Archive

December 25, 2020

The Virus That ‘Stole’ Christmas

NEED TO KNOW WORLD [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/486ddb7e-3777-4543-ab44-3536360a3ce9.png"] The Virus That 'Stole' Christmas In Germany, it’s allowed to celebrate Christmas with four people outside of one's household. In the Netherlands, that number is three. Under Belgium's mind-numbingly complicated rules, it's one – or two, if you live alone – or four...

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December 24, 2020

A Question of Lives

NEED TO KNOW NIGER [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/770c49e5-a303-44c1-86fc-05e51df3933a.png"] A Question of Lives Boko Haram militants affiliated with the Islamic State killed 28 people and burned 800 homes in an attack in southern Niger recently. The terrorists shot 10 people and immolated 14 victims in the village of Toumour, Reuters reported. Another four...

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December 23, 2020

Of Freedoms and Free-For-Alls

NEED TO KNOW SOLOMON ISLANDS [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/3c7e70b3-a24d-4f3a-95d2-795b0355ebe6.png"] Of Freedoms and Free-For-Alls Leaders in the Solomon Islands are considering a ban on Facebook in order to promote “national unity” as well as end defamation and cyber bullying in the archipelago country that spans almost 900 miles in the South Pacific. “…freedom...

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December 22, 2020

A Democratic Frontier

NEED TO KNOW CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/c7e5325a-3ac2-4df5-8925-90bdfbdaf0d9.png"] A Democratic Frontier Violent groups control much of the Central African Republic. Around a quarter of the population is either displaced or living in Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo or its neighbor, the Republic of the Congo. A peace...

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December 21, 2020

Singing the Sahara Blues

NEED TO KNOW WESTERN SAHARA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/2775f58b-3bd8-427a-ad2d-e43df6f1ceeb.png"] Singing the Sahara Blues Driving from Tan Tan, deep in southern Morocco, it's a long, lonely road along the Atlantic and the vast desert through the Western Sahara. Few cars drive here, mostly trucks carrying supplies to the frontier cities of Laayoune and...

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December 18, 2020

Chaos in the Mountains

NEED TO KNOW KYRGYZSTAN [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/766aa12d-4910-4bb3-a204-adba72f724f9.png"] Chaos in the Mountains In the past two months, the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan has had three presidents and four prime ministers. The instability kicked off after parliamentary elections on Oct. 4 when protesters took to the streets after three political parties with...

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December 17, 2020

Hope’s Anniversary

NEED TO KNOW TUNISIA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/1f262cf6-0ed8-4367-aeca-5f0f2b6684d0.png"] Hope’s Anniversary On Dec. 17, 2010, fruit and vegetable vendor Tarek el-Tayeb Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in the central non-descript town of Sidi Bouzid after police seized his produce cart. It was the kind of petty harassment that many Tunisians dealt with...

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December 16, 2020

The Politics of Never Forgetting

NEED TO KNOW ISRAEL [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/e9f003e4-763f-45aa-8bd2-dd52c7067104.png"] The Politics of Never Forgetting Yad Vashem is a phrase from the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible that literally means “a monument and a name.” It conveys how the Jerusalem-based institution is not only a museum of the Holocaust but also...

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December 15, 2020

No Girl Left Behind

NEED TO KNOW SCOTLAND [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/e059648e-a464-410c-a812-d6debee7d46c.png"] No Girl Left Behind Scotland is tackling women's rights in a new way – aiming to make sure females don’t fall into “period poverty.” As Politico recently reported, local lawmakers enacted a law that compels local authorities, schools and other institutions to provide the...

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December 14, 2020

Dancing Into Disease

NEED TO KNOW WORLD [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/486ddb7e-3777-4543-ab44-3536360a3ce9.png"] Dancing Into Disease China, like the US, Canada and the UK, is slowly rolling out plans to vaccinate its 1.4 billion people. The country has four vaccines that have been undergoing testing throughout the world, the Associated Press wrote. China even sent 1.2...

