YCLOAK

Players line up beside a small kiosk in a poor neighborhood to choose animals in a lottery game that has become a craze in Venezuela even as the oil-rich country suffers a fourth year of brutal recession.

It seems more and more Venezuelans are turning to gambling in their desperation to make ends meet amid the country’s unprecedented economic crisis.

Though more people lose than win overall, the illusion of a payday has become more alluring as Venezuelans endure the world’s highest inflation, shortages of basics from flour to car batteries, and diminished real-term wages. 

Among multiple options from race courses to back-street betting parlors, the roulette-style “Los Animalitos” (or the Little Animals) is currently by far the most popular game on the street.

“Most people I see playing the lottery are unemployed, trying to make a bit extra this way because the payouts are good,” said Veruska Torres, 26, a nurse who recently lost her job in a pharmacy and now plays Animalitos every day.

Torres often plays more than a dozen times daily at the kiosk in Catia, spending between 5,000-10,000 bolivars, but sometimes making up to 50,000 or 60,000 bolivars in winnings – more than a quarter of the monthly minimum wage.

When that happens, she splits the money between buying food and diapers for her baby boy, and re-investing in the lottery.

The Animalitos game, whose results appear on YouTube at scheduled times, is hugely popular because it goes through various rounds, holding people’s interest, and provides more chances to win than most traditional betting options.

The cheapest ticket costs just 100 bolivars – a quarter of a U.S. cent at the black market currency rate, and more than 10 times less than that at the official exchange level.

“It helped me a lot,” said Eduardo Liendo, 63, of a timely win. He recently lost his house and lives in a car in Caracas’ Propatria neighborhood, but had a successful punt on the Animalitos, choosing the dog figure after his own had died.

There is no hard data on betting figures, and the government’s betting regulator did not answer requests from Reuters for information. But those behind Venezuela’s gambling businesses, run by a mixture of private companies and local regional authorities, said trade was booming, with lines longer and busier than ever – because of, not despite, the hard times.

“In a crisis like the one we’re going through, people drink and gamble more to escape from reality,” said psychologist Rosa Garcia from the rural state of Barinas.

The latest scarcity in Venezuela is cash – as authorities cannot produce enough notes to keep up with dizzying inflation – so many bars, shops and betting parlors have quickly switched from cash to electronic transactions to keep money flowing.

That has hit the Caracas hippodrome, where cash is still king. But thousands still go there at weekends, pushing against fences in front of the sand track to cheer their horse on as salsa music booms in the background.
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The U.S. Senate Banking Committee unanimously backed new sanctions targeting Chinese banks that do business with North Korea on Tuesday, just before President Donald Trump visits Beijing for the first time since taking office.

As well as strengthening existing sanctions and congressional oversight, the measure will target foreign financial institutions — in China and elsewhere — that provide services to those subject to North Korea-related sanctions by the U.S. Congress, a presidential order or U.N. Security Council resolution.

All 12 Republicans and 11 Democrats on the panel voted for the “Otto Warmbier Banking Restrictions Involving North Korea (BRINK) Act,” clearing the way for its consideration by the full Senate.

The bill was named after a U.S. student who died earlier this year after he was imprisoned in North Korea, further chilling already poor relations between Washington and Pyongyang.

“For too long, we’ve been complacent about the growing and gathering threat from the North Korean regime,” Republican Pat Toomey, one of the bill’s authors, said after the committee voted.

Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen, another author, said that in addition to Chinese banks, Malaysian financial institutions might end up in its sights.

Trump is due to wrap up a visit to Seoul on Wednesday with a major speech on North Korea, and then shift focus to China, where he is expected to press a reluctant President Xi Jinping to tighten the screws further on Pyongyang.

Some of Trump’s fellow Republicans, as well as many Democrats, have been critical of Trump’s bellicose rhetoric about North Korea, and have called for the use of economic tools like sanctions or more negotiations before talking of war.

Washington so far has largely held off on imposing new sanctions against Chinese banks and companies doing business with North Korea, given fears of retaliation by Beijing and possibly far-reaching effects on the world economy.

Van Hollen told reporters on Monday ahead of the committee vote that he wished Trump would follow the model of President Theodore Roosevelt and “speak softly and carry a big stick,” adding: “We’re trying to give him a little bigger stick with the sanctions.”

