The United Nations says there are now three million refugees and migrants from Venezuela who have left the country due to its crumbling economy, violence, hyperinflation and shortage of food and medicines.

The figure amounts to around one in 12 of the population.

Of the three million, 2.3 million have left Venezuela since 2015, according to United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) spokesman William Spindler who added that the exodus has accelerated in the past six months.

“The main increases continue to be reported in Colombia and Peru,” Spindler said on Thursday.

More than one million refugees and migrants are in Colombia. Peru has more than half a million, Ecuador over 220,000, Argentina 130,000, Chile over 100,000 and Brazil 85,000, according to the UN.

In Colombia, there are around 3,000 arrivals each day, and the Bogota government says four million could be living there by 2021, costing it nearly $9bn.

“People go crazy over the caravan of Central Americans entering Mexico, trying to reach the US. That’s four, five, maybe 6,000 migrants, that’s how many we get every four days,” Father Francesco Bortignon, who has given shelter to Venezuelans, told Al Jazeera from Cucuta, Colombia.

The World Bank says the crisis has already cost Colombia almost half a percent of its GDP in 2018: $1.2bn.

Earlier this year, Ecuador and Peru announced tighter entry rules, with the former declaring a state of emergency in three northern states which receive up to 4,200 Venezuelans daily. 

“I have nowhere else to go,” said Daleny Gonzales, a Venezuelan migrant in Colombia. “They are telling us we can’t stay here. But I don’t know where else to go.”

Crisis in oil-rich Venezuela

Venezuela is in a fourth straight year of recession, with double-digit declines in its gross domestic product. The inflation rate is expected to reach one million percent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Since 2013, the currency has fallen 99.99 percent against the US dollar on the black market.

Under President Nicolas Maduro’s leadership, the industry is operating at only 30 percent, hit hard by the crash in oil prices since 2014 in a country that earns 96 percent of its revenue from crude.

Maduro blames the situation on what he calls an “economic war” against his country. 

‘Open-door policy’

Governments initially welcomed the migrants with open arms, remembering Venezuela’s role in welcoming those fleeing dictatorships and conflicts in the past.

But the exodus has ballooned this year, stretching social services, creating more competition for low-skilled jobs and stoking fears of unrest.

“Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have largely maintained a commendable open-door policy,” said Eduardo Stein, UNHCR-IOM Joint Special Representative for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela.

“However, their reception capacity is severely strained, requiring a more robust and immediate response from the international community.”

SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies

Not quite a week ago, Earl Sweatshirt returned, sort of, on an interlude track on Vince Staples’ great new FM! album. It’s funny though: The song, “New EarlSweatshirt,” isn’t set up like an interlude but like a radio premiere, getting about 20 seconds deep before being unceremoniously cut off, as if someone switched the radio dial.

It might’ve felt like a fake-out, but it doesn’t matter now because Earl is actually back with a real, no-BS track that is, in fact, more of a real song than “New EarlSweatshirt.” It’s called “Nowhere2go,” and it sounds like a sound collage clawed its way to life with the mandate to not waste any of its precious 116 seconds. It’s wonderful.

Earl accompanied the track on social media with a poignant message. “To say I’m excited to finally b(e) giving y’all music is an understatement,” he wrote. “This year been the toughest (one) of my life. Thank u for fucking wit me like Allblack.” That tone is reflected in Earl’s lyrics, too: “I think I spent most of my life depressed / Only thing on my mind was death / Didn’t know if my time was next / Tryna refine this shit, I redefined myself.”

They seem to speak to the depression Earl’s faced lately, and his tweet may also partially be a reference to the death of his father in January 2018, after which Earl canceled some live dates. His last album, I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside, was release in 2015.

Check out “Nowhere2go” above.

Europa League: Rangers face Spartak Moscow & Celtic host RB Leipzig – Live – BBC Sport

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The Democrats have taken control of the US House of Representatives after Tuesday’s midterm elections, while the Republicans tightened their grip on the Senate.

