Latin America
has in Caracas, Venezuela one of the largest active social groups
of expats (expatriates) in South America. Called the Rincon
Gang or Rinconeers, they publish a regular newsletter, the Rincon
Reminder, which updates their Caracas community web site, www.Expat-Village.com
The Rincon Reminder updates are also issued to ex-Caracas Rinconeers
now living and working in over 25 countries..
The Expat-Village web-site has all the latest Venezuelan news in English.
We publish news stories of interest to expatriates, including world news, sport,
entertainment and business. We have features on travel in Venezuela, Latin
America and the Caribbean, quick food recipes, and Venezuela security alerts.
Caracas social activities are listed in ‘What’s on in Caracas’, and we’ll keep
you amused with the 'Joke of the Day' page.
News Section
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Business, Economic and Financial News
Oil rises above $126 a barrel
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A story from The Associated Press
NEW YORK: Oil rose above $126 a barrel
Friday for the first time, as investors questioned whether a possible
confrontation between the United States and Venezuela could cause a
reduction in exports from the OPEC member.
The Wall Street Journal published a report Friday that suggested closer
ties between President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and rebels attempting
to overthrow Colombia's government. Chávez has been linked to Colombian
rebels previously, but the paper reported it had reviewed computer
files indicating concrete offers by Venezuela's leader to arm
guerillas. That appears to heighten the chances that the United States
could impose sanctions on one of its biggest oil suppliers.
"If we put on sanctions, I'm sure Chávez would threaten to cut off our
oil supply," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading. "Obviously
that would have a major impact on oil prices."
Light, sweet crude for June delivery settle up $2.27 at $125.96 a
barrel before rising to a record $126.25 in late post-settlement trade.
Even if Chávez cut oil shipments to the United States, Venezuelan oil would still make its way to.............
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Expat Village is edited and published by
Iain Williams in Caracas and Porlamar, Margarita Island, Venezuela.
Chavez: Venezuela won't tolerate secession in Bolivia
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Hugo Chavez says Venezuela will not tolerate a movement for secession in Bolivia's eastern lowland states.
Chavez says his government has not meddled in the domestic affairs of
other Latin American nations, but would if Bolivian states now seeking
greater autonomy from Bolivia's central government push for total
independence.
He did not say Thursday what specifically Venezuela would do.
Bolivia's largest and richest state overwhelmingly backed a May 4
referendum seeking greater autonomy from the leftist government of
President Evo Morales. Leaders insist they have no interest in full
independence.
Chavez, a close Morales ally, accuses the U.S. of fomenting the state's autonomy movement, a charge U.S. officials deny.
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Business, Economic and Financial News
Oil passes $120
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An
Associated Press story by
JOHN WILEN
NEW YORK (AP) — Oil futures surged to
a new record over $120 a barrel Monday, raising concerns about higher
prices for gasoline and goods and services throughout the economy.
Retail gas prices fell more than a cent over the weekend, but oil's
advance increased the likelihood that pump prices would resume their
climb.
Supply threats that emerged overseas and a weaker dollar sent light,
sweet crude for June delivery to a new trading record of $120.36 a
barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange before futures retreated
slightly to settle up $3.65 at a record $119.97.
Oil's sharp rise this year has driven gas prices to unprecedented
levels, prompting consumers to reconsider summer vacation plans and
limit daily excursions; they're also spending less at malls and
shopping centers because they're paying more not just for fuel, but for
all kinds of goods and services. Americans are also being pinched by
tight credit conditions, a sluggish jobs market and a downturn in the
housing market.
"American consumers are being hit hard financially from a bunch of different directions," said Troy Green, a spokesman for AAA.
The average national price of a gallon of regular gas slipped to $3.611
a gallon on Monday, down 1.1 cents from Friday, according to AAA and
the Oil Price Information Service. Prices reached a record $3.623 a
gallon on Thursday.
But if oil prices continue climbing, gas prices could rise as high as
$3.75 a gallon on a national basis, Green said, though, "in some
places, it's already above $4 a gallon."
In most years, gas prices peak in May or early June, then mostly
decline for the rest of the year. But oil at $120 — and rising — may
force the experts to rewrite their rulebook.
The mix of factors that drove oil to its latest record were a microcosm
of the forces that have nearly doubled oil prices from their levels of
about $62 a barrel one year ago. The dollar weakened against the euro
on Monday, attracting investors to............
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Expat Village is edited and published by
Iain Williams in Caracas and Porlamar, Margarita Island, Venezuela.
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Business, Economic and Financial News
Skype to sell unlimited international calls for $9.95/month
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An Associated Press story by PETER SVENSSON
NEW YORK — Skype, the Internet calling
subsidiary of eBay Inc., is introducing its first plan for unlimited
calls to overseas phones on Monday.
The plan will allow unlimited calls to land-line phones in 34 countries
for $9.95 per month, said Don Albert, vice president and general
manager for Skype North America.
The countries encompassed include most of Europe, plus.......
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Expat Village is edited and published by
Iain Williams in Caracas and Porlamar,Margarita Island, Venezuela.