Republican and Democratic lawmakers said last week they had reached a bipartisan agreement on the sanctions bill. A companion bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives.

The leaders of the Republican-led Senate have not said when the chamber might vote on the legislation.

 
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Inflation in Venezuela’s crisis-hit economy was 826 percent in the 10 months to October and may end 2017 above 1,400 percent, the opposition-controlled National Assembly said Friday.

The government stopped releasing price data more than a year ago but congress has published its own figures since January and they have been close to private economists’ estimates.

As well as the alarming Jan-Oct cumulative rise, the legislative body, which has been sidelined by President Nicolas Maduro’s government, put monthly inflation at 45.5 percent for October, compared with 36.3 percent in September.

Opponents say Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, have wrecked a once-prosperous economy with 18 years of state-led socialist policies from nationalizations to currency controls.

The government says it is victim of an “economic war” including speculation and hoarding by pro-opposition businessmen, combined with U.S. sanctions and the fall in global oil prices from mid-2014. OPEC member Venezuela relies on crude oil for more than 95 percent of its export revenues.

Prices in Venezuela, which has long had one of the highest inflation rates in the world, rose 180.9 percent in 2015 and 274 percent in 2016, according to official figures, although many economists believe the real data was worse.

Announcing the October calculations, opposition lawmaker Angel Alvarado told the National Assembly that inflation next year could reach 12,000 percent.

“This is dramatic, this is Venezuelans’ big problem, it’s what keeps workers awake at night, it’s what’s killing the people with hunger,” Alvarado said.

In a research note this week, New York-based Torino Capital estimated Venezuela’s 2017 inflation would be 1,032 percent.

A central bank spokeswoman could not provide official data.
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Unless emissions can be drastically and quickly curbed, efforts by small island nations to adapt to climate change may be in vain, a leader of a group of small island nations said Tuesday.

Hurricanes that hit the Caribbean this year were like nothing seen before, with Hurricane Irma so strong it was picked up by seismic machines that detect earthquake tremors, officials said.

National plans to curb planet-warming emissions, drawn up ahead of the Paris Agreement, currently add up to a projected temperature rise of 3 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2100 — well above the 1 degree Celsius rise already seen.

That may bring climate impacts that are impossible for small island nations to deal with, their leaders warned Tuesday at the U.N. climate talks in Bonn.

If ambition to curb climate remains modest, “have we created a situation for small island developing states where resilience may not necessarily be … achievable?” asked Janine Felson, Belize ambassador to the United Nations and vice chair of the Alliance of Small Island States.

This year, Hurricane Maria destroyed broad swaths of homes and infrastructure on the Caribbean island of Dominica and stripped its trees bare. Barbuda island was left temporarily uninhabitable when Irma whipped through the region.

“In the Caribbean we’re used to hurricanes, but … for the first time we’ve seen storms turbocharge and supersize in a matter of hours,” she said, speaking on the sidelines of the climate talks.

The storms’ impact was “quite apocalyptic,” and magnified the acute vulnerability of small island states, Felson said.

Even so, countries — who are now clear on the risks — can take steps to protect themselves by building structures better able to weather storms, and ensuring policies take into account the rapidly changing climate, she said.

“If we do not know the extent of our vulnerability, then we will not change,” Felson said.

Bouncing back

In Fiji, resilience to the rapidly changing climate is about communities being able to bounce back, rebuild together and become stronger, said Inia Seruiratu, Fiji minister for agriculture, rural and maritime development, and national disaster management.

When Cyclone Winston struck Fiji last year, it caused $100 million in damage to infrastructure alone. Businesses and people’s livelihoods suffered, women and girls became more vulnerable, and school records were lost, Seruiratu said.

“We need to put in place response measures that will allow vulnerable countries to cope with such severities,” he said.

Small island states also need to look at climate risk insurance schemes, and diversify their economies, he said.

“Our dependence on agriculture and tourism makes our economies particularly vulnerable,” he said.

Felson said that international climate funds — including the Green Climate Fund, the Least Developed Countries Fund and the South-South Cooperation Fund on Climate Change — need to better serve the needs of the most vulnerable countries facing climate impacts now.

