Author: Lewis Russel

Toronto, Atlanta (28/11 – 20) A wise old expression intones “Behind every bad borrower is a bad lender”. Like many such cute, amusing aphorisms, it is accurate as far as it goes … but what if? What if a loan approval is held up, then granted, after a couple of phone calls from the office of the Vice President? What if the borrower is a crony or relative of Mr. Big, which is what practically bankrupted Indonesia, when the Soeharto vampire children took out multi-hundred-million-dollar “loans” (wink wink) for projects whose profit-making potential was near zero? What is the potential…

Today, students from Belize City high schools participated in empowerment workshops catered specifically towards males. The sessions were under the MENGage program, an initiative done through a collaboration with the National Parenting Taskforce, the Belize City Council, and UNICEF Belize. The program caters to a hundred male students between the ages of 13 and 18 years old and focuses on issues such as emotional intelligence and mental health. Michael Fritz, youth and Community Development Officer for the Belize City Council, explained how the program is linked to the upcoming celebration of International Men’s Day, being observed on November 19. Michael…

The Tibetan Sikyong (President) met with US Congressional leaders, Biden administration officials, local Tibetan Americans, Washington, DC journalists and more during a productive and busy trip to the US capital last week. Sikyong Penpa Tsering, the democratically elected leader of the exile-based Central Tibetan Administration, visited Washington from 15-20 October. It was his second visit this year following a February trip where members of Congress reintroduced the Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Conflict Act, a bipartisan bill that will pressure China’s government to resume negotiations with the Dalai Lama’s envoys on a peaceful resolution to China’s decades-long occupation of Tibet.…

ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn. — Police are investigating a crash that happened in St. Louis Park Tuesday night that was connected to a drug overdose. City officials say it happened at about 8:42 p.m. on Park Place and Wayzata Boulevard near Interstate 394. Police say a vehicle with four men inside exited the interstate at Xenia Avenue and then “struck stationary objects, causing airbags to deploy.” Officers arrived to find the passengers all unconscious, but none appeared injured. All were believed to be under the influence, and one of the men was revived via naloxone, the drug used to reverse opioid…

FAST FACTS Statehood: Dec. 29, 1845 (28th state)Capital: AustinTime zone: Central United States (GMT-5 Daylight Savings/GMT-6 Standard)Main airports: Dallas/Fort Worth International (DFW), the second-busiest airport in the country; Houston George Bush Intercontinental (IAH), a hub for United Airlines; Austin-Bergstrom International (AUS), where you can catch a live music performance in the terminal; San Antonio International (SAT), with easy access to Mexico; and El Paso International (ELP), the most convenient airport to Big Bend National Park, 315 miles away.Fun fact: Measuring a whopping 268,597 square miles, Texas is bigger than any country on the European continent. (Russia and Turkey are larger, but both straddle Europe and Asia.) Left: The Rio Grande River snakes through Boquillas Canyon in Big Bend National…

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Tuesday that he’s suing the Biden administration for allegedly cutting concertina wire at the US-Mexico border. Federal agents, the Republican said in the lawsuit, implemented a policy in late September that saw to the destruction of the wiring, which he claims undermined the state’s border security. “By cutting Texas’s concertina wire, the federal government has not only illegally destroyed property owned by the State of Texas; it has also disrupted the State’s border security efforts, leaving gaps in Texas’s border barriers and damaging Texas’s ability to effectively deter illegal entry into its territory,” the lawsuit states.…

The counterterrorism expert and author of “Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday Massacre: Lessons for the International Community” explains how religious extremism manifested in Sri Lanka’s deadliest terror attack. On April 21, 2019 – Easter Sunday – a coordinated series of bombings ripped through Sri Lanka, targeting churches and luxury hotels. Over 260 people were killed, making it the deadliest terrorist attack ever suffered by Sri Lanka. The attack has continued to resonate in Sri Lankan society and politics, as the public demands to untangle questions of responsibility: Why was the attack not prevented, and what can be done to stop the…

The U.N. World Food Program (WFP), the largest anti-hunger initiative around the globe, is grappling with the worst funding shortage in its 60-year history and “we are in a desperate situation,” Executive Director Cindy McCain said on Sunday. “It’s a combination of things — it’s COVID, it’s climate change, it’s conflict and also the cost of being able to do business,” McCain told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl about the reasons behind the lack of money. “Those things combined and, of course, a world that has kind of grown tired of all this. There’s a great malaise right now within countries…

Wellington, Sydney (6/10 – 33) Nearly a month after suffering brutal humiliation by host country France, New Zealand has barged through to the 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-finals. France is supposed to be a polite, cultured society, but on 8 September they whacked the All Blacks 27-13. Sacré bleu! In that distant past, an ugly performance with questionable strategy and ill-disciplined plays made New Zealand an unlikely choice of becoming the first country in line to win the Rugby World Cup four times. All the rugby world was amazed as the All Blacks boomeranged back in style, picking themselves up…

Copenhagen (17/08 – 78) Kidnapping, intimidation, and blackmail are just some of the means used to hit enlistment quotas in Tajikistan. When conscription season comes around in Tajikistan, military recruiters begin resorting to desperate measures. Scooping young men off the streets in actions tantamount to kidnapping is standard. But that is just for starters. To pressure communities into giving up their sons, recruiters will disconnect the electricity, detain relatives, and shut down mosques. Eligible levees draw lots to decide who will be the one to hand themselves over. The hunting season for men of draft age, which applies to people…