In this digital age, meals are now shared over the internet. With social media users looking for dishes that are both ready to snap and to eat, restaurateurs across the globe are taking advantage, styling their creations to be camera ready. VOA’s Jesusemen Oni has more.
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Month: December 2017
Military Moves Toward Autonomous Aircraft
When it comes to autonomous vehicles, putting them in the relatively open skies may be easier than putting them on crowded roads. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports on how one branch of the military is investigating the use of autonomous helicopters.
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Venezuelans Scramble to Survive as Merchants Demand Dollars
There was no way Jose Ramon Garcia, a food transporter in Venezuela, could afford new tires for his van at $350 each.
Whether he opted to pay in U.S. currency or in the devalued local bolivar currency at the equivalent black market price, Garcia would have had to save up for years.
Though used to expensive repairs, this one was too much and put him out of business. “Repairs cost an arm and a leg in Venezuela,” said the now-unemployed 42-year-old Garcia, who has a wife and two children to support in the southern city of Guayana. “There’s no point keeping bolivars.”
For a decade and a half, strict exchange controls have severely limited access to dollars. A black market in hard currency has spread in response, and as once-sky-high oil revenue runs dry, Venezuela’s economy is in free-fall.
The practice adopted by gourmet and design stores in Caracas over the last couple of years to charge in dollars to a select group of expatriates or Venezuelans with access to greenbacks is fast spreading.
Food sellers, dental and medical clinics, and others are starting to charge in dollars or their black market equivalent – putting many basic goods and services out of reach for a large number of Venezuelans.
According to the opposition-led National Assembly, November’s rise in prices topped academics’ traditional benchmark for hyperinflation of more than 50 percent a month – and could end the year at 2,000 percent. The government has not published inflation data for more than a year.
“I can’t think in bolivars anymore, because you have to give a different price every hour,” said Yoselin Aguirre, 27, who makes and sells jewelry in the Paraguana peninsula and has recently pegged prices to the dollar. “To survive, you have to dollarize.”
The socialist government of the late president Hugo Chavez in 2003 brought in the strict controls in order to curb capital flight, as the wealthy sought to move money out of Venezuela after a coup attempt and major oil strike the previous year.
Oil revenue was initially able to bolster artificial exchange rates, though the black market grew and now is becoming unmanageable for the government.
Trim the Tree With Bolivars
President Nicolas Maduro has maintained his predecessor’s policies on capital controls. Yet, the spread between the strongest official rate, of some 10 bolivars per dollar, and the black market rate, of around 110,000 per dollar, is now huge.
While sellers see a shift to hard currency as necessary, buyers sometimes blame them for speculating.
Rafael Vetencourt, 55, a steel worker in Ciudad Guayana, needed a prostate operation priced at $250.
“We don’t earn in dollars. It’s abusive to charge in dollars!” said Vetencourt, who had to decimate his savings to pay for the surgery.
In just one year, Venezuela’s currency has weakened 97.5 percent against the greenback, meaning $1,000 of local currency purchased then would be worth just $25 now.
Maduro blames black market rate-publishing websites such as DolarToday for inflating the numbers, part of an “economic war” he says is designed by the opposition and Washington to topple him.
On Venezuela’s borders with Brazil and Colombia, the prices of imported oil, eggs and wheat flour vary daily in line with the black market price for bolivars.
In an upscale Caracas market, cheese-filled arepas, the traditional breakfast made with corn flour, increased 65 percent in price in just two weeks, according to tracking by Reuters reporters. In the same period, a kilogram of ham jumped a whopping 171 percent.
The runaway prices have dampened Christmas celebrations, which this season were characterized by shortages of pine trees and toys, as well as meat, chicken and cornmeal for the preparation of typical dishes.
In one grim festive joke, a Christmas tree in Maracaibo, the country’s oil capital and second city, was decorated with virtually worthless low-denomination bolivar bills.
Most Venezuelans, earning just $5 a month at the black market rate, are nowhere near being able to save hard currency.
“How do I do it? I earn in bolivars and have no way to buy foreign currency,” said Cristina Centeno, a 31-year-old teacher who, like many, was seeking remote work online before Christmas in order to bring in some hard currency.
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Former Colombian Paramilitary Chief Extradited From US
A former Colombian paramilitary chief who is wanted for thousands of crimes was extradited Tuesday to Colombia from the United States.
Hebert Veloza Garcia faces numerous charges in Colombia, including murder and recruitment of child soldiers.
He was arrested in 2007 and later sent to the United States and jailed on charges of drug trafficking — a move that angered Colombian human rights activists who feared Veloza Garcia would never face justice back home.