Countries should also try to tap into the private sector, where much more financing is potentially available, she added.

No fossil fuel

Small island nation campaigners are pushing for countries to immediately phase out existing fossil fuel projects and ban new ones, alongside the overall Paris Agreement commitment to switch to renewable energy by the second half of the century as a way to keep planet-warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.

“We are fighting for our future. We want our children to be able to live where we live, to learn about our traditions, our culture,” said Billy Cava, Pacific coordinator for 350.org, an activist group, as he described changes in his home territory of New Caledonia.

With new coal mines and coal-fired power plants opening in many parts of the world — including a huge new mine planned in Australia — rapidly phasing out all fossil fuels remains a challenge, experts say.

But the stakes are too high to not push for this change, one campaigner from Fiji said.

“We have to move our plantations inland; we have to build back better after storms,” said Alisi Rabukawaqa-Nacewa, the Fiji program coordinator for the Coral Reef Alliance and a member of Pacific Island Represent campaign group.

“But that is not enough. We cannot keep adapting, moving farther and farther inland. What can we do? Build on the top of the mountain, buildings in the sky? No, we need a phase-out of fossil fuels,” she said.
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The United States and other countries hoping to host the 2026 World Cup should provide government guarantees on visa-free travel plus work permit and tax exemptions for their bids to be accepted, according to documents published by FIFA on Tuesday.

The U.S wants to host the 2026 tournament in a joint bid with Canada and Mexico, who would also have to commit to the government guarantees for their proposal to be accepted by soccer’s world governing body.

Morocco is currently the only other country to have indicated they will bid for the finals, which will be the first to feature an expanded 48-team field.

FIFA wants a visa-free environment, or at least non-discriminatory visa procedures, while the work permit exemptions apply to anyone involved with the World Cup and tax exemptions relate to the soccer governing body and its subsidiaries.

While FIFA has asked for — and received — similar exemptions in the past, their inclusion in a revamped World Cup bid process will mean the current U.S. administration of President Donald Trump will need to sign off on the exemptions.

Sunil Gulati, chairman of the joint U.S, Mexican and Canadian “United Bid Committee” has previously stated that Trump supports the attempt to bring the World Cup to the United States, which hosted the 1994 finals.

FIFA produced new bidding criteria after the organization was heavily criticized over the selection process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup finals, won by Russia and Qatar respectively.

Formal submission of the completed bids has to be made by March 16, 2018 and FIFA will decide whether to select one of the candidate bids at their congress in June next year, or re-open the process if none of the bids are accepted.

Overview document

Regarding immigration and travel guarantees, the FIFA overview document on government guarantees states: “In order to cover the needs of the respective groups of individuals, the Government is requested to generally establish a visa-free environment or facilitate existing visa procedures for them. Regardless, any visa procedures must be applied in a non-discriminatory manner.”

As a presidential candidate, Trump called for a total ban on Muslims entering the U.S. as a counter-terrorism measure.

The courts have blocked his latest executive action barring entry into the United States for people from several Muslim-majority countries.

The FIFA document adds however that: “It is understood that such ease of access to the Host Country/Host Countries must by no means adversely affect the national immigration and security standards in the Host Country/Host Countries.”

The document also says a bidding nation’s government “is requested to guarantee the issuance of valid work permits unconditionally and without any restriction or discrimination of any kind” to people involved in the preparation, organization and hosting of the tournament.

It adds that the government “must grant a general tax exemption for FIFA, the 2026 FWC (FIFA World Cup) Entity, the 2026 FWC Subsidiaries (if applicable) and any other FIFA subsidiary limited to the period of preparation, delivery and wrap-up of the Competition, commencing on the date of appointment of the Host Country/Host Countries and ending on 31 December 2028.”

FIFA’s “enhanced” bidding guidelines are part of a series of reforms enacted after a corruption crisis in 2015 engulfed the organization. They include ethics, human rights and transparency commitments plus demands on stadium size and infrastructure.

 
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Indian cuisine is often identified with spicy curries and a range of kebabs, but the government wants to propel a staple dish made with rice and lentils across the global stage. The dish recently came under the spotlight as a team of leading Indian chefs prepared a record 918 kilograms of the meal, called “khichdi,” at the World Food India Conference in New Delhi.

