The Venezuelarefugee situation is “building towards a crisis moment”, the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) has warned, with the organisation’s spokesperson likening it to the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean.
Many Venezuelans are choosing to leave their country as a result of the recession which has gone on for almost five years now. According to the UN, 1.6 million Venezuelans have fled the country since 2015, 90 percent of whom went to countries within South America.
“This is building to a crisis moment that we’ve seen in other parts of the world, particularly the Mediterranean,” Joel Millman, IOM spokesperson, said on Friday.
“We have to start lining up priorities and funding and means to manage this as soon as we can.”
This week, Ecuador and Peru said those without valid passports would be denied entry, in a move affecting hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who were previously allowed to cross the border with paper ID cards instead.
Since the announcement of the new passport rules, Colombia’s migration authority said it recorded a decrease in traffic over official border crossings and an increase in the use of irregular crossings.
But only allowing those with a passport might lead to problems, Millman said.
“When we see things like passports only, we point out that there are a lot of migrants, particularly teenagers and unaccompanied children, that may not have access to these documents,” said Millman.
‘Solidarity is key’
Millman’s remarks echoed statements by other UN agencies warning that the new passport requirement will expose people to “further risk of exploitation, trafficking and violence”.
Andrej Mahecic, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, called on other countries to help those fleeing Venezuela.
“We are concerned about these recent events, and the demonstrations against refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in some of the Latin American countries,” said Mahehic.
“Those increase stigmatisation of those who are forced to flee, they put at risk the efforts of integration,” he added. “Solidarity is the key here.”
“We call for respect of refugees and people on the move in Latin America… Solidarity is the key here”- @refugees‘ Andrej Mahecic.
The currency has fallen 99.99 percent against the US dollar on the black market since President Nicolas Maduro came to power in April 2013.
Maduro blames the crisis on an economic war led by opposition leaders with the help of the US, which last year levied several rounds of sanctions against his administration.
Unscientifically speaking, more starting jobs are claimed or lost in Week 3 of the NFL preseason than the other three weeks combined. So there were plenty of conclusions to be drawn when a dozen teams had unofficial dress rehearsals in Carolina, New York, Washington, Minnesota, Tampa Bay and Oakland on Friday night.
A high-profile rookie quarterback was trying to cement a starting job in green, an emerging rookie running back was trying to take the reins in orange and everybody was trying to stay healthy before phoning it in next week.
What did we learn on a busy night of auditions? Here’s a rundown.
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Julio Cortez/Associated Press
The New York Jets might not confirm it for a while, but there should be little doubt rookie Sam Darnold clinched the team’s starting quarterback job Friday night at MetLife Stadium against the New York Giants.
The USC product had already positioned himself as the favorite by completing 72.4 percent of his passes in his first two preseason outings and drawing rave reviews on the practice field. Then, the No. 3 overall pick went out there against a talented first-team Giants defense and led an 11-play, 75-yard scoring drive right out of the gate.
Said drive included a 13-yard completion on a 3rd-and-8 as well as a 15-yard scramble on a 3rd-and-13.
Darnold added another touchdown drive later in the first half. His final numbers (8-of-16, 86 yards and one touchdown) weren’t jaw-dropping, but his night could have been a lot better if his teammates didn’t keep shooting the offense in the foot with untimely penalties.
The point is he again looked the part in a turnover-free performance against a tough D under a lot of pressure, showing once more that he has a thing for rising to occasions.
The Jets smartly insisted throughout the offseason that veteran Josh McCown would be their Week 1 starter, but that was just the safe approach in case Darnold didn’t deliver this month. But he has in several instances, and McCown has thrown just one preseason pass.
The Jets know they aren’t likely going to dethrone the New England Patriots in the AFC East this season, so why ride with a 39-year-old quarterback when the future of the franchise appears as though he’s ready? Darnold will almost certainly experience growing pains this year, but he might be Gang Green’s top option from both a short- and long-term perspective.
It’d be a shock if he isn’t under center when the Jets kick off the regular season against the Detroit Lions on Monday Night Football on Sept. 10 at Ford Field.
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Patrick McDermott/Getty Images
Darnold’s quick rise pretty much confirms that the Jets’ other quarterback, Teddy Bridgewater, should be available on the trade market. After all, they have McCown in case Darnold struggles, and Bridgewater is only under contract for one season.
The 25-year-old one-time Pro Bowler has almost no value on the New York roster, which should mean the asking price won’t be too high for a dude who was once considered a future star, might still have stardom in his future and has now completed 28 of 38 passes for 316 yards in three preseason games.
That’s a 104.7 rating, indicating the knee injury that derailed his career in 2016 and 2017 might indeed be history.