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December 11, 2020

Chits and Chips

NEED TO KNOW IRAN [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/aa73e799-3df4-4d8a-8ec5-35a9feeb2bb4.png"] Chits and Chips The alleged Israeli assassination of lead Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh last month sent another political shockwave through an already shell-shocked region. A remote-controlled machine gun shot Fakhrizadeh, adding a dramatic twist to the incident, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz noted. The...

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December 10, 2020

The Mink Saga

NEED TO KNOW DENMARK [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/19f78c1e-e0c6-49d6-b264-eb1779028db9.png"] The Mink Saga Mink are cute, curious and valuable mammals, making them a perfect, if unfortunate, victim for an international news story that raises questions about how far humans are willing to go to end the coronavirus pandemic. Denmark triggered worldwide dismay when officials...

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December 09, 2020

Peace and Disquiet

NEED TO KNOW ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/30fec2aa-e318-4e1c-a63d-8b70f85eb845.png"] Peace and Disquiet Families in Armenia and Azerbaijan are turning to Facebook to find missing-in-action soldiers after the end of the recently concluded 44-day war between the two former Soviet republics. Suladdin Yusifov’s 23-year-old son, Ali, is a lieutenant in Azerbaijan’s armed forces. His...

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December 08, 2020

Tired – and Angry

NEED TO KNOW LIBERIA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/9eb32998-6471-45a3-a560-2a676df24771.png"] Tired – and Angry Liberian President George Oppong Weah is hoping to join the ranks of Ivory Coast’s Alassane Ouattara, Guinea’s Alpha Condé and other African leaders who have sidestepped their country’s laws to win a controversial third term in office. On Dec. 8,...

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December 07, 2020

Choosing the Future

NEED TO KNOW WORLD [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/486ddb7e-3777-4543-ab44-3536360a3ce9.png"] Choosing the Future Maybe the dominant narrative of the origin of the coronavirus is wrong. As the South China Morning Post reported, researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently announced that they had detected Covid-19 in blood samples collected in...

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December 04, 2020

Misery and Conspiracy

NEED TO KNOW VENEZUELA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/f52c66cd-9299-42e6-acd8-f970f62c524b.png"] Misery and Conspiracy In the US, the power of communist Venezuela is the stuff of conspiracy theories. But in Venezuela, the misery is real. Authorities in neighboring countries like Trinidad and Tobago are dealing with tens of thousands of desperate Venezuelan fleeing their economically devastated...

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December 03, 2020

Fire and Rage

NEED TO KNOW ROMANIA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/9aaceeea-9490-44fc-a4ad-151c831adffc.png"] Fire and Rage After a fire in a Bucharest nightclub claimed 27 lives and resulted in 200 injuries, Romanians took to the streets. Angry over poor medical facilities, safety measures and other government failures, they marched and forced then-Prime Minister Victor Ponta to...

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December 02, 2020

A Long Shadow

NEED TO KNOW GHANA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/7e0e6e88-9163-4694-b6cb-60313006b676.png"] A Long Shadow Jerry Rawlings brought military coups, authoritarianism and, ironically, democracy to Ghana. He recently died at the age of 73, bringing an end to a chapter of African history that stretched to the post-colonial period and the continent’s early experiences with...

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December 01, 2020

‘Just Another Son of a Bitch’

NEED TO KNOW GUATEMALA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/db73a011-021f-466b-9b89-77add155facc.png"] 'Just Another Son of a Bitch' Political economist Mark Blyth once called austerity a dangerous idea. Guatemala might be a good example of what he meant. Lawmakers in the Central American country recently moved to adopt a 2021 budget that would cut spending for health...

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November 30, 2020

Preexisting Conditions

NEED TO KNOW AFRICA & MIDDLE EAST [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/6ef6eaaa-3634-4c4d-a86c-6833ce8a2814.png"] Preexisting Conditions Palestinian authorities declared a public health disaster on Nov. 23. Hundreds contract Covid-19 every day but there is nowhere to treat them. The region’s infrastructure has been crumbling for years amid an Israeli economic blockade, terrorism and violence,...

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