Author: Mark Brooks

Everything resembles a thriller novel. Early one morning in December last year, after months of undercover investigation and wiretapping, Belgian police officers raided dozens of locations across Brussels. Over the next 3 days, in apartments, hotel rooms and offices, they seized laptops, mobile phones and nearly 1.5 million euros in cash. The following week, 4 people were arrested on corruption charges, including 2 representatives, a former member of parliament and a current member of the European Parliament. Antonio Panzeri, a retired MEP from Italy, who eventually admitted that he was the mastermind of the corruption scheme. Meanwhile, Eva Kaili, vice-president of the…

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…

Leave Trail of 50 Dead in Benue State (Makurdi) In the late hours of Thursday, August 8, 2024, the world was watching the high drama of the Paris Olympics. American pundits were watching Donald Trump’s Mar a Lago Presser. But Akika Tsav, a farmer and resident of Ayati village in Central Nigeria, was watching his world fall apart. Tsav’s peaceful town of Ayati in Benue State, Nigeria, was again heading into mourning. Ayati, a tranquil precinct in Ukum County, Benue State, has been ravaged by wave after wave of jihadist terrorist attacks in recent years. Located 121 miles northeast of…

Frankfurt, Paris (14/7 – 23) United States presidential candidate Donald Trump was shot while giving a speech in Pennsylvania, on Saturday (13/7) local time. Trump’s speech to his supporters in Butler City about illegal migration. Suddenly, a gunshot was heard and Trump immediately stopped talking. He covered his bleeding ears and sat behind the podium surrounded by Secret Service escorts. A few minutes later, officers evacuated Trump from the stage, and the former president’s right ear was covered in blood. The US presidential election is scheduled for November 2024. The main contestants expected on the ballot are Joe Biden and…

Former Russian Deputy Defense Minister Tatyana Shevtsova, who officially was dismissed mid-June, fled to France ‘with hundreds of millions of dollars saved in cryptocurrency.’. Tsargrad and other Telegram channels report this with reference to several sources, although confirmation or refutation of this data has not yet been received. If she fled to France, it must be a deal with the French security service, as she is sanctioned in Europe. There is a version that Shevtsova allegedly cooperated with the investigation against the detained generals, trying to avoid her own charges. According to another version, the generals, to reduce their sentences,…

Most dismissed retired IDF general Yitzhak Brick’s warning earlier this year of a Hamas invasion. Now Netanyahu wants his advice on how to win. Yitzhak Brick might be the only Israeli military official to see what was coming. And he’s been warning of it for some time. He also does not see a ground invasion of Gaza as the only option. And Israel must prepare for a multi-front war given the situation in the north. Brick cautioned, among other things, of problems with the competence of ground forces and made it clear that the ground invasion does not have to be…

U.S. lawmakers unveiled an annual defense policy bill leaving out most of the divisive social issues, such as abortion rights and treatment of transgender service members, that had threatened to derail the must-pass legislation. The Senate and House of Representatives Armed Services Committees released the 3,000-page text of the Fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, late on Wednesday. This year’s bill, an annual measure that sets policy for the Department of Defense, authorizes a record $886 billion in spending, a 3% increase over last year. The measure is a compromise between versions of the NDAA passed by the…

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California is facing a record $68 billion budget deficit, state officials announced Thursday, forcing hard choices for Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in his final term as he works to build his national profile. The nation’s most populous state — with an economy that is the fifth largest in the world — has been struggling since last year because of the rising prices of most goods and services and how the U.S. government has been trying to control it. It is now much more expensive for people and businesses to borrow money, meaning fewer people are buying homes and fewer businesses…

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Florida law blocking Gov. Ron DeSantis’ publicly funded travel records from the public is unconstitutional and the state should be required to turn them over, asserts a legal challenge filed by The Washington Post. The Post’s lawsuit marks the first effort to challenge the law, which the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature passed just weeks before DeSantis officially announced a run for president. GOP legislators said that the law — which applied not just to future travels but also to trips DeSantis had already taken — was needed to protect the safety of the governor and his family. But Democrats…