So the Jets are safe to move Bridgewater, and he’d bring a lot more value to many other teams. But that doesn’t mean anything is imminent. Look around. No starting quarterbacks are hurt right now, and practically every squad in the league feels as though it has its current or future starter on the roster.
The only teams that don’t have clear-cut franchise quarterbacks or presumed franchise quarterbacks in the making are the Jacksonville Jaguars and Miami Dolphins, but both of those teams doubled down at that position with new or restructured contracts this offseason.
Then the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Florida’s other team, have encountered problems with 2015 No. 1 overall pick Jameis Winston on and off the field. It’s possible they’d prefer Bridgewater to Winston, but the latter has complicated things with a hell of a preseason.
That’s what you call a segue.
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Chris O’Meara/Associated Press
Yes, he continues to play with and against second-teamers, but it does appear as though Winston is making a statement following a tumultuous offseason in which he was slapped with a three-game suspension for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy.
The 24-year-old led a 10-play, 66-yard touchdown drive on his first series in the second quarter Friday night against the Lions, who had many of their regulars in the game at the time. That drive featured a picturesque deep completion to DeSean Jackson and a beautiful touchdown strike to Chris Godwin.
Winston finished 6-of-10 for 60 yards, but it looked as though at least a couple of his incomplete passes were dropped.
Regardless, he’s completed 73.2 percent of his passes while averaging 9.5 yards per attempt with a 126.9 passer rating in what’s been a turnover-free preseason.
Is it a sign Winston is turning a corner? Could this offseason have served as a wake-up call? The former Florida State star did have some nice moments when healthy last season, and it’s possible he’s blossoming in the nick of time.
That might make it hard for the Bucs to keep him on the bench or trade for a quarterback like Bridgewater.
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Nick Wass/Associated Press
Everybody wants to identify this year’s Kareem Hunt or Alvin Kamara, both of whom made the Pro Bowl as rookie third-round picks in 2017. And thus far in the preseason, Denver Broncos running back Royce Freeman is making a hell of a case.
The third-round Oregon product flashed speed, power, vision and elusiveness on a24-yard touchdown runagainst the Washington Redskins’ first-team defense Friday night at FedEx Field, giving him three scores in as many preseason games.
Freeman has averaged 5.6 yards per carry this month, while cohorts Devontae Booker and De’Angelo Henderson Sr. have averaged just 3.7 and 3.8, respectively.
Word this offseasonwas that Broncos head coach Vance Joseph was going to roll with a committee in the backfield, but if Freeman keeps making big plays and outshining Booker and Henderson, he’ll become the top dog.
The question is whether he’s done enough to merit an early gamble in fantasy football drafts.
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Mark Zaleski)/Associated Press
Ronald Jones was selected one round prior to Freeman in April, but the Buccaneers rookie running back officially fell off fantasy football radar Friday night.
After projected starter Peyton Barber rushed five times for 34 yards and a touchdown on the first drive against the Lions, Jones came in and picked up just seven yards on six carries. That gives him 18 yards on 18 attempts this preseason, which doesn’t bode well for his chances of earning playing time when the games start to matter Sept. 9.
Jones did line up out wide andhaul ina 37-yard throw from quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, but that won’t be enough. He had a chance to churn out some yards against defensive regulars and came up empty again, and he might not get another opportunity to do so this season unless Barber and/or veteran Jacquizz Rodgers struggles or gets hurt.
So yeah, forget about Jones for now.
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Bruce Kluckhohn/Associated Press
You might also want to remove Seattle Seahawks rookie first-round running back Rashaad Penny from that radar. Because while Penny remains out with a broken finger, second-year back Chris Carson continues to pull away from the competition in the Seattle backfield.
Against first-teamers on the vaunted Minnesota Vikings defense Friday night at U.S. Bank Stadium, Carson picked up 24 yards on five first-half carries while chipping in with two catches for 20 yards (he finished with 26 yards on seven attempts after two unproductive rushes in the second half).
Seventh-round picks aren’t supposed to make playslike thisagainst defenders like Eric Kendricks, but Carson looks like a special back. We saw a bit of that last year before a broken leg ended his season in early October, but he’s healthy now and looks slicker than ever.
There’s always a chance Penny emerges when he returns, and it’s clear the Seahawksstill believein C.J. Prosise. But it looks as though Carson will be the centerpiece running back when Seattle opens the regular season against the Broncos on Sept. 9 at Mile High.
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Bill Kostroun/Associated Press
With star wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. healthy, No. 2 overall pick Saquon Barkley the preseason Offensive Rookie of the Year favorite and stalwart left tackle Nate Solder joining the fray to protect quarterback Eli Manning‘s blind side, there are high expectations for the retooled New York Giants offense in 2018.
