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Venezuela

Venezuela To Public Workers: Stay At Home

April, 27, 2016
April, 27, 2016

Venezuelan public workers woke up Wednesday to newspaper headlines that told them to stay home.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced in a televised address Tuesday that the government is slashing additional working hours for the country's 2.8 million public workers in a bid to save energy, reducing the working week from four to two days. Earlier this month, the government had already reduced the working days from five to four, telling public workers not to come in on Fridays.

"From tomorrow, for at least two weeks, we are going to have Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays as non-working days for the public sector," Maduro said. Workers will nonetheless be paid for a full five-day week.

"Non-Working Wednesdays and Thursdays," was the front-page headline on Caracas-based Ultimas Noticias.

The water level in the nation's largest hydroelectric dam — providing for about two-thirds of the nation's energy needs — has fallen to near its minimum operating level due to the severe drought. While officials blame the weather phenomenon El Niñofor the shortages, critics point to an ineffective and corrupt government.

A fully paid two-day working week may sound like a workers' paradise, but it constitutes another blow to the country's faltering economy that has led to shortages of basic items such as milk and medicine, soaring prices and long lines at shops.

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Geopolitics

Putin In The Middle East, A Chilling Reminder Of The Power He Still Holds

Defying an ICC arrest warrant, Russian President Vladimir Putin is on a one-day foray to UAE and Saudi Arabia to display his role in shaping the geopolitical and energy landscape — and to make the world forget about the Ukraine war just a little bit more.

screenshot of Vladimir Putin and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan

Vladimir Putin met with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan

TASS/Screenshot
Pierre Haski

-Analysis-

PARIS — There are several remarkable aspects to Vladimir Putin's trip to the Middle East: firstly, the fact that it is taking place at all. The Russian president has been facing an International Criminal Court arrest warrant since March: since then, he has only traveled to countries that are safe for him, such as former Soviet Republics and China.

This is his first foray outside his own world: he's showing to Russians back home that he's not a global outcast.

His destinations are also interesting: the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, in a whirlwind one-day trip. He arrived in the Emirates in the middle of COP28, making sure to go after the Western leaders that had left. French President Emmanuel Macron and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris were there last week, making the choreography perfect for Putin — and for the UAE, which has positioned itself as a hub for circumventing international sanctions.

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