The Bank of England has blocked Nicolas Maduro's last-ditch attempt to save his regime by withdrawing $1.2 billion (Dh4.4bn) worth of gold, a significant part of the $8 billion in foreign reserves held by the Venezuelan central bank.
The bank's decision to deny the withdrawal request comes after a co-ordinated move by western governments to boost Mr Maduro's challenger, Juan Guaido, who proclaimed himself interim president on Wednesday, according to a Bloomberg report.
Speaking at the United Nations Security Council in New York on Saturday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recognised Mr Guaido as the nation’s head of state and prompted other states to “pick a side”.
Speaking ahead of his meeting with Mr Pompeo and US Vice President Mike Pence, UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said it was “clear that Nicolas Maduro is not the legitimate leader of Venezuela.”
Mr Maduro was sworn in for a second term earlier this month after an election marred by an opposition boycott and allegations of vote-rigging, leading to large street protests. Under Mr Maduro’s rule, which begun in 2013, 10 per cent of Venezuela’s population is estimated to have fled due to worsening economic conditions.
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Read more:
Sightline with Tim Marshall: Venezuela's boiling point
Venezuela rejects EU ultimatum for new election
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US officials are trying to redirect Venezuela’s overseas assets towards the coffers of Mr Guaido to help bolster his chances of taking control of the government. The whereabouts of the $8 billion in foreign reserves is largely unknown.
Retrieving the gold in the Bank of England has been a major priority for the Maduro regime, which sent a delegation to London in December to gain access to it, according to Bloomberg.
The talks were unsuccessful and the Central bank officials in Caracas has been ordered to no longer try contacting the Bank of England, citing compliance reasons.
The US Treasury released a statement saying that the US “will use its economic and diplomatic tools to ensure that commercial transactions by the Venezuelan Government, including those involving its state-owned enterprises and international reserves, are consistent with” its recognition of Mr Guaido as interim president of Venezuela.
Turkey recently emerged as a destination for freshly mined Venezuelan gold and the US is leading an international effort to persuade the former to stop being a conduit for these shipments as backing for Maduro.
Key allies of Venezuela’s embattled president – including Russia, China, and Iran – have warned the US not to intervene in support of the opposition leader.
Russia’s Vladimir Putin spoke by telephone with Mr Maduro to offer him strong support in a political crisis he said had been “provoked from abroad”, according to a Kremlin statement.
Mr Maduro, an authoritarian ruler who critics see as responsible for plunging the country into economic chaos, refuses to give up power as he has the backing of the military.
The European Union threatened to recognise Mr Guaidó unless a “credible” presidential election is called with eight days.
Venezuela later rejected the ultimatum at a UN meeting. "Nobody is going to give us deadlines or tell us if there are elections or not," Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza told members of the UN Security Council.
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
Company%20profile
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Scoreline:
Manchester City 1
Jesus 4'
Brighton 0
Disclaimer
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville
Rating: 4/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Company%20Profile
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Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
Tonight's Chat on The National
Tonight's Chat is a series of online conversations on The National. The series features a diverse range of celebrities, politicians and business leaders from around the Arab world.
Tonight’s Chat host Ricardo Karam is a renowned author and broadcaster with a decades-long career in TV. He has previously interviewed Bill Gates, Carlos Ghosn, Andre Agassi and the late Zaha Hadid, among others. Karam is also the founder of Takreem.
Intellectually curious and thought-provoking, Tonight’s Chat moves the conversation forward.
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What is the Supreme Petroleum Council?
The Abu Dhabi Supreme Petroleum Council was established in 1988 and is the highest governing body in Abu Dhabi’s oil and gas industry. The council formulates, oversees and executes the emirate’s petroleum-related policies. It also approves the allocation of capital spending across state-owned Adnoc’s upstream, downstream and midstream operations and functions as the company’s board of directors. The SPC’s mandate is also required for auctioning oil and gas concessions in Abu Dhabi and for awarding blocks to international oil companies. The council is chaired by Sheikh Khalifa, the President and Ruler of Abu Dhabi while Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, is the vice chairman.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
If you go:
The flights: Etihad, Emirates, British Airways and Virgin all fly from the UAE to London from Dh2,700 return, including taxes
The tours: The Tour for Muggles usually runs several times a day, lasts about two-and-a-half hours and costs £14 (Dh67)
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is on now at the Palace Theatre. Tickets need booking significantly in advance
Entrance to the Harry Potter exhibition at the House of MinaLima is free
The hotel: The grand, 1909-built Strand Palace Hotel is in a handy location near the Theatre District and several of the key Harry Potter filming and inspiration sites. The family rooms are spacious, with sofa beds that can accommodate children, and wooden shutters that keep out the light at night. Rooms cost from £170 (Dh808).
How to increase your savings
- Have a plan for your savings.
- Decide on your emergency fund target and once that's achieved, assign your savings to another financial goal such as saving for a house or investing for retirement.
- Decide on a financial goal that is important to you and put your savings to work for you.
- It's important to have a purpose for your savings as it helps to keep you motivated to continue while also reducing the temptation to spend your savings.
- Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
SPECS
Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
Price: From Dh599,000
On sale: Now
2018 ICC World Twenty20 Asian Western Sub Regional Qualifier
Event info: The tournament in Kuwait this month is the first phase of the qualifying process for sides from Asia for the 2020 World T20 in Australia. The UAE must finish within the top three teams out of the six at the competition to advance to the Asia regional finals. Success at regional finals would mean progression to the World T20 Qualifier.
UAE’s fixtures: Fri Apr 20, UAE v Qatar; Sat Apr 21, UAE v Saudi Arabia; Mon Apr 23, UAE v Bahrain; Tue Apr 24, UAE v Maldives; Thu Apr 26, UAE v Kuwait
World T20 2020 Qualifying process:
- Sixteen teams will play at the World T20 in two years’ time.
- Australia have already qualified as hosts
- Nine places are available to the top nine ranked sides in the ICC’s T20i standings, not including Australia, on Dec 31, 2018.
- The final six teams will be decided by a 14-team World T20 Qualifier.
World T20 standings: 1 Pakistan; 2 Australia; 3 India; 4 New Zealand; 5 England; 6 South Africa; 7 West Indies; 8 Sri Lanka; 9 Afghanistan; 10 Bangladesh; 11 Scotland; 12 Zimbabwe; 13 UAE; 14 Netherlands; 15 Hong Kong; 16 Papua New Guinea; 17 Oman; 18 Ireland