So it’s an especially good sign that Manning performed superbly Friday night against the Jets without the services of Beckham or Barkley.
In his only extensive action of the preseason, the 37-year-old completed 17 of 23 passes for 188 yards, hitting interim top target Sterling Shepard on all seven of the passes he threw his way. He didn’t toss any touchdown passes, but he led the Giants offense relatively deep into Jets territory on three straight first-half drives.
One particulardeep striketo new receiver Cody Latimer, who signed with the Giants in March, reminded us that Eli isn’t done yet. The man hasn’t been consistently productive in a long time, but he’s had some special moments in his career. If he can continue to look as cool as he did Friday night when Beckham and Barkley are back, this could be a fun year for the Giants.
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Patrick Smith/Getty Images
Reports of the end of Adrian Peterson‘s football career may have been greatly exaggerated.
Four days after Peterson signed a one-year contract with the running back-starved Washington Redskins, the 33-year-old rushed 11 times for 56 yards against the Broncos’ first-team defense Friday night.
It came out of nowhere. Peterson averaged just 3.4 yards per attempt with the Arizona Cardinals and New Orleans Saints last season, and even before that, he had averaged just 2.9 yards per carry in his previous nine starts, including the postseason.
It can’t be easy to battle Father Time, the football injury gods and declining statistics at the same time, but Peterson has always been a magician. This is a guy who required like seven hours* to recover from a torn ACL before nearly setting a new single-season rushing yardage record in 2012.
That was a long time ago, but it’s possible Peterson’s legs are fresh after he ran the ball just 193 times in a two-season stretch. It’s possible he has one more astonishing bounce-back in him.
Or it’s possible this was just a final flash in the pan. Tune in next week.
*Actually about eight months, but you get the picture.
It has been one year since hundreds of thousands of the Rohingya population streamed into Bangladesh, as a result of a brutal crackdown carried out by the Myanmar army that the UN had described as “textbook ethnic cleansing”.
The latest assault took place after a coordinated attack by rebel group Arkan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) on a police post and army base killed 12 security personnel.
For many of the Rohingya, who are not recognised by Myanmar as an ethnic group and are denied citizenship and government services, this was not the first time they had forcibly left their homes.
Previous waves of displacement took place in 1978, 1991, and 2016.
According to the Inter Sector Coordination Group (ISCG), over the past year there has been an influx of 919,000 refugees who have been displaced from their villages in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
They live in 32 camps in the Ukhiya and Teknaf sub-districts, or upazilas, of the tourist beach town Cox’s Bazar, joining the 300,000 other Rohingya who were displaced in previous years.
The camps suffer from overcrowding and squalid conditions, with sanitation problems and lack of basic infrastructure.
About 200,000 Rohingya are at risk of landslides during the monsoon season, as the tarpaulin and bamboo shelters are built haphazardly on soft ground.
Last November, the Bangladeshi and Myanmar governments signed a repatriation deal where they agreed that the Rohingya that fled across the border would be returned to Rakhine state.
However, little is known about what the deal holds, and there has not been a single return yet.
Many of the Rohingya cite their fears of returning only to be forcibly displaced again in the future.
For this reason, they say they will not return unless their demands are met, such as for Myanmar to grant them citizenship, greater inclusivity in government services such as education and workforce, the ensuring of security and safety, and reparations for all that they have lost.
Al Jazeera spoke with refugees living in various camps in Cox’s Bazar about whether they would return to their homelands and their thoughts on the repatriation deal.
Ali Johar [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera]
Ali is from Taung Bazar village in the Buthidaung Township, where he used to be a local trader in food items.
He arrived in Jamtoli refugee camp last August with his wife, son and sister.
“I didn’t know there was a repatriation deal. But I won’t go back unless certain demands are met, such as granting the Rohingya people citizenship, for Myanmar to ensure greater security for us, and to give us compensation for all that we’ve lost.”
Gulsahar [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera]
Gulsahar is from Taung Bazar and now lives in the Jamtoli refugee camp with her husband, Mohammad Shafi and her five children.
“I lost my sister and my nieces and nephews. They were killed by the Myanmar soldiers. I have made up my mind to stay here in Jamtoli until I die. Here, I receive help from the aid agencies. But even if the government of Bangladesh cuts off the aid, I would rather die from starvation than return to Rakhine.
“I have three daughters and two sons. My eldest daughter is 20, and she is still unmarried. We are searching for a bridegroom.”
[Rohingya women tend to marry in their early teens because they fear getting raped by Myanmar soldiers, she said, adding that if the women are married, the soldiers lose interest]
Mahmud Yunis [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera]
Mahmud is from the Raballah village in Maungdaw Township. He is the eldest of seven siblings. He and his unmarried brothers live with their mother in Nayapara – Shalbagan refugee camp in Teknaf.
