Archive

January 25, 2024

All That Glitters …

NEED TO KNOW All That Glitters … BRUNEI [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/664da16e-6086-451b-b6d0-2da3d75c7e07.png"] Prince Abdul Mateen of the small Southeast Asian nation of Brunei was described in Time magazine as “swoon-worthy,” “hot,” and “sexy.” Long considered one of the most eligible bachelors in the world, the 32-year-old helicopter pilot in his country’s air...

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January 24, 2024

When the Street Wins

NEED TO KNOW When the Street Wins GUATEMALA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/db73a011-021f-466b-9b89-77add155facc.png"] Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo’s supporters came out in force outside Congress on Jan. 14. But they weren’t there to witness his inauguration – they were there to make sure it even happened at all. As commentators noted, after much struggle,...

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January 23, 2024

Ever After

NEED TO KNOW Ever After ISRAEL/ GAZA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/a7853464-ef94-4b48-96b9-d7badbef5e55.png"] Yossi Sharabi and Itay Svirsky were two of the more than 240 people whom the Palestinian terror group Hamas kidnapped on Oct. 7. In a video released by Hamas, they appealed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war...

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January 22, 2024

A Spoonful of Salt

NEED TO KNOW A Spoonful of Salt THE GAMBIA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/89b5a0c0-046d-402b-bc1b-96a8d9ab5730.png"] Gambian Ebrima Sagnia, 44, in an emotional interview with Al Jazeera, recalled how in 2022, he gave the cough syrup to his four-year-old son to combat his high temperature. The boy became drowsy and couldn’t urinate for days....

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January 19, 2024

Gross National Gloom

[announcement] NEED TO KNOW Gross National Gloom BHUTAN [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/95cb74f9-3e10-4c29-ab01-000d0e49a2f4.png"] In Bhutan’s recent elections – the fourth since 2008, when the Himalayan nation replaced its traditional monarchy with a parliamentary form of government – the opposition People’s Democratic Party received a mandate to solve the economic crisis that has been...

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January 18, 2024

Trading in Blood

NEED TO KNOW Trading in Blood MEXICO [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/fcd100e2-d1bb-4cd7-b9f4-53a07a70e41c.png"] Mexico is the United States’ top trading partner – more than 800 billion dollars’ worth of goods move across the border each year, according to the US government. Some of those goods crossing the border, however, are not welcome – namely...

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January 17, 2024

Troubled Justice

NEED TO KNOW Troubled Justice NORTHERN IRELAND [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/e1fa23fe-bd64-4526-9f49-8430fef05250.png"] Violence between British-backed Protestants and Irish Catholics in Northern Ireland has been relatively subdued in recent memory compared to the street fighting decades ago, when, as one BBC story illustrated, British troops huddled for safety behind their armored vehicles. Peace in...

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January 16, 2024

The Coming Storm

NEED TO KNOW The Coming Storm ETHIOPIA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/bf55b5d2-7db8-404a-b87b-c88a42597d29.png"] When Eritrea won independence from Ethiopia in 1993, the latter retained access to a port on the former’s Red Sea coast. But five years later, Ethiopia lost access to this port during a war between the two countries that lasted...

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January 15, 2024

Simmer, and Boil

NEED TO KNOW Simmer, and Boil MIDDLE EAST [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/7000f0bb-c02b-4438-87c6-002be2c0dfc6.png"] On Jan. 12, the United States and its allies launched more than 100 missiles at 60 targets in Yemen, including “control nodes, munitions, depots, launching systems, production facilities, and air defense radar systems,” reported CNN. Five people perished and six...

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January 12, 2024

Eternal Turmoil

[announcement] NEED TO KNOW Eternal Turmoil COMOROS [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/3e1e7791-0efb-4c01-bc98-96b7c2eacff0.png"] After he secured power in a coup in 1999, Azali Assoumani ran for the presidency of Comoros in 2002. After retiring from politics in 2006, he ran for office again and won in 2016 and 2019. Now, after a court decision...

