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.
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World News
Fidel Castro stepping down after nearly 50 years. Who's next in line to rule Cuba?
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A Miami Herald story by Pablo Bacheletat www.miami.com
Cuban leader Fidel Castro has long
referred to his brother Raúl as his designated successor, and
''temporarily'' ceded power to the defense minister when he got sick in
2006. But there are others considered possible candidates to succeed
Castro:
CARLOS LAGE, 56
Cuba's vice president is considered a leading candidate to succeed
Fidel Castro as president if the ailing leader decides he does not want
to be re-elected.
A pediatrician who once served on a medical mission to Ethiopia, Lage is considered a pragmatic technocrat, who would be..............
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Expat Village is edited and published by
Iain Williams in Caracas, Venezuela.
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World News
Travellers to Europe May Face Fingerprinting
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A Washington Post story by Annys Shin
Washington Post Staff Writer at http://www.washingtonpost.com
The European Commission will propose
tomorrow that all foreign travelers entering and leaving Europe,
including U.S. citizens, should be fingerprinted. If approved by the
European Parliament, the measure would mean that precisely identifying
information on tens of millions of citizens will be added in coming
years to databases that could be shared by friendly governments around
the world.
The United States already requires that foreigners be fingerprinted and
photographed before they enter the country. So does Japan. Now top
European security officials want to follow suit, with travelers being
fingerprinted and some also having their facial images stored in a
Europe-wide database, according to a copy of the proposal obtained by
The Washington Post.
The plan is part of a vast and growing trend on both sides of the
Atlantic to collect and share data electronically to identify and track
people in the name of national security and immigration control. U.S.
government computers now have access to data on financial transactions;
air travel details such as name, itinerary and credit card numbers; and
the names of those sending and receiving express-mail packages -- even
a description of the contents.
"It's the only way to be really sure about identifying people," said a
European Commission official familiar with the new fingerprinting plan.
"With biometric data, it's much easier to track people and know who has
come in and who has gone out, including possible terrorists," said the
official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not
authorized to speak publicly.
The timing and logistics of the plan remain uncertain, but it would
probably not start for at least a year. Travellers' fingerprints would
probably be taken upon arrival and then checked against a database, the
official said. That, initially at least, would mean airports where
fingerprints would be......
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Expat Village is edited and published by
Iain Williams in Caracas, Venezuela.
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World News
Tata Unveils The Nano, Its $2,500 Car for India
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A Forbes report at www.http://www.forbes.com
NEW DELHI -Tata
Motors Thursday unveiled what will be the cheapest car to hit the road
anywhere in the world, amid much fanfare as thousands thronged for a
peek at the vehicle that Tata hopes will coax habitual customers for
two-wheeled vehicles to move upmarket.
At the Auto Expo
in New Delhi, Ratan Tata drove the Nano, which the company calls the
People’s Car, onto the stage and said it would still have the price tag
of 100,000 (approximately $2,500) rupees promised four years ago,
though commodity prices have since risen. “That’s because a promise is
a promise.”
But the vehicle will make a profit for the company,
he emphasized. Tata Motors’ shares were up 1.7% on the Bombay Stock
Exchange, at 783.50 rupees.
The four-door vehicle, which can
comfortably seat four people, has a 33 brake horsepower, 624 cubic
centimeter engine in the rear. The basic model has no air conditioning,
power steering, antilock brakes or electric windows, though a couple of
deluxe models will offer air conditioning. It also has a single
windshield wiper and no rear seat belts. The car will be ready for the
market later this year.
As auto companies roll out smaller,
cheaper vehicles to lure more customers--Volkswagen and Bajaj Auto
also showcased small car concepts at the New Delhi auto show--there is
concern over how the crowded city roads will handle the influx, not to
mention an increase in pollution levels, with thousands more such
vehicles hitting the roads.
Tata brushed aside pollution concerns, saying the Nano was designed to.......