“I have no demands. I want to go back to my village without any compensation or conditions. I used to be a porter. Now I do nothing.
“Every day I face many difficulties just to get food. I am dependent on aid. There are also hygiene problems, such as the lack of sanitary latrines. I don’t know much about the repatriation deal.”
Mir Ahmad [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera]
Mir is from Fukira Bazar in Maungdaw Township, where he was a farmer and owned 10 kani (four acres) of land. He now lives in Balukhali camp.
“I am married with two sons and one daughter. I am willing to go back to Rakhine if the Myanmar government meets our demands, such as compensation and recognising us as citizens.”
“Here I can get food and shelter. I feel better here than in my own village because there’s more security. But I want to return to Fukira Bazar because there, I can live in dignity.”
Hujjatul Islam [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera]
Hujjatul is from a village in Maungdaw Township, and now lives with his parents, two brothers and two sisters in Kutupalong camp, in the unregistered bloc 11.
“I was in Year Three in school when I was in Rakhine. Now I can’t find a proper school here except for the madrasahs where we learn the Quran. I haven’t heard of any repatriation deal.”
“I’ll go back if we have Rohingya recognition. We would much rather die here if Myanmar forces us to go back without granting us citizenship.”
Dildar Begam [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera]
She is from Bolibazar village in Maungdaw Township and now lives in the Kutupalong camp.
“I have nine children and a husband. It took us two days to reach Cox’s Bazar. I saw so many massacres, rapes, and homes set on fire.
“I haven’t heard of the repatriation deal. I would only go back if Myanmar granted us Rohingya recognition. I don’t feel good here because this is not my land.
I am grateful for the role of the Bangladeshi government and the aid agencies for helping us, but I want to live in dignity back in my own land.”
Nural Amin, 59 and Sayad Ahmad, 55
Nural Amin (L), 59 and Sayad Ahmad (R), 55[Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera]
They are cousins from the Maungdaw Township. Amin has 10 kids and Ahmad has eight kids.
Nural Amin: “We haven’t heard of a repatriation deal. If the governments of both countries decide to physically return us to Rakhine, we have conditions that must be met first, like the Rohingya recognition and compensation.”
“I hope we won’t be forced to go back without any guarantees. We would prefer to die here in a Muslim country and not among Buddhists.”
“This is our third time being displaced. The first was in 1978 and the second time in 1991. Every time we returned to Rakhine we faced torture and government repression.”
“We were fishermen and farmers in Myanmar. Even though Myanmar is our country, there is no way we would go back there again without security or conditions. Bangladesh is more peaceful.”
Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant said fans who are resistant to LeBron James joining the organization will eventually “fall in line” because it will help the team contend for NBA titles.
Bryant commented on James’ arrival during an appearance on the Rich Eisen Show (h/t Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com) and noted he’s aware not everyone is on board with King James’ arrival.
“I hear that,” he said. “But listen, if you are fan of mine, you are a fan of winning, you are a fan of the Lakers. I bleed purple and gold. So that is above anything else. I have been a Lakers fan since I was yay high. That is never going to change. Right? [It] is about winning championships. So they’ll fall in line.”
Bryant, who’s been the focus of unsubstantiated speculation about rejoining the Lakers to play with LeBron or potentially playing in the BIG3 basketball league, also laughed off the idea of a comeback during the conversation with Eisen.
“There is about a zero percent chance that I come back and play,” he said. “Nothing. Done. That’s it.”
James signed a four-year, $153.3 millioncontractwith the Lakers in July.
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He spoke with ESPN’sRachel Nicholslast month about the decision to join L.A. instead of a team like the Philadelphia 76ers or Houston Rockets, who are closer to title contention on paper:
“I definitely thought long and hard about the possibilities of lining up alongside Ben [Simmons] and [Joel] Embiid, or lining up alongside [James] Harden and Chris [Paul]. I just felt like at this point in my career, the ultimate for me—just like when I went to Miami, everyone kind of looks at me joining a superteam, but if people look at it, I think Miami was [47-35] the year before I joined that team and you can look at the Lakers’ record—so I like the challenge of being able to help a team get to someplace they haven’t been in quite a while.”
Now James is tasked with leading the Lakers to the playoffs for the first time since the 2012-13 season. The storied franchise’s last championship came in 2010 while Bryant was still in peak form.
Getting Kobe’s stamp of approval should go a long way in getting the support of Lakers fans.
Foldable • lightweight design • Easy-to-use controls • Robust battery with 20-minute flight time • Great camera with a full gimbal
No obstacle avoidance • No internal storage • In-app purchases for traditional drone features • Hovering at low altitudes is tough
It’s disappointing that Parrot’s latest drone, the Anafi, lacks many features, including obstacle avoidance. But the camera and easy-to-use controls make up for a lot.