Venezuela: discovered wreck in the Los Roques archipelago, maybe the airplane of Transaven
Caracas, Venezuela - An object at 400 m depth
The Italian Foreign Minister has confirmed the discovery of a wreck that could be compatible with LET-410UVO belonging to Transaven, lost at sea on January 4th on the route between Caracas and Los Roques, Venezuela.
The researches carried out by INCOSTA Company have individuated an object at 400 m depth, which dimensions are compatible with the Transaven airplane, José Gregorio Morales responsible for the investigation said to the missing persons' families.
After four days of searches, the Venezuela Navy "Punta Brava" ship discovered - thanks to special devices - a wreck in the impact point where LET-410 could be crashed.
In that Ocean's area, in the course of the last few years, over 30 airplanes have been lost, among them the Transaven airplane
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Business, Economic and Financial News
Ebay considers sale of Skype subsidiary
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A Financial Times story by Richard Waters in San Francisco at http://www.ft.com
Ebay will consider selling off its
Skype internet phone subsidiary at the end of this year if it fails to
find ways to use the fast-growing service to support its core
e-commerce business, according to the company's chief executive.
The comments from John Donahoe, who took over at the end of last month,
are the most direct indication yet that Ebay is thinking of scrapping
the ill-starred acquisition. It paid $3.1bn, but wrote down the value
of the business by $1.4bn last year after concluding it would not match
earlier hopes.
Ebay originally believed that Skype would oil the wheels of its online
markets by making communications easier between buyers and sellers,
while also supporting new business models such as "click to call".
Nearly three years after the acquisition, however, Ebay has yet to
prove Skype can help its other businesses.
"What we're testing this year are the synergies," Mr Donahoe told the
Financial Times this week after Ebay reported its latest earnings. "If
the synergies are.....................
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Expat Village is edited and published by
Iain Williams in Caracas and Porlamar,Margarita Island, Venezuela.
News Section
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Business, Economic and Financial News
Skype's 'Make-or-Break Year'
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Skype users are complaining on blogs
of long waits for customer care. The loss of a vendor agreement forced
8,000 customers with local London phone numbers for their Skype service
to change those numbers.
And then there was the debacle in August, when the service went down
entirely for several days. And most important, customer minutes of use
are expected to be flat or lower this year compared with 2006.
The news has been so discouraging for so long that some wonder whether
eBay (EBAY) might be ready to throw in the towel and sell the lemon it
bought for top dollar in 2005. The whispers are that eBay has shopped
Skype to Google (GOOG), News Corp. (NWS), and Yahoo! (YHOO). Yet
sources tell BusinessWeek.com that eBay may want to tinker a while
longer to make Skype pay off.
Skype Strategy
It's easy, of course, to see how Skype could be an asset to a company
such as Google. For example, Skype might fit well as a mobile service
on the new Android software platform Google's developing for cell
phones. And since it's already interoperable with Google Talk, Skype
and its tens of millions of active users could help turbocharge the
online chat service, which has yet to build a strong following. But
eBay may not want to give a competitive advantage to its bitter rival,
whose Google Base and Google Checkout services seek to bite into eBay's
bread-and-butter auctions and PayPal online payment business.
More important, the true integration of Skype into eBay's business may
be just beginning. In October, eBay Chief Executive Meg Whitman
promised to......
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Expat Village is edited and published by
Iain Williams in Caracas, Venezuela.
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Business, Economic and Financial News
Google in new 'Gpay' & 'Gphone' rumours
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Speculation
that Google is preparing an aggressive assault on the mobile market has been
given added weight by the emergence of a Google patent related to mobile phone
payments.
The
search giant filed for a patent on its 'Gpay' technology last year but its
existence was only published last week, leading to a...... Click above for more on
this story
Expat Village is edited and published by Iain Williams
in Caracas, Venezuela.
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Business, Economic and Financial News
Find what the Chinese want, and sell it to them.
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For the past several
years, it's been said that one of the surest paths to wealth over the next 50
years: Determine what the Chinese want, and sell it to them.
As the world's most
populous country grows into what will likely become the world's most powerful
country, hundreds of millions of people will clamor for televisions, furniture,
cell phones, and......... Click
above for more on this story
Expat Village is edited and published by Iain Williams in
Caracas, Venezuela.
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Business, Economic and Financial News
How Hedge Funds Screwed Up On Subprime Morgages
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By Graham Summers of Inside Strategist
For instance, let's say you only had
$10,000 in the bank and you borrowed an additional $90,000, bringing
your assets to $100,000 total. If you're only paying 1.25% interest on
the $90,000 loan, your interest payments come to $1,125.
Now let's say you invested all $100,000 ($10,000 of your own money and
$90,000 borrowed) in a mortgage-backed security yielding 8%. So you're
making $8,000 from the yield.
Altogether, your costs are $1,125 (interest on the borrowed money), and
you're making $8,000. With net profits of $6,875, your rate of return
is an incredible 69% ($6,875/$10,000).
But if the interest rates you're paying on the borrowed money rise
dramatically to...........