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Expat Village is edited and published by
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World News
UK has left behind murder and chaos, says Basra police chief
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A Guardian story by Mona
Mahmoud, Maggie O'Kane and Ian Black at http://www.guardian.co.uk
The full scale of the chaos left
behind by British forces in Basra was revealed yesterday as the city's
police chief described a province in the grip of well-armed militias
strong enough to overpower security forces and brutal enough to behead
women considered not sufficiently Islamic.
As British forces finally handed over security in Basra province,
marking the end of 4½ years of control in southern Iraq, Major General
Jalil Khalaf, the new police commander, said the occupation had left
him with a situation close to mayhem. "They left me militia, they left
me gangsters, and they left me all the troubles in the world," he said
in an interview for Guardian Films and ITV.
Khalaf painted a very different picture from that of British officials
who, while acknowledging problems in southern Iraq, said yesterday's
handover at Basra airbase was timely and appropriate.
Major General Graham Binns, who led British troops into the city in
2003, said the province had "begun to regain its strength". He added:
"I came to rid Basra of its enemies and I now formally hand Basra back
to its friends."
But in the film, to be broadcast on the Guardian Unlimited website and ITV News, Khalaf lists a catalogue of failings, saying:
· Basra has become so lawless that in the last three months 45 women
have been killed for being "immoral" because they were not fully
covered or because they may have given birth outside wedlock;
· The British unintentionally rearmed Shia militias by failing to
recognise that Iraqi troops were loyal to more than one authority;
· Shia militia are better armed than his men and control Iraq's main port.
In the interview he said the main problem the Iraqi security forces now faced was the...............
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Expat Village is edited and published by
Iain Williams in Caracas, Venezuela.
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World News
Forbes - The World's Most Expensive Homes 2007
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Feeling a little less flush? A modest
$18 million will get you South Africa's priciest pad. But you'd better
act quick; with international real estate company Knight Frank calling
the country one of the quickest growing real estate markets, that
affordability could soon change.
For something a little more "Old World," a Romanian castle, built in
1212 and once home to Vlad the Impaler (the inspiration for Count
Dracula), can be had for $140 million.
Buyers' Bios
Whether they're plunking down $20 million or close to $200 million, in
Hong Kong, New York or Rio de Janeiro, potential buyers are generally
cut from the same cloth.
They are wealthy globetrotters looking for a second, third or fourth
home, and don't mind gassing up the jet if it means owning a beautiful
property. Americans, Arabs and Europeans have long bought getaways
across the globe, but increasingly the rising wealth in China, India
and Russia is raising the world's luxury watermark.
And while no one besides Indian steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal has ever
shelled out more than $100 million for a home (he did so in 2005, when
he snapped up a Kensington townhouse for $127 million ), there are
plenty available.
Dream Homes
Though it hasn't yet been built, Tim Blixseth is asking $155 million
for his planned Montana lodge. He says that several members of the
Forbes 400 have already expressed interest in what will be a
53,000-square-foot stone-and-wood mansion in the billionaire's
members-only Yellowstone Club.
But until Blixseth finishes construction in 2008, this year's top property can be found in..........
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Expat Village is edited and published by Iain Williams
in Caracas, Venezuela.
A Bloomberg
story by Matthew Walter at www.bloomberg.com
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World News
Luciano Pavarotti dies aged 71.
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Modena Italy. The Italian opera legend, Pavarotti, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year - died at his home
in Modena at 5am local time today
At his side were his second wife Nicoletta, his four daughters, his
sister Gabriela, his nephews and other close relatives and friends,
according to an email statement from his manager Terri Robson.
Pavarotti had three daughters with his first wife Adua - Lorenza,
Cristina and Giuliana - and a three-year-old daughter, Alice, with
Nicoletta.
When asked about her husband's cancer battle earlier this year,
Nicoletta said: "He's fighting like a lion and he has never lost his
heart."
Born in Modena to a baker and his factory-worker wife, Pavarotti wanted to become a..............
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Expat Village is edited and published by Iain Williams
in Caracas, Venezuela.
