US: Trump adds Venezuela, DPRK and Chad to visa ban

US President Donald Trump signed a new travel ban on Monday, adding Venezuela, North Korea and Chad to the list.

Sudan was dropped from the original list of six countries slapped with US visa restrictions issued in March — dubbed the “Muslim ban” by Democratic Party opponents — joining Iraq which had been removed part way through the six-month decree.

The new list of countries made clear the restrictions were aimed at targets of US imperialism — on the pretext of non-cooperation on security checks or harbouring terrorists.

The original six nations on the ban, including Iran, Yemen, Libya and Somalia, were all originally suspended from the US visa waiver scheme for travellers by former president Barack Obama.

The restrictions on Venezuela apply only to government and security forces officials and not immigrants — exempting thousands of pro-opposition emigres flocking to Miami and other parts of the US.

With visitors from North Korea mostly limited to diplomatic staff — wh are exempt from the ban — its addition was largely symbolic.

While calling Chad “an important and valuable counterterrorism partner,” the order said it “does not adequately share public-safety and terrorism-related information” and has several terrorist groups including Boko Haram, Isis and al-Qaida active on its soil.

There was no immediate response from Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was on a visit to Cuba bringing a planeload of humanitarian aid in the wake of hurricane Irma.

But Bolivian President Evo Morales tweeted yesterday [MON]: “ In attacking Venezuela, Trump attacks Latin America and violates the charter of the OAS” — the Washington-based Organisation of American States.

“Venezuela’s politics are of internationalism, with solidarity and brotherhood,” Mr Morales wrote, “and not of interventionism and putschism.”

The mystery of the Guanches

The origins and language of the indigenous people of the Canary Islands remain a mystery, writes Dr Sabina Goralski Filonov Translation by James Tweedie The guanches, the aboriginals of the Canary Islands whose origin, lost in the mists of time, still arouses intense and passionate debate and great controversy about their origins and the how the seven Canary Islands were populated – which according to some studies occurred between 10,000 and 8,000 years BC. Literally, the word ‘Guan’ means man or person and ‘Chenech’ or ‘Chinet’ is applied to the island of Tenerife, thus meaning a man or inhabitant of Tenerife – although according to Núñez de la Peña, the Spanish named them the Guanchos during the conquest of the islands. But with the passage of time, experts in the subject are questioning whether the word Guanche was used to designate the primitive inhabitants of all the islands in the pre-Hispanic period. The term ‘Guanche’ has also ceased to be applied to the distin

Venezuela condemns MUD silence over terror attack

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Los Gigantes Beach Landslide Tragedy - Three Days of Mourning for Victims

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Ex-pats hail extinction of ‘mammoth’ development

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Venezuelan opposition declares "Zero Hour" for regime change

Venezuela’s opposition declared “Zero Hour” in its putsch against the socialist government on Monday — emboldened by US support. Leaders of the Democratic Unity Roundtable (Mud) coalition gathered for the announcement of their takeover plan a day after their unauthorised referendum seeking a mandate for regime change. National Assembly vice-president and Popular Will (VP) acting leader Freddy Guevara said the Mud-controlled parliament would announce the results of the plebiscite on Tuesday. It asked voters to reject President Nicolas Maduro’s calling of a constitutional reform assembly demand the army support the opposition and back a “national unity government.” But before the announcement of the result Mr Guevara said the national Assembly would form a new government on Tuesday — a move beyond its constitutional powers — along with 1,020 local “Zero Hour committees.” He called a “national general strike” for Thursday while on Friday the assembly would again exceed its powe

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