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Expat Village is edited and published by
Iain Williams in Caracas, Venezuela.
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Business, Economic and Financial News
Airbus Wins A350 Deals in Paris, Gets Halfway to Goal
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A Bloomberg story by Andrea Rothman and
Laurence Frost at www.bloomberg.com
Paris -- Airbus SAS is halfway to its
yearend goal of winning 200 firm orders for the A350 jet after the
first day of the Paris Air Show.
Qatar Airways agreed to buy 80 of the widebody, long-range aircraft.
Kuwait's Aviation Lease & Finance signed for 12 and US Airways
Group Inc. announced a preliminary agreement yesterday for 22. Airbus,
based in Toulouse, France, used its home turf to tout orders and
commitments valued at $42.6 billion, while Boeing won $4.4 billion in
business.
Airbus squandered its position as the dominant planemaker with its bet
on the 555-seat A380 superjumbo jet, which is two years behind schedule
and will cut profit at parent European Aerospace & Defence Co. by
4.8 billion euros ($6.4 billion) by 2010. Boeing Co. has 584 orders for
its 787 Dreamliner, while Airbus had..........
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Expat Village is edited and published by
Iain Williams in Caracas, Venezuela.
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Business, Economic and Financial News
Will bond sell-off be turning point for markets?
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An Economist article at http://www.economist.com
THE DRAMATIC sell-off in the Treasury
bond market on Thursday and early Friday could have a number of causes.
The speed of the shift suggests the remaining bond bulls have thrown in
the towel, cutting their losses having seen yields move sharply higher
(and prices fall) since the start of May.
The publication of pessimistic comments from Bill Gross, head of Pimco,
a bond giant, undoubtedly gave some investors an extra push.
Clearly, the recent strength of American economic data also played its
part, by signalling that the Federal Reserve is less likely to cut
interest rates. There may also be a worry that the establishment of
sovereign-wealth funds in China and elsewhere, used to invest
foreign-exchange reserves and savings, will prompt a shift from
Treasury bonds to more exciting asset classes.
Higher bond yields are starting to have an impact on the stockmarket.
Most obviously, higher bond yields, which lead to higher mortgage
rates, will be bad for consumer demand. Another threat is that higher
yields will lift financing costs and diminish the appetite of
private-equity groups for takeovers, removing an important support for
share prices.
The really big question is whether this represents some kind of turning point in the.............
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Expat Village is edited and published by
Iain Williams in Caracas, Venezuela.
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Business, Economic and Financial News
Shanghai stock market sets new record
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An International Herald
Tribune story by
David Barboza at http://www.iht.com
SHANGHAI: Despite a huge sell-off here
a few weeks ago that helped trigger a drop in global financial markets,
China's stock market continues to race into the record books.
On Wednesday, the Shanghai composite index rose 25.19 points to close
at 3,057.38, an all-time high. The Shenzhen component index reached a
near-record 8,400.30.
With China's economy booming and stock prices soaring, those left out
of the boom now appear to be climbing into the market, buoying share
values.
Investors here have repeatedly ignored warnings from government
officials and financial experts that share prices may be rising too
fast or that a bubble may be emerging.
And many investors say the huge sell- off Feb. 27, when the Shanghai
composite plunged 8.8 percent, was simply a temporary setback in a
galloping bull market.
But instead of retreating from the volatile market, investors in China
have eagerly opened new stock accounts, rushed to sign up to purchase
mutual funds and aggressively bid up the shares of Chinese companies.
"The market is promising in the long run," said Cao Zitao, an analyst
at Guotai Junan Securities in Shanghai. "Since the economy is doing
well, there's no doubt the stock market will continue to grow over the
next year or two."
China had the world's best-performing stock market last year, with the Shanghai composite soaring 130 percent.
Now, just two and a half months into 2007, share prices are.............
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Expat Village is edited and published by
Iain Williams in Caracas, Venezuela.
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Business, Economic and Financial News
Google 'Admits To Phone Project'
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A story from The Associated Press
Google is working on a basic mobile
phone to extend its dominance in internet advertising to handheld
devices, according to analysts.
Richard Windsor, of Nomura, the broker, said that Google
representatives had talked about a device at an industry event in
Germany. The report followed remarks by a Google executive in Spain,
who admitted the company is working on a handset.
"Google has come out of the closet at the CeBIT trade fair admitting
that it is working on a mobile phone of its own," Mr Windsor wrote in a
research note. "This is not going to be a high-end device but a mass
market device aimed at bringing Google to users who don't have a PC."
A Google spokesman today declined to comment on whether the company is
working on its own handset but said that "mobile is an important area
for Google". He added that Google remained focused on creating
applications for mobile phones and "establishing and growing
partnerships with industry leaders".
There have already been a string of reports suggesting that Google is preparing to enter the hardware market.
Simeon Simeonov, of Polaris Venture Partners, wrote earlier this month
on his blog that Google had a team of 100 people working on.........
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Expat Village is edited and published by
Iain Williams in Caracas, Venezuela.
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