News Flash Update
Luciano Pavarotti, who memorably performed alongside Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras, as the "Three Tenors, will be replaced by Elton John,…………
They will now be known as The two Tenors and the Nine Bob Note.
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World News
Harry Potter - How 'Potter' ends shows author's skill
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By Mary Carole McCauley at www.baltimoresun.com
WARNING: If you haven't read Harry
Potter and the Deathly Hallows, stop. Don't read even one more word.
Really, we mean it. We're going to discuss how it ends. So if you don't
want to know, STOP READING RIGHT NOW. If you forge ahead, secrets will
be revealed.
Of course he dies. The good usually do. And, as is so often the case,
he dies far too young, so we mourn not only the life actually
surrendered but the noble deeds left unperformed.
No, no, gullible Reader, not Harry Potter - Severus Snape.
Anyone who thought, for even a nanosecond, that the teenage hero of the
seven-book series would end up moldering in a worm-infested grave is,
well, gravely misjudging the author.
J.K. Rowling is no nihilist. She is neither Kafka nor Camus, but a
children's book writer. She is not about to send millions of boys and
girls into a deep depression - and earn the unending enmity of their
parents - by suggesting that evil triumphs over good.
But Rowling has a spellbook full of tricks up the sleeves of her dress robes, and she manages to have it both ways: Harry....................
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Expat Village is edited and published by
Iain Williams in Caracas, Venezuela.
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Listing the world's seven wonders
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An article from the Economist at www.economist.com
The ancient Greeks had their list of
the seven wonders, dotted in and around the Mediterranean, to aid and
entertain travellers. Of these only the Pyramids at Giza, in Egypt,
remain.
But on Saturday July 7th at a glittering show in Lisbon, Portgual, the
trick was repeated when a new list of seven wonders was unveiled.
Bernard Weber, a Swiss-Canadian explorer who devised this extravaganza,
hopes it will put him on a par with Pierre de Coubertin, the Frenchman
who revived the Olympics. An original list of 177 monuments was
whittled down to 21 by a panel of architectural experts, chaired by a
former boss of UNESCO.
This included widely-recognised monuments such as the Acropolis in
Greece and the hidden city of Petra in Jordan. But in an effort to go
farther afield than the Greeks managed, the Easter Island statues and
the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto, Japan, among others, were included too.
Mr Weber’s attempt to recreate an iconic list of landmarks is hardly
original. Endless lists of “wonders”, whether ancient, medieval or
modern, have been drawn up. The American Society of Civil Engineers
declared its “Seven Wonders of the Modern World” in 1994, including the
Panama Canal and the Channel Tunnel. A rival list of wonders dreamt up
last year by two American media outlets included the internet and the
polar ice caps.
What makes this attempt more notable is Mr Weber’s claim to be
democratic. Whereas the other lists were decided upon by experts and
judges, anyone with access to the internet or a mobile phone was
invited to vote for the winners this time.
Inevitably, voters in some countries proved more enthusiastic than others. India has used Bollywood glamour to promote the.............
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Expat Village is edited and published by Iain Williams in
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China Executes Former Food and Drug Chief, Draws Up Safety Plan
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A Bloomberg story by Dune Lawrence at www.bloomberg.net
China, facing global
criticism over the quality of food and medicine exports, executed its former
chief drug regulator for taking bribes and said it would take five years to
stamp out fakes.
Zheng Xiaoyu's death was reported by the state-run
Xinhua News Agency today as officials separately outlined a plan to improve drug
and food safety, conceding the system isn't strong enough and the trend ``isn't
promising.''
China, the world's biggest exporter of consumer
products, is under pressure to strengthen regulation after a series of scares
ranging from contaminated toothpaste to drug-tainted seafood. The approach of
next year's Olympic Games, which will draw an estimated 1.7 million visitors to
Beijing, has increased the urgency of bolstering public confidence.