The split sets the stage for a different mood during the second half of President Donald Trump‘s term, including potential consequences for his administration’s foreign policy.

The Democrats now have more power to potentially influence governmental decisions, be it related to Russia, Saudi Arabia or the Israel-Palestine issue.

Presenter: Mohammed Jamjoom

Guests:

Karl Widerquist – associate professor at Georgetown University in Qatar

Eli Clifton – fellow at The Nation Institute

Rami G Khouri – senior fellow at Harvard Kennedy School

Source: Al Jazeera News

The Songwriters Hall of Fame may not have a gigantic glass pyramid designed by I.M. Pei on the water in downtown Cleveland. In fact, its only real “homes” are a gallery inside the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles and potentially a future basement installation at the Brill Building in New York — where scores of great songs were written. The awards aren’t televised either, making it a comparatively low-key affair.

But Nile Rodgers chairs the board. Max Martin, Jay-Z, Tom Petty, Linda Perry, and dozens more have all been inducted. It’s certainly not as glitzy as the Rock Hall, but it seems to have the goods, as 2019’s nominees also suggest. Crucially, the latest batch includes Missy Elliott, making her the first female rapper to ever be nominated.

Missy will also perform at the ceremony next year, along with fellow nominees Mariah Carey; the Beach Boys’ Mike Love; ELO’s Jeff Lynne; ’80s rock and pop stalwarts Chrissie Hynde and the Eurythmics (Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart); reggae legend Jimmy Cliff; singer-songwriters Cat Stevens, John Prine, and Vince Gill; R&B singer Lloyd Price; and ’60s/’70s psych-pop hitmaker Tommy James. You can see the full list of noms here.

“I am so HUMBLY GRATEFUL to be nominated with so many AMAZING writers,” Missy wrote on Instagram. “I send a CONGRATULATIONS to all the other nominees also.”

If she gets in, Missy would become the third rapper to join, after Jay and Jermaine Dupri. As the AP (via Billboard) points out, songwriters are eligible to be nominated after writing hit songs for at least 20 years. And boy, has Missy ever. We’re talking about “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” and “Get Ur Freak On” and “Work It” and “Gossip Folks” and “Lose Control” — and all the songs she’s penned for other artists, including Aaliyah, TLC, Ciara, and more.

The ceremony goes down in June 2019. Until then, it’s time to throw on Under Construction again and practice your “Work It” backwards speak for karaoke.

Europa League: Chelsea, Arsenal, Celtic, Rangers, AC Milan, Real Betis in action – Live – BBC Sport

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Mosul, Iraq – During the nine-month battle to retake Iraq’s Mosul from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters, 54,000 houses were destroyed in and around the city.

Since July last year, when victory was declared in Mosul, the city has witnessed numerous reconstruction projects run by government organisations and NGOs.

The vast majority of these projects are taking place in the old city of Mosul, focussing mostly on cleaning the streets, helping rebuild schools and basic infrastructures, such as water supply and electricity network.

A fund of $400m was established in 2015 to help Iraq’s reconstruction. 

However, the city received only $252,000 in 2017 and in 2018, the Governor of Nineveh Governorate, Nofal Hammadi, claimed to have received nothing from the fund, Mosul’s municipality chief Abdelsattar al-Hibbu told Reuters news agency earlier this year.

Furthermore, Hammadi told Al Jazeera last month that no budget was allocated to rebuild private housing in Mosul.

In the overwhelming majority of cases, civilians whose homes have been flattened are indeed forced to fend off for themselves.

Ahmed Al Ebadi, a west Mosul resident, requested financial compensation from the court earlier this year.

“I received nothing for the damage caused by the Iraqi army,” said Ebadi.

Prior to ISIL, Mosul’s predominantly Sunni population felt marginalised by Baghdad’s central government for years.

Now, many are forced into debt as they have to borrow money to rebuild their houses.