When you think of drones, chances are DJI comes to mind first. Among consumers and enthusiasts, it’s the biggest and most well-known brand.
However, you might also remember Parrot and the big splash it made with its original Bebop drone a few years back. Well, the company is still deep into the drone business, and it’s taking another step with the Anafi, which gets its name from a Greek island.
The Anafi’s design is similar to the DJI Spark or Mavic Pro, with foldable legs that make it compact. Despite the diminutive look, its eight blades give it impressive propulsion, and it includes a 4K HDR camera that can move to almost any angle.
However, considering the price, it’s missing some core features, the biggest being any sort of obstacle avoidance. On top of that, the Follow Me mode and Flight Plan tool are behind an in-app purchase. Both of these are typical out-of-the-box features for a drone at this price or lower.
So at $699, should you opt for a Parrot Anafi knowing it is blind and that core features require an in-app purchase?
Let’s unbox the Anafi
Parrot doesn’t include much in the box.
Image: jake krol/mashable
I normally skip over the box and what’s inside, but I think for a compact drone like this, the presentation is important.
Included accessories are pretty bare-bones. You get the carrying case (which is like an extra-large glasses case), the controller, spare propellers, and a quick start guide. Anafi’s carrying case also includes a USB-A-to-USB-C charging cable and a microSD-card-to-SD-card adapter in a plastic case. A 16GB SanDisk microSD card is pre-installed inside the drone.
It’s pretty simple, and in a way it encourages the user to get out and start flying. The lack of complexity here (if not the price tag) should be appealing for those who have minimal experience flying a drone or are trying it for the first time. It will also appeal to photographers or videographers, thanks to the lens and gimbal setup.
A foldable design
The Anafi is impressively compact with the arms and legs folded in.
Image: jake krol/mashable
DJI was first to go full throttle behind the portable and foldable drone model. The Mavic Pro, while larger, had arms and legs that could fold in, allowing it to fit in a smaller case and making it easier to transport.
The Anafi is similar in concept. The drone itself is just shy of 10 inches in length, and the size is surprisingly small. Especially when you compare it to previous Parrot drones that stuck blade guards around the propellers and weren’t collapsible. When you think about a drone or the category more broadly, the initial thought is big, massive, and even possibly intimidating (looking at you, DJI Inspire). Parrot sticks with a more subdued approach but differs by positioning the Anafi more like a drone than a toy. It’s also super-light at just 11.3 ounces (0.7 pounds), which is helpful for bringing it with you but can also lead to some flight issues in the wind.
The front and rear legs fold in and hug the main hull of the drone. Equally as important, the eight plastic propellers (two per motor) fold in on top of each other for easy storage. While plastic might not seem like an optimal material, it helps the drone move faster when gliding through the skies. While I didn’t test it, I’m sure the blades are plenty sharp, and I would advise keeping your hands away while they’re moving.
Looking at the main body, the camera and gimbal are in the front. Moving backwards, you have the fan (for cooling), the drone’s processor (located under the Parrot logo), and the 2,700mAh battery is on the rear. The drone’s power button, four LED lights, and USB-C charging port can be found on the battery compartment, which easily slides out with the press of a button. The battery protects the microSD card slot, along with product information and wireless credentials.
It’s great to see a USB-C port as the connector slowly becomes more universal. It also allows for faster charging, but you can still expect it to take a few hours to reach a full charge.
The bottom of the drone has some sensors, a fan, and a blue LED light. There isn’t a full set of lights, so nighttime flights are at your own risk.
First flight and onward
The Anafi can easily glide through the air at low and high altitudes.
Image: jake krol/mashable
Simply, the Anafi is a joy to fly. There isn’t much of a learning curve, and the controls are pretty self-explanatory. It’s also simple to set up. First, you’ll want to charge the battery. In my testing, I got about 20-23 minutes of flight time on a full charge while using the camera and the slower speed setting. Moving it up to the faster one (while still filming) brought that down to about 15 minutes.
You’ll want to have the Parrot FreeFlight app installed on your iOS or Android device before you start; you’ll need it to fly the Anafi. You can plug your device into the controller or connect to the drone over Wi-Fi. The hardwire connection is more reliable and acts as a fail-safe if the Wi-Fi goes out. With the app open and my phone docked into the controller, I was ready to go.
The hovering technology can be hit or miss, especially at lower altitudes.
I set the Anafi on the ground in front of me, hit the power button, and the drone calibrated itself. You’ll see the gimbal adjust and the propellers do a small twitch. From there, the app will connect to the drone, tap “FLY,” and then a live view of the camera is presented with some other fight metrics.