``Corruption in the food and drug authority has
brought shame to the nation,'' Yan Jiangying, deputy policy director of the
State Food and Drug Administration, formerly headed by Zheng, said at a press
conference in Beijing. ``What we'll have to learn from the experience is to
improve our work to emphasize the protection of public safety.''
Toothpaste and drugs linked to Chinese producers
have been blamed for deaths in Latin America. U.S. authorities halted imports of
some Chinese fish, and Toys ``R'' Us Asia Ltd. recalled lead-painted ``Thomas
& Friends'' railway toys made in China. Melamine, used to make plastics, was
found in pet food blamed for killing cats and dogs in the U.S. earlier this
year.
Bribes and Gifts
The government said last month that by 2010 its
ability to monitor drug purity should be ``markedly'' improved, while the food
safety system should be capable of dealing with accidents and handling food
recalls.
China today said it will rotate regulators into
different posts and boost rates of drug supervision and sampling inspection to
80 percent from 30 percent.
Zheng Xiaoyu was sentenced to death May 29 for
accepting bribes and gifts worth more than 6.5 million yuan ($850,000) when head
of the....... Click
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Expat Village is edited and published by Iain Williams in
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World News
China Olympic hurdle
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An article from The Economist print edition
After years of delay, China has yet to award 3G mobile licences. Why?
Jiang Xiaoyu, the executive
vice-president of the Beijing Organising Committee, ticks off the long
list of extraordinary accomplishments that have been necessary for
China to fulfil its commitments to the International Olympic Committee
(IOC) for the 2008 games.
Huge industrial operations, including a steel mill, have been moved
from Beijing to reduce air pollution; construction is forging ahead on
a new railway line, airport terminal and too many world-class sports
facilities to count. Everything seems to be either on or ahead of
schedule—with one exception. China may, says Mr Jiang, have to go back
to the IOC to discuss its pledge to have a “third generation” (3G)
mobile-phone network available in time for the games.
The ancient Greeks managed perfectly well without mobile phones, and
this singular failure will probably not matter much to sports fans. But
for China, the games are just as much a display of vibrant modernity as
a sporting event. Using the Olympics to show off Chinese technological
prowess by enabling throngs of..................
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Expat Village is edited and published by
Iain Williams in Caracas, Venezuela.
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Forbes' 100 richest celebrities
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| Jonny Depp made £50.1m in the last twelve months |
It was a year of conquest in
Hollywood. The worldwide box office soared to a record £14bn, buoyed by
global blockbusters like Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's
Chest and Sony's Da Vinci Code.
Madonna reclaimed her
title as the mightiest force in music, thanks to her record-breaking
Confessions tour, which drew over a million fans and generated £106.2m
in ticket sales. And golf ace Tiger Woods banked £54.4m, more in a
single year than any athlete in history.
Tinseltown's
triumphs are reflected in this year's Celebrity 100, Forbes' annual
list of the world's most powerful - and best-paid - celebrities.
To
generate the list, Forbes analyzes celebrity earnings, plus media
metrics like Google hits, press mentions as compiled by Lexis/Nexis,
TV/radio mentions from Factiva and the number of times an A-lister
appears on the cover of 32 major consumer magazines.
Earnings
estimates are for June 2006 to June 2007 and consist of dollars earned
solely from entertainment-related income. Management, agent and
attorney fees have not been deducted.
Tiger Woods wasn't the only one shattering Celebrity 100 records this year.
Thanks to his share in the box office gross of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, actor Johnny Depp made.............
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SAS sent to save kidnapped Britons
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A crack team of 60 SAS troops are
helping the search operation for five missing Britons suspected of
being kidnapped in Ethiopia, according to reports.
The group, comprising British Embassy officials and their relatives,
went missing with 13 local drivers and guides four days ago in the
remote Afar region where they were on a tour.
Although the Foreign Office is refusing to comment on the rescue
effort, a report by the Daily Mirror claims that the British
authorities are so intent on finding their countrymen that they have
sent..............
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Expat Village is edited and published by
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