Colombia is emerging from more than 50 years of guerrilla war after the government signed a peace treaty last year with FARC, the main rebel group. FARC has disarmed and is transforming itself into a political party.
Negotiations are under way with the country’s second main opposition force, ELN.
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Brazil Kicks Out Venezuela’s Top Diplomat Amid Tensions
Authorities in Brazil say they are stripping Venezuela’s top diplomat of his credentials and kicking him out in a dispute between the neighboring South American countries.
Brazil’s ministry of foreign affairs said Tuesday it considers Venezuelan charge d’affaires Gerardo Antonio Delgado Maldonado a persona non grata.
Venezuela is in a deepening political and economic crisis under the rule of socialist President Nicolas Maduro, drawing international criticism from several nations, including Brazil and Canada.
The president of Venezuela’s national constituent assembly accused diplomats from the two countries of meddling in Venezuelan affairs.
Delcy Rodriguez took the first step Saturday toward ejecting diplomats from both countries, declaring them persona non grata.
Canada already responded by barring Venezuela’s top diplomat, saying the Venezuelan government is undemocratic and is guilty of human rights abuses.
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Chile Bolsters Border Crossings Ahead of Pope’s Visit in January
Chile said on Tuesday that it would beef up border policing ahead of a wave of visitors likely to arrive in the country from Argentina next month during a visit of Pope Francis.
With less than three weeks until the Pope’s arrival, Chilean authorities said they were working with the Roman Catholic Church to prepare for an onslaught of tourists at the peak of the austral summer, a traditional time for vacationing in both countries.
“We are going to see a record number of (foreign) visitors,” Reginaldo Flores, the head of the interior ministry’s border crossings unit, told reporters.
Starting in Chile on Jan. 15, the Argentine pontiff will go to the cities of Santiago, Temuco and Iquique, before heading to Peru, where he will stop in Lima, Puerto Maldonado and Trujillo.
A planned mass in the Chilean capital of Santiago is expected to attract more than 500,000 people. Thousands of police officers will be present, officials said.
Since his election to lead the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics in 2013, Francis, the first Latin American pope, has visited Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Cuba and Mexico, but has not made a pastoral trip to Argentina.
Vietnam Unveils 10,000-strong Cyberunit to Combat ‘Wrong Views’
Vietnam has unveiled a new, 10,000-strong military cyberwarfare unit to counter “wrong” views on the Internet, media reported, amid a widening crackdown on critics of the one-party state.
The cyber unit, named Force 47, is already in operation in several sectors, Tuoi Tre newspaper quoted Lieutenant General Nguyen Trong Nghia, deputy head of the military’s political department, as saying at a conference of the Central Propaganda Department on Monday in the commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh City.
“In every hour, minute and second we must be ready to fight proactively against the wrong views,” the paper quoted the general as saying.
Communist-ruled Vietnam has stepped up attempts to tame the internet, calling for closer watch over social networks and for the removal of content that it deems offensive, but there has been little sign of it silencing criticism when the companies providing the platforms are global.
Its neighbor China, in contrast, allows only local internet companies operating under strict rules.
The number of staff compares with the 6,000 reportedly employed by North Korea. However, the general’s comments suggest its force may be focused largely on domestic internet users, whereas North Korea is internationally focused because the internet is not available to the public at large.
‘Bad and dangerous content’
In August, Vietnam’s president said the country needed to pay greater attention to controlling “news sites and blogs with bad and dangerous content.”
Vietnam, one of the top 10 countries for Facebook users by numbers, has also drafted an internet security bill asking for local placement of Facebook and Google servers, but the bill has been the subject of heated debate at the National Assembly and is still pending assembly approval.
Cybersecurity firm FireEye Inc. said Vietnam had “built up considerable cyberespionage capabilities in a region with relatively weak defenses.”
“Vietnam is certainly not alone. FireEye has observed a proliferation in offensive capabilities. … This proliferation has implications for many parties, including governments, journalists, activists and even multinational firms,” a spokesman at FireEye, who requested anonymity, told Reuters.
“Cyberespionage is increasingly attractive to nation states, in part because it can provide access to a significant amount of information with a modest investment, plausible deniability and limited risk,” he added.
Vietnam denies such charges.
Vietnam has in recent months stepped up measures to silence critics. A court last month jailed a blogger for seven years for “conducting propaganda against the state.”
In a separate, similar case last month, a court upheld a 10-year jail sentence for a prominent blogger.
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Children in Eastern Ukraine Face Death, Injury from Landmines
The U.N. children’s fund warns that 220,000 children in the area of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russian-backed rebels are at risk of being killed or maimed by landmines and other explosive remnants of war.