This dish, which top Indian chefs steam cooked in a giant wok in the heart of New Delhi, was no gourmet preparation. But the traditional dish has been prepared for centuries in homes across the diverse country with rice, lentils and sometimes a sprinkling of vegetables and other grains.

Calling it a super food associated with health and nutrition, the government promoted “khichdi” as “Brand India food” at the recent World Food India Conference.

Oozing confidence about popularizing it across the world, Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi points out that “khichdi” was as popular on tables in erstwhile palaces as in ordinary kitchens.

“If paella from Spain can be global then why not ‘khichdi’? This has health benefits, it has wellness, it is a detox food, it is a royal food. It deserves a global platform and recognition,” he said.

The selection of the humblest dish among Indian cuisines has raised many eyebrows among those who question if global palates will relish the culinary experience of what most Indians associate not with indulgence but comfort food.

Chef Imtiaz Qureshi is optimistic there is room for innovation to suit all tastes.

“Khichdi can be made with mutton, fish, chicken. You can also add whatever vegetables you like, Indian or Western, from broccoli to zucchini to capsicum,” he said.

The 918 kilograms of “khichdi” prepared on Saturday has made it to the Guinness Book of World Records. However it remains to be seen whether it makes its mark in the world. But for the time being the humble dish is getting the attention and appreciation it has seldom enjoyed in ordinary homes.

 
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Indian cuisine is often identified with spicy curries and a range of kebabs, but the government wants to propel a staple dish made with rice and lentils across the global stage. The dish recently came under the spotlight as a team of leading Indian chefs prepared a record 918 kilograms of the meal, called “khichdi”, at the World Food India Conference in New Delhi. Anjana Pasricha has this report.
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A U.S. decision to cut funding for a demining program in Cambodia threatens to further worsen a feud between Phnom Penh and Washington.

On Tuesday, it emerged through local media reports the U.S. had decided to discontinue annual funding in 2018, worth about $2 million, to clear explosive remnants of war in Cambodia.

Prime Minister Hun Sen reportedly responded to the surprise decision by declaring he will stump to raise the money, according to a senior Cambodian demining official.

No public explanation has been given for the cut, and both the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC), the final recipient of the funding, and Norwegian People’s Aid, which administer the money, say they do not know why the funding has been discontinued.

CMAC Director General Heng Ratana said he had no warning of any cut to the funding before he received notification Monday about the decision. The money covered the salaries of about 300 staffers, many of whom were deminers.

“I don’t know what the real dispute [is]. We just present the facts and we work together; they never indicated any dispute that we have had, but suddenly they cut the aid,” he said.

“But we are very lucky that the government, the head, the prime minister, granted approval that he will maintain our operation as usual so that means it has no impact on our operation,” he said, adding that funds for the rest of this year had not been affected.

The United States had a moral obligation to deal with the legacy of its bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam war, he added.

Ruling Cambodian People’s Party spokesman Sok Eysan told VOA he was unaware of the cut, which seemed peculiar to him.

“I think that it’s an issue which we see that it’s not normal. So, no matter what we answer, it will still be not normal,” he said.

Norwegian People’s Aid country director Aksel Steen-Nilsen said he, too, had been unaware about the reasons for the cut.

“I mean, of course, there is a lot of rhetoric between Cambodia and the U.S. right now,” he said. “But … I don’t see any specific objective related to this because it’s the end of the grant cycle, and then of course, it’s up to the donor if they have funds and interest to continue or not.”

Steen-Nilsen said cooperation had been good thus far over the three years the grant had been running and there was no indication of any special reason it would stop.

In an email, the deputy spokesman of the U.S. embassy in Phnom Penh, David Josar, said demining remained at the top of the State Department’s assistance priorities, but he did not address the specific reason for the cut.

“We will use 2018 resources to put in place a world-class removal program targeting U.S.-origin UXO [unexploded ordnance] in eastern Cambodia,” he wrote. “UXO experts have proposed that the United States devote more attention to clearing such UXO, in addition to our support for clearing the more lethal Chinese, Vietnamese, and Soviet land mines in western Cambodia.”

