Dublin-based Irish solidarity campaigner Dr Declan Hayes led a solidarity delegation of 25 people from a variety of countries including Ireland, Australia, Lebanon, Greece and Britain to Syria for  St Patrick’s Day. He gave the Red Hispanosphere the following first-hand account by phone from Damascus on Friday: We went up to Aleppo and passed through Homs. Homs is like a bad area of Berlin in 1945. In Aleppo they’ve started rebuilding. We stayed beside the hotel Baron, where Agatha Christie and Charles de Gaulle stayed, and its only inhabitant was a cat. Aleppo is quiet. We could hear shelling in the distance. The NATO powers have not given one sausage to Aleppo now that the rebels have gone. There are Russian anti-mine units combing the place still. Little stalls are set up beside the Citadel [the site of years of fighting as it was surrounded on three sides by the terrorists] selling snacks. People are going up there for walks. Little children, no more than six or ...

by James Tweedie The wealthy Gupta family sought meetings on Tuesday with South African banks that have boycotted their business group, jeopardising thousands of jobs. Since last week banks  Absa, FNB, Nedbank and Sasfin and auditing transnational KPMG have all cut off business relations with Gupta companies Oakbay, Sahara Holdings and TNA in an unprecedented boycott over their alleged relationship with the ruling African National Congress (ANC). The banks' move also coincided with oppositions parties' failed attempt at regime change through a parliamentary impeachment motion against President Jacob Zuma. Oakbay Investments CEO Nazeem Howa said he hoped to reopen accounts with at least one bank following the meetings. "We will start setting up meetings with banks on Tuesday to try and restore those relations because the lives of 7,500 employees are at stake," Mr Howa told Reuters. The Indian-South African family came under fire earlier this year from sect...

by James Tweedie Ousted Cote D’Ivoire president Laurent Gbagbo was the the victim of a French-backed coup, his defence told the International Criminal Court (ICC) yesterday. Lawyer Emmanuel Altit told the court at The Hague in the Netherlands that Mr Gbagbo was working to restore democracy in his country when he was overthrown by supporters of current President Alassane Ouattara backed by French commandoes  and mercenaries. On Thursday Mr Gbagbo and his co-defendant Charles Ble Goude pleaded not guilty to four charges — including murder and rape allegedly committed by his supporters during violence that left 3,000 people dead after the disputed 2010 presidential election. Prosecutors last week accused Gbagbo of unleashing violence to cling to office after losing a run-off to Mr Ouattara. Mr Altit said that version of events was a "political narrative ... intended to justify the use of force against President Gbagbo." Mr Gbagbo was overthrown by force...

by James Tweedie, Thursday January 28 2016 Former Cote D’Ivoire president Laurent Gbagbo pleaded not guilty to crimes against humanity at the start of his trial at the Hague on Thursday. Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told a panel of three judges that Ivorian Popular Front leader Mr Gbagbo and his former youth minister Charles Ble Goude had ordered attacks on opposition party supporters in 2011 order to keep power. But Mr Gbagbo's supporters gathered outside the Netherlands court to denounce the proceedings as a show trial, saying he was being punished for standing up to former colonial power France. Mr Gbagbo was overthrown by Rally of the Republicans candidate — and former International Monetary Fund deputy managing director — Alassane Ouattara after months of street violence following the disputed 2010 elections. On December 2 2010, four days after the final round of voting, Ivorian Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) Chairman Youssouf Bakayoko announced provi...

Entorno Inteligente, Thursday February 5 2015 The South African ambassador to Venezuela has refuted claims that a Canadian MP representing the leader of violent anti-government protests was once late president Nelson Mandela's lawyer. The claim had been made by the Venezuelan Voluntad Popular (Popular Will) party, ahead of Canadian Liberal Party MP Irwin Cotler's forthcoming visit to the South American nation.  Popular Will national political coordinator Carlos Vecchio, who is currently a fugitive from Venezuelan justice in Canada on similar charges, said  Mr Cotler  said Mr Cotler had joined the legal defence team of  Voluntad Popular founder and national coordinator Leopoldo López, w hich will soon visit Venezuela. Mr Lopez is currently in Ramo Verde prison while  being tried on charges of arson, terrorism and murder in relation to the violent  Guarimba  protests aimed at overthrowing the elected government last year. “Irwi...

Emma watson, fully clothed, at the UN on Saturday by James Tweedie What Happened? A funny thing happened on the internet this week that has left many commentators extremely confused and unsure of how to react. Last Saturday (September 20), Harry Potter star and United Nations Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson gave a speech at the UN to launch a new gender equality campaign named 'HeForShe'. The video of Ms Watson's speech immediately went 'viral' on the internet, popping up all over Facebook, twitter and other social media websites. It's worth pointing out here that videos like this don't just 'go viral' on their own. There are specialised firms of internet marketers who are paid to promote these things using a variety of underhand methods. The relevance of this will become clear later on. The next day (Sunday September 21) a new website, 'EmmaYouAreNext.com', appeared, which consisted only of a picture of Emma Watson and...

Tierra de Perros pale ale from Tenerife By James Tweedie in Tenerife Herle Haggard might have sung that they don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA, but it turns out they DO drink real ale in Realejos, Tenerife, Spain.  Tierra de Perros (land of the dogs), a new pale ale from a micro-brewery founded in the north Tenerife town last year, is now on the menu in several of the bars and restaurants in La laguna, the trendy former capital of the island. The name 'Tierra de Perros' harks back to the origin of the name of the Canary Islands. Explorers sent by King Juba II, the vassal king of Numidia (a kingdom that spanned parts of modern Algeria and Tunisia) and later Mauretania (present-day Morocco) named the seven-isle archipelago for the fierce wild dogs (Latin canis ) that lived there. The Canary islands are best known for pilsner brands such as Dorada (from Tenerife) and Reina (from Gran Canaria), but several small, independent breweries have...