Author: Tall Iskarnah

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…

Cyprus vowed Tuesday to investigate new allegations by a group of international journalists that it was a hub for Russian money-laundering enabling oligarchs to bypass sanctions. According to an investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and 67 media partners, the east Mediterranean island “plays an even bigger role than was commonly known in moving dirty money for Russian President Vladimir Putin and other brutal dictators.” Collected documents “offer a penetrating look inside the rogue financial system that has helped empower some of the West’s most determined foes,” said the probe, titled Cyprus Confidential. Leaked internal records, dating…

Israel’s army said on Thursday that fighter jets struck the residence of the leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh. “Overnight, [Israeli army] fighter jets struck the residence of Ismail Haniyeh, the Head of Hamas’ Political Bureau, which was used as terrorist infrastructure and often served as a meeting point for Hamas’ senior leaders to direct terror attacks against Israeli civilians and [Israeli army soldiers,” the Israeli army said in a statement. It added: “During the takeover of the Al-Shati camp, [Israeli army] troops located and destroyed a Hamas naval forces weapons cache, containing diving gear, explosive devices, and…

A senior Hamas official on Thursday denied a report that Iran’s supreme leader informed the leader of the Palestinian militant group that Tehran would not go to war with Israel on its behalf. Citing unnamed Iranian and Hamas officials, Reuters reported on Wednesday that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei told Hamas’ leader Ismail Haniyeh during a meeting in Tehran in early November that, due to the lack of prior knowledge about Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, Iran would not engage in direct conflict with Israel on behalf of the Palestinian group. According to the report, Khamenei pledged to maintain “political and moral support”…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday acknowledged for the first time that he would “have to give answers” for security lapses exposed in the deadly October 7 attacks by Hamas. “We will examine in detail, we will get to the bottom of it,” said Netanyahu, who has faced a barrage of opposition and media criticism after Gaza militants breached Israeli border defenses. “The fault will be examined and everyone will have to give answers, including me. But all this will happen later,” the right-wing leader said in a televised address as the Israeli military prepares for a widely expected…

Colombo: Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Monday presented his government’s 2024 budget, emphasising the need for tough reforms until the full recovery of the cash-strapped island nation’s economy. Although Sri Lanka has managed to control its hyperinflation in the ongoing economic crisis, its economy is far from being fully recovered. “We have been able to put back on the rails the derailed economy. Still, people undergo suffering,” Wickremesinghe, who is also the Finance Minister, said. “The inflation which was 70 per cent in September 2022 has been reduced to 1.5 per cent in October this year,” the minister said. He…

The brother of a wanted extremist was killed inside Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp on Thursday, state media said. A young man who was “the target of an assassination operation inside the Ain al-Helweh camp died after sustaining serious wounds,” Lebanon’s National News Agency said. The camp on the outskirts of the southern port city of Sidon was rocked by deadly clashes earlier this year that pitted members of president Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement, which controls the camp, against hardline militants. Hamas, the militia group which carried out brutal attacks on Israel from Gaza on October 7, was not involved…

Israel’s military said on Saturday it had stopped a surface-to-air missile fired from Lebanon at one of its drones and the Lebanese authorities issued precautionary guidance in case it has to evacuate Beirut airport, as border tensions climb. The Israeli army and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon have exchanged fire on a daily basis since the start of the Gaza conflict three weeks ago, the biggest flare-up on the Lebanese-Israeli frontier since the two sides fought a war in 2006. In the 2006 conflict, runways at Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport, on the southern fringe of the Lebanese capital, were hit…

Amid Lebanon’s financial crisis, significant demonstrations have erupted in Beirut targeting financial institutions. Outraged Lebanese depositors, witnessing their savings vanish, have resorted to smashing bank windows, setting fires, and engaging in riots. Simultaneously, leaders of Lebanon’s central bank face grave allegations of fraud, embezzlement, and political corruption. Lebanese Citizens Left Penniless as Financial Institutions Crumble In February 2023, Lebanese depositors that were incensed by the alleged theft of their life savings by the country’s central bank, set ablaze the very banks that held their fortunes. Bitcoin.com News highlighted this distressing situation, revealing that regional banks had frozen accounts, leaving residents unable to…

A shell hit the headquarters of the UN peacekeeping mission in south Lebanon on Saturday, its spokesman said in the second such incident since the Israel-Hamas war erupted in Gaza.“A shell hit inside the base” in Naqura, said Andrea Tenenti, spokesperson for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, indicating there were “no injuries but some damage”. He said UNIFIL was seeking to verify who fired the shell.A Lebanese military source, who spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to the media, said “an Israeli shell penetrated the cement wall” around the UNIFIL headquarters.The shell did not…