Next year’s funding would be opened up to competitive bidding with requests for proposals — prepared in consultation with the Cambodian government — to be released this year, he wrote without providing any further details.

For months, Cambodia has accused the U.S. of fomenting a color revolution — a conspiracy plot it has used as the grounds to jail the country’s opposition leader, Kem Sokha, and justify moves to dissolve his party.

They have seized on the continuing impacts of unexploded ordinance left over from the U.S.’s massive illegal bombing campaign during the Vietnam war — a line of attack only bolstered by news of the cut to CMAC funding.

Carl Thayer, an emeritus professor at the Australian Defense Force Academy, said the embassy reports he had read also did not seem to be specific about the reasoning for the cut.

“So we don’t really know the reason why the funding was cut so far, and it’s sheer speculation on Hun Sen’s part and political opportunism on his part to make that linkage,” he said.

Any retaliatory action by the U.S. in response to the decimation of Cambodia’s opposition party would have been made up front, he said.

“There’s an expression, ‘between conspiracy and cock-up, you always go for conspiracy, and that seems to be what the Cambodians are doing, and until I see a better explanation, I’m saying its just a bureaucratic decision probably made in Washington and passed through without much thinking,” he said.  

Josar said the U.S. had spent more than $131 million on the remediation of explosive remnants of war in Cambodia.

In recent years, the main focus of that funding has been on U.S.-dropped unexploded ordnance left in Cambodia’s east. Some experts have complained this diverts resources away from more harmful explosive remnants in the west.

 
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The restive Spanish region of Catalonia faces a potential $500 million financial hit in the fourth quarter as business-related travel dips following the attack in Barcelona and the uncertainty generated by the disputed independence referendum.

In an interview Monday with The Associated Press at the World Travel Market in London, Catalonia’s top tourism official Patrick Torrent said the region will likely see a 10-12 percent fall in tourist numbers during the fourth quarter, which would equate to around 450 million euros. The large bulk of that fall is related to a drop-off in business travel to events such as conventions.

Despite the anticipated fourth-quarter decline, the executive director at the Catalan Tourist Board, said Catalonia is set to see revenues this year outstrip those last year and that the expectation is that revenues will rise again next.

However, more insight will emerge at the turn of the year when the bulk of pre-reservations are made. His staff, he said, are “on alert” about the impact on the main booking season.

The worry among many economists is that deteriorating business environment in Catalonia, which has seen around 1,500 firms move their headquarters out of the region, could worsen further amid all the uncertainty. Credit ratings agency Moody’s has warned that the region’s financial recovery is being jeopardized

“Moody’s believes that the political instability will negatively affect the region’s economy, in particular foreign investor sentiment and the tourism sector, and add pressure to the region’s already weak finances,” it said last week.

The Catalan tourism industry, a key income generator in what is Spain’s richest region, has had a difficult few months. After the August attacks in Barcelona and a nearby town that saw 16 people killed, the region has been embroiled in a battle of wills with Spain over the disputed independence referendum in early October which prompted Madrid to impose direct rule and seek the arrest of members of the Catalan government, including its leader, Carles Puigdemont, who has fled to Brussels.

The impact of the attack in Barcelona on holiday travelers was short-lived, according to Torrent, and “less important” than other cities in Europe, such as Brussels or Paris.

“The perception of Barcelona and Catalonia as a safe destination has not suffered any impact,” he said, noting figures showing tourism numbers higher in September.

Torrent said he met up with Alvaro Nadal, the Spanish minister of energy, tourism and digital matters, on Monday for the first time since the triggering of Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution which imposed direct rule on Catalonia.

Torrent said the Spanish government has made no requirements upon him or his staff and that it is “business as usual” until an early Catalan regional election on Dec. 21.

“It’s not intervention. It’s more a kind of coordination,” he said. “It’s easy, it’s not complicated, with good relations without problems, at this moment.”

Before direct rule, Torrent would speak with Spanish tourism officials two or three times a month. Now, it’s that amount of times a week.

Torrent urged all participants in upcoming demonstrations in Catalonia before the election, including one this Saturday, to remain peaceful and law-abiding.

“It’s important to say that our streets are normal, our restaurants are working as usual, our destination is exactly the same situation,” Torrent said.
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