THE MOST EXPENSIVE PLACE TO START A BUSINESS FOR EXPATS? VENEZUELA

CARACAS, Venezuela — If you’re scouting for a new job or to open offices abroad, this is one city you may want to avoid.

Venezuela’s capital Caracas has been named the world’s most expensive city for expat staff — beating even notorious salary sucks like Tokyo.

That’s a first for the cost of living index put out by ECA, a 42-year-old consulting firm that aims to help businesses operate efficiently abroad. Last year, ECA ranked Japan’s capital No. 1, and Venezuela’s seventh.

Caracas’ leap may come as a shock. This South American country is not exactly well-off, even if it is sitting on the world’s largest proven oil reserves.

But it would likely take more than a new ranking to spook the locals. They’ve been dealing with shortages of basic goods and they’ve watched consumer prices rocket more than 50 percent over last year. ECA says some costs soared even higher.

World rankings can be funny things, and are best taken with a grain of salt. But ECA’s is not the first index to put Venezuela above the rest. The Economist’s Big Mac Index, a lighthearted gauge of what the UK newsweekly calls “burgernomics,” billed Venezuela with the priciest McDonald’s mega burger at the beginning of this year. (By summer, Norway had edged ahead.)

So, GlobalPost had a look for ourselves. And yes, it’s bad.

Here’s a list of some random items, with their prices in US dollars (at the official exchange rate of 6.3 bolivares to the dollar). That’s followed with some analysis about how Venezuela got into this mess and how it intends to get out.

iPhones on the Mercado Libre website (like eBay): $8,000 to $12,000

Sea Shepherd Newest Ship

Japan says it conducts vital scientific research using a loophole in an international ban on whaling, but makes no secret of the fact that the mammals ultimately end up as food.

Sea Shepherd's newest ship, the Sam Simon, is moored at Circular Quay in Sydney, Australia, on Aug. 31, 2013. The former Japanese fisheries vessel is now one of Sea Shepherd's fleet of 4 ships and was donated by The Simpsons co-creator Sam Simon. William West/AFP

SYDNEY, Australia – Conservation group Sea Shepherd Australia said Monday it was preparing for increased aggression from Japanese whalers in its annual campaign to stop the slaughter of the giant animals off Antarctica.

Three Sea Shepherd boats are due to leave from Melbourne and Hobart within days to harass and deter the Japanese harpoon ships, which hunt minke, fin and humpback whales in the southern hemisphere summer.

"We're definitely ready to leave," said Siddharth Chakravarty, captain of the Steve Irwin, the boat formerly skippered by Sea Shepherd Conservation Society founder Paul Watson, who is prohibited from taking part this year due to a U.S. court injunction.

The Steve Irwin had been due to leave Melbourne early Monday but was held up by a delayed fuel delivery and aimed to depart later in the day.

Fellow Sea Shepherd vessel the Sam Simon is set to depart the city Tuesday while the Bob Barker will leave from the southern island state of Tasmania on Wednesday.

Sea Shepherd campaigners have chased the Japanese fleet for a decade to stop whales being slaughtered, and Chakravarty said the violence was escalating.

"What can definitely be expected is that there will be a lot of aggression from the Japanese whaling side," he told AFP.

"Every year they have been escalating their violence against Sea Shepherd," he said. "We are obviously there to stop them from whaling and they are frustrated and angry about this. But we've got one commitment which is to the whales and ... making sure that as few whales as possible are taken."

High-seas clashes between the groups are common, and last year Sea Shepherd claimed that a Japanese boat had rammed its vessels on multiple occasions – destroying masts and a radar on the Bob Barker and leaving it without power.

The Japanese claimed their boats had been rammed by the campaigners in what was the worst confrontation in the Southern Ocean since the January 2010 collision in which Sea Shepherd's Ady Gil sank.

Chakravarty said the Japanese vessels were expected to reach Antarctica sometime between Christmas and New Year's Day.

"We are timing our departure to be there before them so that we can start looking for them and make sure that we get through December without a single whale being killed," he said.

In recent years the Japanese have left Antarctica without filling their quota, but Chakravarty said even under this scenario the Sea Shepherd boats would not be back in port until March.

Japan says it conducts vital scientific research using a loophole in an international ban on whaling, but makes no secret of the fact that the mammals ultimately end up as food.

Australia wants the practice to stop and has taken the matter to the U.N.'s top court, the International Court of Justice. A decision is expected in early 2014.

Jairo Mora murder informant leaves witness protection program

Jairo Mora murder informant leaves witness protection program

Posted: Thursday, December 05, 2013 - By Lindsay Fendt

An informant known as "El Prieto" says detained suspects confessed the murder to him. Now he fears for his life.

Masked assailants kidnapped and murdered Jairo Mora on a Caribbean beach while he protected nesting leatherback turtles and their eggs. Courtesy of WIDECAST

An informant in the investigation of the murder of sea turtle conservationist Jairo Mora has left the witness protection program, Channel 7's Álvaro Sánchez reported Thursday.

Mora was murdered on May 31 on the Caribbean’s Moín Beach after a night patrolling the beach to save turtle eggs. He was captured along with four foreign women who were volunteers. The women escaped unharmed. Six suspects are currently in preventative detention awaiting trial for the murder.

The informant, known by the pseudonym “El Prieto,” had been a member of the same criminal gang as the murder suspects. He said the detainees had confessed the crime to him and now they want to kill him.

“I know every single one of the members of the gang,” he told Teletica, “One of them told me everything that happened.” 

El Prieto said after he was called in for questioning by the Judicial Investigation Police he became an informant and was moved out of the Caribbean for his safety. Though police promised to help him make a new life, the informant said he was only given ₡23,000 a month ($46) for food.   

Costa Rica is Among The Countries With The Lowest Levels of Corruption

Costa Rica amongst countries in Latin America with least perception of corruption (via http://insidecostarica.com)

December 4th, 2013 (InsideCostaRica.com) Costa Rica is among the countries with the lowest levels of perceived corruption in Latin America, according to an index published on Tuesday by NGO, Transparency International.   According to the index, which…

---