“I am a poor man, I can’t afford to pay $25,000 to rebuild my house,” said Mohammed Hazim Abbas, a resident of west Mosul.

For many Mosulians, a house is seen as a first step towards rebuilding their family life, which too got devastated by the war against ISIL.

Women’s international friendly live: Austria v England – Live – BBC Sport

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There are some dates that are forever etched in the minds of Muslim Americans – dates that live more in infamy or misery, marking moments of unprecedented scapegoating or fear, anxiety and the collective bracing of backlash. 9/11 and 11/9 rush to mind, numbers that memorialise two days when everything changed for Muslim Americans – the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, DC and the election of an orange-skinned man who rode on a wave of Islamophobia all the way into the White House.

Now, 11/6 not only stands apart from those dates, but directly counters the evils and ills they directed at 8 million Muslims that call the United States home. On November 6, 2018, two Muslim American women officially made history. Ilhan Omar, a Democrat out of Minnesota, soundly defeated her Republican opponent to claim a US Congressional seat. Two states over to the east, Rashida Tlaib overwhelmed two contestants in Michigan’s 13th congressional district to claim her place in Washington, DC. 

Two Muslim women are headed to US Congress, a place they have never been a part of. And in the aftermath of their historic wins, the collective prayer of “Please don’t be Muslim” that follows every terror attack was replaced with “I’m so proud to be Muslim”, uttered by Muslims across the US.

Two Muslim American women, one a daughter of a Palestinian refugee and the other a refugee herself, made history by becoming the first Muslim American congresswomen in American history. Their transformative feat cannot be timed any better, converging with a moment when Islamophobia has never been more intense in Washington, and the collective morale of Muslim Americans in dire need of a glimpse of hope.

Their stories are equally profound, and a direct blow to the white supremacist vision summoned to the fore by Trump and the legion of candidates that followed his lead. Tlaib grew up in Southwest Detroit, a predominantly Latinx and Black community sprinkled with Arab families, like her own, who embraced the blue-collar culture of the city.

Omar found safe haven from her country’s civil war as a refugee in Kenya, ultimately settling in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1995, which eventually became the home of the most populous and thriving Somali community in the United States.

From the Middle East to the Midwest and from the Horn of Africa to “Little Mogadishu”, Tlaib and Omar grew up in cities that simultaneously represent the American heartland and Muslim America. Tlaib’s Detroit is widely regarded as an Arab and Muslim American capital, with towns like Dearborn and Hamtramck boasting minarets in their skylines and established and immigrant Muslim communities on the ground. Omar’s Minneapolis is a vivid and lurid ballad of Muslim life, replete with Somali sisters and brothers working in the airport, a string of exclusively Somali malls standing alongside American strip malls, and the routine perils of FBI surveillance converging with the mundane routine of everyday life.

11/6 has become a landmark date because of who Tlaib and Omar are, not what they became with their victories. They are both archetypes of the communities they hail from, and the quintessentially Arab and Muslim, and Somali and Muslim, narratives integral to the stories of Detroit and the Twin Cities. Seconds after declaring victory in her hotly contested primary, Tlaib’s mother draped her in the Palestinian flag as she thanked her grandparents in the West Bank, surrounded by a diverse sea of supporters, including myself, in Detroit’s Northwest side. 

Tlaib was, at once, unapologetically Palestinian and Muslim, wed with that quintessentially Detroit drive that motivated her to knock on thousands of doors seeking support during her campaign and ultimately knock down a wall in Washington, DC that made her the first Palestinian and Muslim congresswoman in American history.

Omar, the first Somali congresswoman in a state home to approximately 100,000 of her countrymen and women, braved freezing, xenophobic and unprecedented terrain to join Tlaib. “We’re going to Washington everyone!” she proclaimed, surrounded by a community of Somali immigrants, who travelled the same path that she did, and their children who are now inspired to follow in her footsteps.