Hit “Take Off,” and the Anafi will take to the air and hover above the ground. You’ll notice the hovering technology can be hit or miss, especially at lower altitudes. The sensors, along with the camera, look to single in on a point on the ground for reference. If you’re over a field of grass or a black asphalt driveway, the Anafi has a hard time picking up a point. At higher altitudes (above about 45 meters), the hovering experience becomes much more on-point. Because it’s lightweight, the Anafi also has a tough time dealing with strong gusts of wind, which cause it to sway at times.
On the controller, the right stick will let you ascend or descend, as well as turn the drone (which is helpful if you want to stay still but change the view) The left stick lets you pilot the drone left or right, as well as forward and backward. The two levers on the back control the camera. The right-hand one lets you move the camera up and down, while the left-hand side controls the digital zoom.
The FreeFlight app is pretty straightforward and works in part with the physical controller. You can see height, speed, and a live feed from the camera. There are also some GPS features and a return-to-home function — be careful when you use this as there is no obstacle avoidance. (The drone will simply take the fastest route back to you, regardless of what’s in the way.) You can also access CineShots and other modes that use preprogrammed patterns for the drone to capture shots or follow an individual.
You can also access a gallery of the footage you take, but the process of moving it over to your PC via the wireless connection is slow. It’s faster to remove the microSD card from the unit and slot it into a computer.
Controlling the Anafi becomes natural after just a few minutes of use.
The 21-megapixel camera on a three-axis gimbal is the star of the show.
Image: jake krol/mashable
Drone photography and videography can be quite tricky, but Anafi makes them easy. Besides the ease of use, my other favorite thing about the Anafi is the camera. Parrot chose a 21-megapixel camera with a 1/2.4-inch CMOS Sony sensor and wide-angle f/2.4 ASPH lens working in unison. It can handle 4K HDR video.
The ANAFI gave us a birds eye view of the front and back yards in New Jersey.
Image: jake krol/mashable
A view before sunset with a clear sky and tree tops.
Image: jake krol/mashable
The lens setup on its own is nice, but you also have a three-axis gimbal for stabilization and the ability to vertically tilt up to 180 degrees. This makes it easy for even a novice user to get a good shot. While there is not a physical moveable lens, there is up to 2.8x digital zoom for video and 3X zoom for photos. With digital zoom, a certain amount of softness and graininess tends to appear. Without the zoom, though, photos are sharp, and video is stable with no noticeable hiccups.
For those epic shots that you see professionals posting on Instagram or YouTube, Parrot has preprogrammed “CineShots” into the companion app. These live on the bottom left-hand corner and are easy to use. This feature is fun to play with and can help drone users of all experience levels get a good shot with minimal legwork. There’s also an option to shoot in hyperlapse, or slow motion, to get a neat visual effect. Epic mode will shoot the Anafi backward by 30 meters to get a wide-angle video.
Anafi is blind in the sky
The sensors on the Anafi don’t provide obstacle avoidance.
Image: jake krol/mashable
A significant missing feature is obstacle avoidance, which combines sensors and cameras to make sure you don’t crash the drone. This is a huge miss for the Anafi, especially considering its $700 price. The $399 DJI Spark has obstacle avoidance for a fraction of the price.
A representative from Parrot said the omission was to encourage safe line-of-sight flying. But while using the Anafi, we found the lack of obstacle avoidance to be a safety issue: At times it hovered dangerously close to tree branches, or, even worse, myself. Needless to say, you’ll want to be careful when flying the Anafi. I never had a full-on crash, but there were a few close calls.
Not adding obstacle avoidance was also meant to keep the price down, although DJI was able to add the feature to a $399 drone
In-app purchase required
Parrot’s Free Flight app for iOS and Android pairs well with the Anafi’s physical controller.
When you’re spending $699 on a drone, there’s a certain hope that you won’t have to make any incremental purchases in order to use it. Parrot includes a lot for the price, but two key features —Follow Me and Flight Plan — don’t come with it. These two features can make a drone easier to use and show off. Follow Me allows you to lock onto yourself, another person, or a moving object and have the drone follow it. While it does keep a safe distance, the drone’s lack of obstacle avoidance makes following, say, a car in a town with power lines pretty hard.
Flight Plan allows you to craft a map for the drone to fly and mark out actions, like an taking a photo, for it to perform along the way. While you still have the obstacle-avoidance issue, this is a really nice feature to have. More importantly, if you’re not the best pilot, flight map lets you watch your grand plan happen.
Each of the in-app purchases costs $19.99. The company does occasionally put them on sale, and until mid-September, you can get them for 99 cents.