Eastern Ukraine is one of the most mine-contaminated places on earth. Well into its fourth year of war, the Donetsk and Luhansk regions are riddled with deadly explosives that are taking a heavy toll on the lives and well-being of its children.
The U.N. children’s fund estimates landmines and other explosive weapons kill or maim one child a week along eastern Ukraine’s contact line. This is a 500-kilometer strip of land that divides government and rebel-controlled areas where fighting is most intense.
UNICEF warns children, especially very young children, are at great risk of death and injury from these lethal weapons. The agency says most casualties occur when children pick up these explosive devices, which look like toys.
During mine awareness demonstrations, educators teach children how to protect themselves from landmines, unexploded ordnance and other deadly remnants of war.
Since 2015, UNICEF and partners have reached more than half a million children in eastern Ukraine with this message through entertaining theatrical skits and interactive shows.
While these weapons pose an ever-present danger to children, UNICEF says they also can damage crucial infrastructure, such as water, electricity and gas facilities.
In one incident earlier this month, UNICEF says, unexploded ordnance was found at the Donetsk Filter Station, a facility that provides water to nearly 350,000 people in the region.
Putin Spokesman: Calls for Election Boycott May Be Illegal
A Kremlin spokesman suggested Tuesday that a call by Russian opposition leader Alexi Navalny to boycott next year’s presidential election may be illegal.
Navalny urged supporters to boycott the March 18 vote after election officials on Monday barred him from running.
Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) voted to ban the anti-corruption blogger from running because of his conviction on criminal charges. Navalny and his followers say those charges were politically motivated.
Following the CEC decision, Navalny released a video declaring a “voter’s strike,” because — according to Navalny — the March contest would not really be an election.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Tuesday that efforts by Navalny and his supporters to organize the boycott “ought to be carefully studied to see if they are breaking the law.”
Putin announced earlier this month that he will run for reelection, and it is widely assumed he will win a fourth term as Russian head of state.
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Canada Expels Venezuelan Ambassador Amid Diplomatic Fight
Canada says it is expelling Venezuela’s ambassador to the country in retaliation for a similar action against Canada’s envoy to the South American country.
Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland issued a statement Monday announcing that Wilmer Omar Barrientos Fernandez, who has been recalled by President Nicolas Maduro, is no longer welcome in the country. Freeland also declared Angel Herrera, the Venezuelan embassy’s chargé d’affaires, or second in command, as persona non grata, stripping him of his diplomatic credentials and ordering him out of Canada.
The diplomatic row started on Saturday, when Caracas declared Canada’s chargé d’affaires, Craig Kowalik, persona non grata. Kowalik was expelled after he was accused by Delcy Rodriguez, the president of Venezuela’s pro-Maduro constituent assembly, of meddling in Venezuela’s internal politics and tweeting “rude and vulgar” comments about the nation.
Canada has joined the United States and other nations in denouncing Maduro’s tightening grip on power in response to Venezuela’s worsening economic crisis.
Freeland said Kowalik’s expulsion is “typical of the Maduro regime, which has consistently undermined all efforts to restore democracy and to help the Venezuelan people.”
“Canadians will not stand by,” Freeland added, “as the government of Venezuela robs its people of their fundamental democratic and human rights, and denies them access to basic humanitarian assistance.”
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Kremlin: Russia Ready to Mediate North Korea-US Talks, if Both Sides Willing
The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Russia stands ready to act as a mediator between North Korea and the United States in talks aimed at reducing tensions, if both parties are willing for Moscow to take on this role.
“Russia’s readiness to clear the way for de-escalation is obvious,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a phone call with reporters.
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Royal Navy Frigate Intercepts Russian Warship in the North Sea
A British naval frigate escorted a Russian warship through the North Sea near UK waters on Christmas Day, the Royal Navy confirmed.
The HMS St. Albans monitored the Russian vessel Admiral Gorshkov as it made its way across the North Sea close to Britain.
Although such crossings are fairly routine, there has been a rise in the number of Russian ships passing close to British territorial waters in recent days.
The Royal Navy said there had been a recent “upsurge in Russian units transiting UK waters.” Britain recently warned of a new threat posed by Russia to internet cables under the sea.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach, the chief of the defense staff, said earlier this month that Britain and NATO needed to prioritize protecting the lines of communication.
He said it would “immediately and potentially catastrophically” hit the economy if they were cut or disrupted.
The cables criss-cross the seabed, connecting up countries and continents.