Omar, a progressive supporter of “single-payer healthcare, tighter gun restrictions and more expansive immigration policies”, harmonises the liberal leanings of her city with the aspirations of her Somali Muslim base. And like Tlaib, she was able to form a supremely diverse coalition of supporters that included everybody from white college students to the LGBTQ community, from conservative Muslims to Black Lives Matter activists. 

While their religious identities will draw them immediate press and praise and invite backlash and bigotry, their substance and what they symbolise is what sets them apart. In an era where identity is flattened, and stripped from the entire anatomy of the story, Tlaib’s and Omar’s faith will monopolise the headlines. But the faith their communities had in them, and their rooted love for community and clear progressive agendas, is what delivered them to Washington, and into the history books.  

This, in large part, is why 11/6 will forever stand as a landmark date for Muslim Americans, today and moving forward. Tlaib and Omar’s trailblazing victories help reclaim some of the hope lost with the election of Trump on 11/9, and seventeen years after 9/11, retrenches some of the darkness still looming above Detroit, Minneapolis and Muslim communities beyond and in between.  

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

They are one of only a few clubs in the top seven tiers of English football to hand out free season tickets, they have a midfielder who has played against Luka Modric, and five years ago they attracted a crowd of just 17 (seventeen) to a league match.

On Friday, Haringey Borough will host a club record crowd of around 2,500 as the non-league team look to spring an FA Cup first-round shock by knocking out AFC Wimbledon, who play four leagues above them, in a match to be shown live on BBC Two.

Located on White Hart Lane, just over a mile from where Tottenham’s booming 62,000-seater stadium is taking shape, Borough’s Coles Park ground has a main stand with 270 seats.

The only team surviving from August’s preliminary round, Haringey have already created club history by reaching this stage for the first time.

Their run includes a 97th-minute winner at Brentwood Town in the first qualifying round and coming from behind in three of their five games. In doing so, the Isthmian League Premier Division club have earned £57,890 in prize money – a huge amount for a part-time club who cannot afford to pay a wage to all their players.

“We’ve got a few contracted players – the rest are on expenses which covers things like petrol money and buying a pair of boots,” said Tom Loizou, in his 11th season as Haringey manager.

“Even the contracted players are on a bare minimum when it comes to wages.”

‘One of the fastest growing fanbases in the country’

On 26 February 2013, Haringey entertained Biggleswade United in the ninth-tier Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division. There were more players on the pitch than people who paid to watch.

Having spent around £1m on ground improvements, including a new 3G pitch, Borough took the bold decision to give away free season tickets in the summer of 2016 – despite requiring £140,000 a year to keep going.

“We’d spent all this money on a new stadium and had nobody to watch us,” Aki Achillea, a criminal defence solicitor and chairman of Haringey for the past 14 years, said. “I banked on the fact anyone with a free season ticket might buy food and drink.”

The giveaway has been such a success that it remains in place today. Borough’s average league attendance has jumped from 58 in 2015-16 to 262 this season, and manager Tom Loizou said: “We have one of the fastest growing fanbases in the country.”

With little in the way of gate receipts, however, Haringey have had to be resourceful in terms of raising income.

The club receive a rent for hosting a car boot sale three times a week, while finances are also boosted by hiring out their £500,000 synthetic pitch during the week.

“A few years ago we couldn’t even get a sponsor, people just laughed at us,” 58-year-old Loizou, a former Leyton Orient caretaker manager, added.

“Now we’ve got a van hire company who are in White Hart Lane. Instead of cash, they have given us a mini bus to get the team to away games. We can’t afford a coach to every away match.”

The man who faced Modric

Four years ago Georgios Aresti was rubbing shoulders with the likes of Modric, Mario Mandzukic and Dejan Lovren.

The central midfielder, born in Limassol, made his one and only start for Cyprus in a 2-0 friendly defeat in Croatia in September 2014.

Four months earlier he had come up against then-Manchester United midfielder Shinji Kagawa when he appeared as a substitute against Japan in front of 58,000 in Saitama.

