Syria: Western onslaught fails to 'save Ghouta'

Chemical weapons claims, US threats and Israeli air raids failed to halt the liberation of Syria's Douma from Western-backed extremists on Monday.

Army of Islam gunmen continued their withdrawal from the town in the East Ghouta region, just northeast of the capital Damascus yesterday, even as US President Donald Trump raised the spectre of a repeat of last year's cruise missile attack.

A deal struck on Sunday to evacuate the insurgent group from Douma to the Turkish-occupied border town of Jarabulus, north of Aleppo, was holding. The national SANA news agency reported that 41 buses carrying hundreds of gunmen and their families left on Monday through a ceasefire corridor.

A government source said hostages held for years by the Army of Islam ― often in cages as human shields ― would be freed by tonight. The first busload of mostly women and children left the terrorist stronghold about 11pm on Sunday night, a SANA reporter confirmed.

A local source in Douma told Lebanon's Al Masdar News that the group had greatly exaggerated the number of captives in order to boost its bargaining power, but that in reallity they only totalled around 200.

No evidence

Russian military police entered Douma on Monday to investigate the claimed chemical attack. Layer Russia's UN envoy Vasily Nebenzya said the troops had found no evidence of chemical weapons.

Earlier Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reminded the world of Moscow's warning last week of terrorist preparations for another false-flag “provocation” like that in the town Khan Sheikhoun just over a year ago, which prompted a massive ― but ineffective ― US cruise missile attack on Syria.

Mr Lavrov pointed to the entral role in both incidents of the so-called “White Helmets,” an anti-government group funded by the US and British governments and set up by former British army officer James Le Mesurier.

Israel bombs

Overnight Israel hit the T4 air base near Palmyra in central Syria, a nexus of the fight against Islamic State (ISIS), with jets apparently launching missiles after violating neighbouring Lebanese airspace, as in a string previous attacks.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi said the aggression was intended to strengthen terrorist groups ― and divert public attention from the massacre of 16 Palestinian protesters in the besieged Gaza Strip by Israeli occupation forces just over a week earlier.

USA threatens

At a Monday White House cabinet meeting, US President Donald Trump threatened not only Syria but Iran and Russia over the unconfirmed claim, saying: “Nothing's off the table.”

Asked if Russian President Vladimir Putin bore responsibility for the alleged attack, Mr Trump said: "Everybody's gonna pay a price. He will and everybody will."

That was a day after Mr Trump called Syrian President Bashar al-Assad an “animal.”

“Assad is the legitimate president of the Syrian Arab Republic,” Mr Putin's spokesman Dmitri Peskov responded to the “abusive” Trump tweet.

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

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

SHATTERED IDYLL: Los Guios beach in Los Gigantes in happier times. SANTIAGO del Teide council declared three days of official mourning after two women were killed in a landslide on Los Gigantes beach on November 1. by James Tweedie The local authority announced the period of mourning following an emergency council meeting on Monday November 2, called in response to the tragic deaths of 57-year old British holidaymaker Marion O’Hara and 34-year old Canarian hotel worker Maria Vanesa Arias Romera. Flags at Santiago del Teide town hall were flown at half mast for the period of mourning, and all official functions observed a minute’s silence in memory of the victims. The two women were killed when 130-foot wide stretch of the cliffs above the tiny Los Guios beach collapsed from a height of about 200 feet, burying them beneath rubble up to 15 feet deep, according to a spokesman for the Guardia Civil which was conducting the investigation into the accident. The landslide occurred about 3pm

African Teachers Against Privatisation

Teachers from across Africa urged the continental bloc to halt the privatisation of national education systems today. Unions affiliated to the Education International (EI) federation pressed the African Union (AU) to stop the spread of sordid tin-shack schools funded by the world's richest man. The EI statement, issued in the Ethiopian capital and seat of the AU Addis Ababa warned: “we are witnessing a shift away from education as a public good,” with “a reduction in education budgets and increased privatisation of education.” “This is not the Africa we want,” said EI Africa Committee Chair Christian Addai-Poku, referring to the AU's 'Agenda 2063' plan. “Quality education for the public good is an indispensable condition for the development of our continent and the realisation of the full potential of all its people.” The teaching unions criticised the rapid growth across the continent of ‘low-cost’ private schools, which they said were “notorious for empl

UNIONS UNITE FOR GENERAL STRIKE

SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Tuesday June 8 2010 EXCEPTIONAL trade union unity failed to ensure a big turnout in Tenerife for Tuesday's strike against public sector pay cuts. by JAMES TWEEDIE In a rare display of non-sectarian coordination, members of more than ten trade union federations took part in the general strike across public services. They included the big national CCOO and UGT, the smaller anarchist CNT and CGT, the CSIF and ANPE, and regional federations Intersindical Canaria, FSOC, SEPCA, EA-Canarias and INSUCAN. Police and judicial unions CEP, SUP, UFP and STAJ also joined the strike, which was supported by political parties such as the United Left (IU), social movement umbrella group Assembly for Tenerife (AXT) and pro-public health service campaigners ADSPC. The dispute is over plans by the Socialist Workers Party of Spain (PSOE) government of prime minister José Luis Zapatero to cut public sector wages and pension rights in response to the economic crisis. Despite the i

Homeless dogs’ home fights for compensation

Dingo Dogs owner Phil Nelson at his since-demolished home. DOGS’ home owner Phil Nelson has vowed to take legal action following his eviction from his Dingo Dogs animal sanctuary in August. by James Tweedie Indian-born Mr Nelson, along with former girlfriend and Dingo Dogs treasurer Leigh Crouch were left homeless by the court-ordered eviction and have been sharing a small hut in the mountains near Las Chafiras with ten dogs and three cats ever since. Mr Nelson’s dispute with his former landlord began in September 2004, after he officially registered his rented hillside finca as an animal sanctuary. It was a requirement of his registration that he keep proper financial records, including receipts for payment of rent. Mr Nelson says that despite having a rental contract and paying his rent “as regular as clockwork” for years, his landlord never gave him a receipt even after he began asking for one every month in 2004. In May 2005, after his landlord had refused

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