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Protests Continue in Peru Over Jailed Former President’s Pardon
Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori remained in a Lima hospital on Monday, a day after he was granted a medical pardon for his 25-year sentence for crimes against humanity.
Protesters clashed with police who lobbed tear gas to break up the crowds gathered in several plazas across the Peruvian capital.
Many Peruvians are angry that Fujimori, 79 and ailing, was pardoned by President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, despite the gravity of his crimes, Fujimori was found guilty of human rights abuses, corruption and the sanctioning of death squads.
Fujimori served as president of Peru from 1990 to 2000.
He was admired by some Peruvians for combating Maoist rebels, whereas his critics consider him a corrupt dictator.
His supporters gathered in solidarity outside the Lima hospital where Fujimori is being treated.
Kuczynski released a statement Sunday that said a medical board had evaluated Fujimori and determined that “he suffers from a progressive, degenerative and incurable disease and that prison conditions mean a serious risk to his life, health and well-being.”
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Mexico Nabs Alleged Planner of Journalist Breach’s Killing
Federal police arrested a man early Monday suspected of planning and helping carry out the March murder of Miroslava Breach, one of the highest-profile journalists slain this year amid a wave of such killings in Mexico.
The National Security Commission said in a statement that the 43-year-old suspect was detained along with two others in a morning operation in the town of Bacobampo, Sonora state.
It identified him as the presumed head of a criminal gang with a strong presence in parts of Sonora and Chihuahua states.
In a video address, Chihuahua Gov. Javier Corral said the suspect was one of “the presumed material authors of the killing, and the main leader of the planning and execution of Miroslava’s death.”
He added that a suspected trigger-man in the murder was himself killed Dec. 19 in Sonora and that authorities were still searching for other suspects.
Breach, 54, was a respected correspondent for the national newspaper La Jornada and also contributed to other papers in the cities of Chihuahua and Juarez. She was shot eight times outside her garage in Chihuahua city the morning of March 23.
A rolled-up cardboard message was reportedly left at the scene that said “for being a tattletale.”
Corral called Breach a “great friend” whose journalism exposed corrupt links between organized crime, politics and security forces in the state.
“That led to her murder, which still saddens us,” Corral said.
At least 10 journalists have been murdered this year in the country, one of the world’s deadliest for the profession.
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Critics Say Turkey’s New Emergency Decree Could Incite Vigilante Groups
Lawyers and politicians in Turkey are warning that a new emergency decree could incite violence, and encourage formation of vigilante groups.
Turkey’s main lawyers’ group, the Union of Turkish Bar Associations, says the decree is vaguely-worded and could lead to violence.
The new law, passed Sunday, grants immunity to civilians who acted to stop an attempted coup in July 2016. Previously, the government gave immunity to law enforcement and government officials who took actions to thwart the coup.
Turkey’s former president Abdullah Gul, a longtime ally of President Tayyip Erdogan also expressed concern about the measure, in a rare show of opposition. Gul said the law is “worrisome” and said it should be re-evaluated.
Also Monday, Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party said it would appeal the decree at the constitutional court. Ivi Parti, a new opposition party, said the decree could provoke groups to attack opposition protesters, by alleging they are linked to the failed coup.
Turkey’s government has defended the emergency decree as a way to protect civilians who took to the streets to denounce the coup attempt from being punished for their actions.
The government blames the coup attempt on followers of Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish-born cleric based in the United States and his movement, which it calls the “Fethullah Terrorist Organization.” Gulen denies any involvement.
President Erdogan’s government declared a state of emergency in the aftermath of the attempted coup and has arrested more than 50,000 people and fired more than 150,000 others for alleged links to Gulen.
Another decree passed Sunday dismissed 2,756 more public employees and reinstated 115 employees. Other decrees Sunday ordered Turkey’s defense procurement agency was to report to President Erdogan instead of the defense ministry and also closed 17 Turkish institutions, including two newspapers.
4 Killed in Moscow When Bus Crashes into Underground Passage
Russian authorities say a bus careened off a road and onto steps leading into an underground passageway in Moscow, killing at least four people and leaving 13 others injured.
Moscow police said passengers and pedestrians were among those killed in Monday’s crash. Police immediately ruled out a possibility of it being an attack, saying that they suspect a mechanical fault or that the driver lost control of the vehicle. Police were questioning the driver.
Photos taken at the scene show the bus on the steps leading into the underground passageway.
Russian news agencies reporting from the scene quoted Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin as saying that he has ordered all city buses to be checked in the aftermath of the crash.