Aged 24, Aresti is a veteran of almost 100 top-flight Cypriot games – including 43 at Ethnikos Achnas where he was on a £40,000-a-year contract – and joined Haringey towards the end of last season before re-signing in July after a trial at Barnet ended without an offer.

Desperate to earn a living playing professionally in England, the former AEK Athens player hopes his performances for Haringey, where he picks up around £100 a game, will lead to greater things.

In September, 18-year-old Haringey defender Themis Kefalas signed a one-year deal with Championship club Queens Park Rangers, and Aresti hopes to follow a similar path.

“I want to progress my career and I think I can do it,” said Aresti, who scored in the 3-2 win at Brentwood Town in the first qualifying round. “Haringey is a small club in a small league but there are lots of scouts that come to our games.”

Despite only being at Haringey for a short time, Aresti has already established himself as a cult figure with fans.

“He makes goals and sees things other players at this level can’t see,” added Achillea. “Our fans love him and sing ‘George Aresti is a gift from the Gods’ at games.”

Achillea, too, is popular with Borough fans. One banner reads “The People’s Republic of Haringey Borough. Vote Aki Achillea Prime Minister!”

Injured trying to empty a bin

Haringey’s team also includes Michael O’Donoghue, a 22-year-old defender who has played in League One for Colchester United, midfielder Rakim Richards, who works for the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation and Michael Ademiluyi, a former Southend United youth forward who has recently worked in security at The Oval cricket ground.

Meanwhile, Portuguese midfielder Jorge Sambu is hoping to make an impression against Wimbledon after recovering from a work injury.

The 27-year-old refuse collector for Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council missed the start of the season after damaging his knee while trying to empty a bin.

“My knee just gave way and I only started playing again last month,” said Lisbon-born Sambu, who is in his fifth season at Haringey.

“I came to London to live with my mum at the age of 14. At first I used to beg her to go back to Portugal but she said it’s a better life for us here. I love London now.

“I’ve had two promotions with Haringey and I’ve had an offer to sign for a team in a better division this year.

“I chose to stay at Haringey because I don’t think I will find another team like this. We’re a very close-knit group and we look after one another.”

‘We’re the only team in White Hart Lane’

Above the bar in Haringey’s six-year-old clubhouse is a sign that reads ‘White Hart Lane N17’.

It was paid for by Loizou, who says: “There’s only one senior club on White Hart Lane – and it’s not Spurs. Their official address is High Road, Tottenham.”

Achillea has been a Tottenham season ticket holder for 30 years and travelled to the Netherlands in October to watch them against PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League.

One of his ambitions is to get Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino down to watch Haringey. Another is to see Tottenham Hotspur Ladies, who currently play in Cheshunt, groundshare at Coles Park.

“Spurs Ladies playing on White Hart Lane would be fantastic,” he said.

Borough have a women’s team of their own. Long-serving Haringey secretary John Bacon often acts as an assistant referee at their home matches in the Eastern Region Women’s Premier Division – at the age of 80.

Haringey’s Brit Award winners

Former Haringey players include Ricky Otto, later a Birmingham City winger, and Leon Rolle – also known as DJ Locksmith.

Rolle, who was Borough captain, Kesi Dryden and Piers Aggett were all registered with Haringey before helping launch Rudimental, the drum and bass band who won British single of the year at the 2014 Brits.

“When I first took over they were in the process of forming a band and playing football for us,” added Loizou.

“They weren’t famous at the time and I didn’t take a lot of notice of them. It’s not my kind of music. If it had been Frank Sinatra playing centre-half it would have been very different!”

Meanwhile, British singer-songwriter Emeli Sande turned up in 2015 to watch Haringey win promotion from the Essex Senior League and even wrote a message on Facebook after her visit to Coles Park.

Eight years ago, Ben Corbyn, son of Labour leader Jeremy, managed Haringey Borough’s under-18 team.