 45, told reporters that she and her allies had unanimously asked President Sergio Mattarella to give her the mandate to govern.