While Parrot does include Cameraman along with several CineShots for free, it feels a little cheap to charge for these two — especially because Follow Me is probably one of the most known and requested drone features.
Still a thoroughly enjoyable drone
In the end, a few missteps don’t get in the way of a great drone.
Image: jake krol/mashable
Parrot’s Anafi is not a perfect drone, but it’s fun to use and has an incredibly easy learning curve.
At $699, it’s not cheap, plus if you factor in the in-app purchases and $99 for an extra battery (which we recommend picking up), it can get even more expensive. But it has an awesome camera for shooting both still images and video, along with a three-axis gimbal and 180-degree tilt. For a novice, I think the Anafi is worth a go if you want a great camera, even with missing features like obstacle avoidance. However, if camera quality isn’t important to you, go for the DJI Spark since it’s cheaper and has features the Anafi lacks.
Just be careful when you’re flying the Anafi. Keep it in sight at all times — and away from anyone and everyone (including yourself).
Twenty-four-year-old Gurekbal Singh Bhachu is a self-taught artist whose hyperrealistic drawings are so convincing they could pass as photographs. From Drake to Thanos to Rihanna, we are definitely impressed.
Cucuta, Colombia – Two months ago, 23-year-old Gregoris Suarez made a pact with three friends on his city block.
They promised each other they would join the massive exodus of people from their native Venezuela and make their way to Peru.
By mid-August, they had made contacts with Venezuelans in Peru who could help them get housing and jobs, sold off a few possessions and raised money from family members to make their trip.
But with announcement by Ecuadorian and Peruvian officials last week that their countries would begin denying entry to those crossing their borders without passports, the plans of many Venezuelans hoping to flee were suddenly put up in the air.
For Suarez and his friends, however, they never considered giving up.
“What choice to we have but to migrate?” he said, standing with his friends beside piled luggage at the bustling Venezuelan border on Friday.
Suarez stands with his suitcase at the Venezeula-Colombia border [Dylan Baddour/Al Jazeera]
Suarez, a former construction worker from Valencia, is an example of the thousands of Venezuelans who prefer to try their luck at freshly tightened borders over weathering the poverty and hunger of their own crumbling country.
“If they don’t let us through, we’ll find a way to get through,” Suarez told Al Jazeera.
According to the UN, there were more than 2.3 million Venezuelans living abroad as of June. Nearly half a million entered Peru from 2017 through June of this year, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported.
The mass exodus has been driven, in part, due to hyperinflation. The country continues to suffer from food and medicine shortages and a political crisis that has left much of the country polarised.
‘We’re going in search of a better life’
At the Simon Bolivar International Bridge connecting Colombia and Venezuela, tens of thousands of people cross every day. Most dip into Colombia to buy food or medicine then return home. The rest line the roadway, seated in the shade atop the heaps of luggage they packed to start a new life abroad.
Many Venezuelans who cross the border do so with no documents or only a paper id. Most can’t afford the more than $1,000 in bribes or several months of waiting required to get a passport as Venezuela’s bureaucracy crumbles.
“The price of the passport has gone up because it’s all controlled by mafias,” said Iren Garcia, a 37-year-old refinery worker from Lara state.
“The majority of Venezuelans want to leave but don’t have resources,” he told Al Jazeera.
According to the UN, there were more than 2.3 million Venezuelans living abroad as of June [Dylan Baddour/Al Jazeera]
But for others, the desperation has driven them to make the journey without a passport in hopes of making it to their final destination.
Carlos Brisuela , 41, sat with his friend on a Colombian street curb near the Venezuelan border, holding their luggage and pondering their next move. They are aiming to make it to Ecuador, where they hope friends will help get them a job.
Neither could feed their families, even though they full-time jobs in Puerto la Cruz in eastern Venezuela, so the two men sold Brisuela’s car and made the two-day travel to Colombia, sleeping in bus terminals along the way.
“We don’t have money. We don’t have anywhere to go. We came in the hands of God,” Brisuela told Al Jazeera. “We’re going in search of a better life.”
On Friday, Ecuador reportedly opened a humanitarian corridor to allow the hundreds of Venezuelans who had arrived at its borders to pass to Peru.
The reports surfaced as Ecuador’s public defender’s office, which had challenged the new passport rules, announced on Twitter that a judge had ruled against the restrictions because they “had no effect”. The news came just hours before Peru was set to tighten its borders.
Prior to that announcement, Colombian authorities said they feared the recent decisions by Ecuador and Peru to shut their borders to those without passports would only drive more migrants and refugees into the shadows.
“Asking for passports from a nation that doesn’t have them, and whose government doesn’t facilitation the issuance of such document, incentivises irregularity,” said Christian Kruger, head of Colombia’s migration authority, in a statement Thursday.
