Author: Pedro Holt

It was bitter cold, but I don’t remember freezing or being cold. Hemingway wrote that the air was so cold when you took a breath it was like drinking water. We travelled by train, then we walked through the cold streets, no bus was running, we had to hustle to catch the last ride up the mountain, then it was up to the mountain, bundled up in two thick woolen blankets with the snow showering us. It was warm looking out of the peep hole I created, flying up the mountains sitting on the last ride of the day. The…

For many years, Tajikistan has been gravely affected by drug trafficking. At least 15-20 tons of opium and between 75 and 80 metric tons of heroin are smuggled into the country each year from Afghanistan either for local consumption or for transfer to Russia and Europe. Despite an official Tajik government policy to fight illicit drug trafficking in cooperation with foreign governments and international organizations, trafficking continues to increase. The volume of drug transit through Tajikistan is now equivalent to 30 percent of the country’s GDP. So far, the success of domestic Tajik policies and international assistance has been minimal. Trafficking is a product of numerous complex…

Dozens of protesters demanding a cease-fire in Gaza marched down the streets near LAX Airport Friday afternoon. The demonstrators gathered near an In-N-Out Burger north of the airport before taking to the roadways. They held signs demanding that Israel and the United States broker a permanent cease-fire in the conflict and to end Israeli occupation. They stopped and blocked traffic when they reached the intersection of 98th Street and Vicksburg Avenue, near one of the airport entrances. Source : CBS

Tiffany Haddish was arrested early Friday morning on suspicion of driving under the influence, according to the Beverly Hills Police Department. Police were called at 5:45 a.m. PST on Friday morning and she was arrested shortly after. She remains in custody as of Friday morning local time, a public information officer told CNN. According to TMZ, Haddish was not involved in an accident but was allegedly found asleep in her parked vehicle with the car running. CNN has reached out to representatives for Haddish for comment. Haddish had reportedly performed at The Laugh Factory in West Hollywood on Thursday night for…

SOUTH CHINA SEA  –  U.S.7th Fleet (C7F) and Armed Forces of the Philippine (AFP) units began a maritime cooperation activity (MCA) in the South China Sea, Nov. 22.   The MCA is designed to enhance interoperability between the two militaries and further advance combined capabilities in the maritime domain. C7F units participating in the MCA are the Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10), assigned to Destroyer Squadron 7, and a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft, assigned to the “Fighting Tigers” of Patrol Squadron (VP) 8. AFP units participating are two FA-50PH aircraft, an A-29B Super Tucano aircraft, and…

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…

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today asked for proof of the government “blackmailing” Kuala Kangsar MP Datuk Iskandar Dzulkarnain Abdul Khalid to achieve two-thirds of the majority support in Parliament. The Pakatan Harapan chairman said he has not been in contact with Iskandar Dzulkarnain, and that it was the latter’s personal decision to support the government. “I haven’t been in contact with him. Phone calls or meetings but looking at his statement, I want to say thank you for your support. “Question if he wants to stay with the PN is his decision. But I think if people see…

A U.S. Air Force B-52 strategic bomber landed on the Korean Peninsula for the first time ever Tuesday after conducting a flyover at a Seoul defense expo and participating in a joint exercise with South Korean fighter jets. The nuclear-capable bomber landed at an air base in Cheongju, 70 miles south of Seoul. Earlier in the day, it flew over Seoul Air Base to mark the opening of the 2023 Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition, which is scheduled to run until Monday. “These flyovers, air demonstrations and static displays, including the landing for the B-52 on the peninsula, are…

In February 2012, Mike Johnson sent an aide on an urgent mission at the college where he had been working to open a law school: Locate a study that he believed would provethe project was financially possible. For more than a year, Johnson — the dean of the not-yet-opened law school — had been telling donors and the public that the institution, which would focus on training Christian attorneys in northwest Louisiana, was not only achievable, but inevitable. “From a pure feasibility standpoint,” Johnson, then 38, told the local Town Talk newspaper in 2010 after becoming dean, “I’m not sure…

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe will visit China in the upcoming week as the crisis-hit country makes progress on debt restructuring talks with its biggest lender. Wickremesinghe took office in July last year, after a popular uprising, brought on by an economic meltdown, had forced his predecessor out of power. His Oct. 15-19 visit to Beijing will be his first to China since then. Wickremesinghe, who is also finance minister, has been leading Sri Lanka’s push to manage its heavy debt and keep funds flowing from a $2.9 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme. He will attend a Belt and Road Forum in Beijing that would mark the…