Israel Welcomes Guatemala’s Announcement on Future Embassy Move
Israel is welcoming Guatemala’s decision to follow the United States in planning to transfer its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
“God bless you, my friend, President Morales,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement, referring to his Guatemalan counterpart, Jimmy Morales. “Other countries will recognize Jerusalem and announce the relocation of their embassies. A second country did it and I repeat it: there will be others.” Netanyahu said on Twitter, “It is just the beginning and it is important.”
Meanwhile, Palestinian authorities denounced the decision.
“It’s a shameful and illegal act that goes totally against the wishes of church leaders in Jerusalem” and of a non-binding U.N. General Assembly resolution condemning the U.S. recognition, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, the French press agency, AFP, reported.
President Morales made the announcement Sunday after telling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the plans in a telephone call.
“We talked about the excellent relations we have had since Guatemala supported the creation of the State of Israel. One of the most relevant issues was the return of the Embassy of Guatemala to Jerusalem,” Morales wrote on Facebook.
Guatemala was one of just nine countries to vote against last week’s U.N. General Assembly resolution denouncing President Donald Trump’s recent recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and plans to move the U.S. embassy there.
Israel called Guatemala’s vote “courageous.” Morales gave no timetable for when the Guatemalan embassy will move.
Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its eternal and undivided capital while the Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.
The Palestinians and much of the international community have said the status of Jerusalem is to be settled as part of peace negotiations.
The Trump administration says recognizing Jerusalem as the Israeli capital is a “reflection of reality” and that the physical location of the embassy has no bearing on the U.S. commitment to a two-state solution in the Middle East.
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Navalny Calls for Presidential Election Boycott After Being Barred as Candidate
Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny is calling for a boycott of the country’s next presidential ballot after election officials barred him from running.
Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) voted Monday to bar Navalny from running in the March 2018 presidential election because of his conviction on criminal charges that the anti-corruption blogger and his followers say were politically motivated.
The commission’s decision came a day after Navalny declared he had collected the required number of endorsements nationwide to become a presidential candidate.
Following Monday’s CEC decision, Navalny released a video calling on his supporters to boycott the presidential vote.
“We understood that this [the CEC decision] was possible, and we have a clear and precise plan… We are declaring a ‘voters’ strike’, in as much as the procedure in which we are being urged to participate is not an election,” he said.
Navalny said his team would now campaign against participating in the presidential election, saying to cast a ballot would be “to vote for deception and corruption.”
President Vladimir Putin announced earlier this month that he will run in the March 18 election, and it is widely assumed he will win a fourth term as Russian head of state
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Christmas Celebrations Around the World
Pope Francis calls for “peace for Jerusalem” and “mutual trust” on the Korean peninsula as he focused on the suffering of children in conflicts across the world, in his traditional Christmas Day address “Urbi et Orbi” (“To the City and to the World”) from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.
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Securing Your Data in Cloud Storage
Saving digital files in commercial memory banks called cloud storage is a cheap and convenient way for long-term storage of documents, photos, music and video. Private users as well as businesses can access them from anywhere and share them with whomever they give the password to. Providers, such as Dropbox, Google Drive or Amazon S3, claim almost absolute security. But computer scientists say the protection should be in the users’ hands. VOA’s George Putic has more.
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Peru’s Jailed Former Authoritarian Leader Fujimori Gets Medical Pardon
Peru’s president has granted a medical pardon to jailed former authoritarian leader Alberto Fujimori, who was serving a 25-year sentence for human rights abuses and corruption.
A statement from President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski’s office Sunday evening said the pardon was for “humanitarian reasons.” AP reports Fujimori has been seeking a pardon for more than a year due to illness.
Fujimori served as president of Peru from 1990 to 2000. He remains a divisive figure in Peru.
He is admired by some Peruvians for combating Maoist rebels, whereas his critics consider him a corrupt dictator.
In 2007, Fujimori was sentenced to six years in jail for bribery and abuse of power.
In 2009, he was sentenced to another 25 years in prison for human rights abuses committed during his time in office, including authorizing killings carried out by death squads.
His daughter Keiko Fujimori is a prominent politician who ran a credible but unsuccessful race for president. On Twitter she called this “A great day for my family. Finally my father is free. This will be a Christmas of hope and joy.”
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Guatemala Says it is Moving Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem
The president of Guatemala says the Central American country will move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
Guatemala was one of nine nations that voted earlier this week with the United States when the U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a non-binding resolution denouncing President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales said on his official Facebook account Sunday that after talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he decided to instruct his foreign ministry to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
The resolution passed at the U.N. declared the U.S. action on Jerusalem “null and void.” The 128-9 vote was a victory for Palestinians, but fell short of the total they had predicted. Thirty-five nations abstained and 21 stayed away from the vote.
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