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January 11, 2024

The Loss of Patience

NEED TO KNOW The Loss of Patience TAIWAN [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/dab1143a-8514-4f63-8098-bd36050d9680.png"] Taiwan’s general election on Jan. 13 will have major implications for the small country that China claims as its own. As the Guardian reported, voters will cast ballots for the presidency and lawmakers who oversee an island the size...

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January 10, 2024

Nourished By Violence

NEED TO KNOW Nourished By Violence ISRAEL/ GAZA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/a7853464-ef94-4b48-96b9-d7badbef5e55.png"] Late last year, during an interview in Qatar, Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya told the New York Times that his terrorist group attacked Israel on Oct. 7 in order to revive the flagging revolutionary avidity that once animated Palestinians toward...

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January 09, 2024

My Rival, My Friend

NEED TO KNOW My Rival, My Friend AUSTRALIA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/81d62805-bef8-41fd-9c0c-ed93ea461226.png"] The AUKUS deal signed in 2021 by Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States arguably marked a nadir in relations between Australia and China. The deal gave Australia new technology for nuclear-powered submarines, weapons that were obviously meant...

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January 08, 2024

Cops & Robbers

NEED TO KNOW Cops & Robbers RUSSIA/ UKRAINE [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/1fcd4036-786d-9ce0-309a-14f74105b898.png"] In 2022, a Russian court sentenced Vladislav Kanyus to 17 years in jail for “torturing, suffocating and stabbing” his girlfriend. Today, following a pardon for his crimes by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kanyus is fighting for Russia in Ukraine,...

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January 05, 2024

The Fix Is In

[announcement] NEED TO KNOW The Fix Is In BANGLADESH [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/46a3120a-34a1-40f2-8221-240a899a0fd0.png"] The prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, recently launched her ruling Awami League party’s campaign for the South Asian country’s general election on Jan. 7. Speaking at a massive rally in the eastern city of Sylhet, reported the Associated Press,...

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January 04, 2024

The Unlikely Peacemaker

NEED TO KNOW The Unlikely Peacemaker QATAR [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/eb313eb2-840e-4e71-8167-30beddab851f.png"] Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani recently met in Poland with top-level officials from the Israeli spy agency Mossad and the US Central Intelligence Agency to secure the release of Israeli hostages whom Hamas...

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January 03, 2024

A Matter of Taste

NEED TO KNOW A Matter of Taste SOUTH KOREA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/96aac4ab-2540-4b79-8f3f-2a21e22e27fe.png"] Bruno, Max, Mia, Nana, Raspberry, Roxy, Trudy, and Zelda were not originally supposed to find loving homes in the US. These dogs were bound for dinner tables in South Korea – until a farmer decided to give up...

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January 02, 2024

Envy Thy Neighbor

NEED TO KNOW Envy Thy Neighbor VENEZUELA/ GUYANA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/96b8d0fc-cea6-f07b-0b19-9f5f4be48cd1.png"] Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Guyanese President Irfaan Ali recently committed to refrain from resorting to force to settle their dispute over the oil-rich Essequibo region on the border between the two South American countries. As the BBC explained, Essequibo...

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January 01, 2024

A Decisive New Year

NEED TO KNOW A Decisive New Year WORLD [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/486ddb7e-3777-4543-ab44-3536360a3ce9.png"] 2024 is shaping up to be a pivotal year. First, the new year will usher in some crucial elections, according to the Economist. The United Kingdom, India, and the United States are slated to hold general elections that will determine the...

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December 29, 2023

2023 – a World in Flux

NEED TO KNOW 2023 – a World in Flux WORLD [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/486ddb7e-3777-4543-ab44-3536360a3ce9.png"] Ukraine’s failure to reassert control of regions that Russia has seized since February 2022 (or 2014, counting the Crimean Peninsula) and the carnage of the war between Israel and Hamas, are continuing to dominate news headlines as...

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