Since the announcement of the new passport rules last week, Colombia’s migration authority said it has recorded a decrease in traffic over official border crossings and an increase in use of irregular crossings. Detailed figures were not yet available.
Colombia on Monday will host immigration authorities from Ecuador and Peru with hopes of developing a collaborative approach.
“We should find common practices that allow for a documented, ordered and safe migration,” Kruger said.
Migration authorities in Ecuador and Peru did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s requests for comment.
On Thursday, the UN and the International Organization for Migration urged Latin American countries to ease access for Venezuelans fleeing their country’s economic and political crisis.
“We recognise the growing challenges associated with the large scale arrival of Venezuelans,” UN refugee agency chief Filippo Grandi said in a statement.
Back at the border, Rafael Mantilla, a 35-year-old sushi chef from Caracas, waited with him son.
Mantilla, who, unlike most, had resources to flee to Colombia earlier this year, worked six months in Bogota to raise money to help pay for his family’s move.
Mantilla saved for six months in order to prepare for his and his son’s migration to Ecuador[Dylan Baddour/Al Jazeera]
Last week, he returned to Caracas to pick up his 12-year-old son, Daniel, and take him to Quito, Ecuador, where a contact has promised him work in a sushi kitchen.
Neither Mantilla nor his son has a passport. On Saturday night they’ll take a bus to the Ecuadorian border.
“I can’t pass up this opportunity,” he said. “I don’t believe they will stop me.”
The United States, a major ally of Israel, has cut more than $200m in economic aid to Palestinians, in a move that comes months after also drastically cutting its contribution to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
A senior US official said on Friday that President Donald Trump had ordered the State Department to “redirect” the funding for programmes in the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip to unspecified “high-priority projects elsewhere”.
The official added that the decision took into account “the challenges the international community faces in providing assistance in Gaza, where Hamas control endangers the lives of Gaza’s citizens and degrades an already dire humanitarian and economic situation”.
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) quickly denounced the US move, calling it “the use of cheap blackmail as a political tool. The Palestinian people and leadership will not be intimidated and will not succumb to coercion.”
“The rights of the Palestinian people are not for sale,” PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi said in a statement.
“There is no glory in constantly bullying and punishing a people under occupation. The US administration has already demonstrated meanness of spirit in its collusion with the Israeli occupation and its theft of land and resources; now it is exercising economic meanness by punishing the Palestinian victims of this occupation.”
The decision to cut Palestinian funding comes amid a severe humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, where more than 160 Palestinians protesting for their right to return to the areas from which they were forcibly expelled from in 1948 have been killed by Israeli gunfire since March 30 during weeks-long demonstrations near the fence with Israel.
Officials in the Gaza Strip, which has been administered by Hamas since 2007, have previously blasted the US for its support to Israel, saying that Washington has long lost its regional credibility.
The US had planned to give the Palestinians $251m for good governance, health, education and funding for civil society in the current 2018 budget year that ends on September 30.
Washington gives Israel annual military aid of $3.1bn. Next year, that figure will increase to $3.8bn under a 10-year deal agreed by Barack Obama shortly before he stepped down as US president.
‘Logic of bullying’
In a controversial and sharply criticised move meanwhile in January, the US government announced that it was withholding $65m of a planned $125m funding instalment to the UNRWA, which provides services to Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan and Lebanon.
Ali Abunimah, co-founder of the Electronic Intifada publication, said Trump’s decision on Friday might impact health and food assistance programmes but will not be “as severe as the cuts the US has already implemented for UNRWA, which have really inflicted great suffering on some of the most vulnerable Palestinians”.
Speaking to Al Jazeera from Chicago, he said the political message of the cuts “is to tell the Palestinians that the American approach now is of putting essentially a gun to their heads – that they must go along with whatever the Americans and of course Israel dictates or the US will cut their funds.
“It’s hard to see how the US thinks this will help them get their way,” said Abunimah, adding that Washington’s policy was driven by “the logic of bullying and bludgeoning Palestinians”.
Relations between the US administration and the Palestinian Authority took a nosedive after Trump announced in December the US decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The Palestinian leadership has since suspended contacts with the administration and consider that it can no longer play a mediation role in the Middle East peace process.
Friday’s decision comes amid a vacuum in Middle East peace efforts as the US administration presses on with work on a peace plan that has been under discussion for months.
Trump has tasked his son-in-law Jared Kushner and lawyer Jason Greenblatt to draft the peace proposals.
, particularly the Mediterranean”- IOM’s Joel Millman to press today. Read @refugees+@UNmigration appeal for support to countries receiving Venezuela refugees,migrants: https://t.co/YPdr0yFAMU pic.twitter.com/ZgoXSolsqn
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