NEED TO KNOW HONG KONG [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/69ea348d-c659-4ccf-8c5e-70099ea87e2c.png"] Umbrellas and Eggs Protesters shut down Hong Kong’s commuter rail system in late July. They blocked trains from leaving the city or blocked doors to keep trains in their stations. Some commuters sympathized with the civil action. "I think my work and meeting...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW GUATEMALA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/a3903b60-311e-4a0e-bf52-eb48d15b410d.png"] Passing the Buck Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales, whose term ends in January, is leaving behind a crisis for his successor. Demonstrators in recent days have taken to the streets to protest an agreement Morales reached with US President Donald Trump on July 26. The...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW NIGERIA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/78f1d673-5d4f-4e76-98ae-7d0350e258ac.png"] Waiting for Godot Armed men on motorbikes attacked a funeral procession in northeastern Nigeria recently, killing at least 65 people. Dozens are still missing. The attack, blamed on the Islamic militant group Boko Haram, was thought to be a reprisal in a tit-for-tat conflict...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW RUSSIA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/590fa22c-cb98-46d1-92e0-b6539b2a1173.png"] Strange Brews Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny recently came down with a bizarre sickness. His face and eyes were swollen. A rash covered much of his upper body. It appeared as though he was suffering a serious allergic reaction. But he and his doctors...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW PUERTO RICO [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/063757a9-3e72-4898-9223-e49792c70004.png"] Being Heard Puerto Rico was recently described as the world’s oldest colony. Now it’s the latest place where the people are fed up with their leaders. Recently, Puerto Ricans were banging pots and pans – a type of protest called a “cacerolazo,” after the...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW SYRIA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/a0fb995d-af7e-4394-ad02-ecc76a056a44.png"] From the Rubble The Syrian Civil War was hard on Aleppo. “In the Old City’s labyrinthine markets, where government troops and rebel groups fought it out, shuttered shops are riddled with bullet-holes,” reported the New Humanitarian, a news agency that reports on crises. “The...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW POLAND [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/7b585fc6-d6c4-4f4e-a14a-33fe8d729c1c.png"] Revisionist Politics Founded by freedom fighter, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former president of Poland, Lech Walesa, Solidarity has long been viewed as playing a key role in the fall of the Berlin Wall in the late 1980s. But as the end of communism...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW ARGENTINA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/0fa8b6fd-0f1b-4593-a49c-c234f14a68af.png"] Lights Out A blackout struck Argentina in early June. Almost 50 million people in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay lost power in an area four times as large as Texas. A month later, officials told the Associated Press that “improper reprogramming” in a major transmission line...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW INDIA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/6c1e91bd-d64f-473f-b468-ad3e35a0f829.png"] No Help, Please Prosecutors in India recently ordered a local legal aid and human rights organization to shut down for six months as punishment for violating the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) as well as conspiracy and other alleged crimes. Leaders of the Lawyer’s...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW AFRICA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/f7689c12-2326-4a2a-a072-842db5132f55.png"] A Golden Union Africa’s 1.3 billion people live and work in a $3.4 trillion economy, compared with China’s 1.4 billion people and $13.6 trillion 2018 gross domestic product. That $3.4 trillion is only a portion of the continent’s potential, however. Intra-regional trade accounted for only...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/c9165995-fdc4-4263-b05a-d1c174afcb39.png"] Careful What You Wish For A power-sharing agreement recently enacted between the Sudanese military and protesters has instilled hope among Arab democracy advocates. The agreement comes after the military ousted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in April after 30 years in...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW AFGHANISTAN [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/63dbd3ab-8c9f-403c-b1d4-f10b4c9a44c2.png"] Begging for Peace Taliban fighters recently attacked the Afghan Ministry of Defense, sparking an eight-hour gun battle that resulted in as many as 40 people dead and more than 100 injured. That attack happened as government forces killed almost 70 insurgents in one day...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW MEXICO [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/f356be79-e542-449d-b5af-3db13df342fd.png"] Bound Together Mexican officials recently sold luxury houses, including one with an escape tunnel, in an auction of property formerly owned by drug barons. The sales were part of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s push to generate extra revenue as he cuts...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW ESTONIA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/45ad73e9-63df-4bf3-95e3-0b12e10a89ea.png"] On the Crossroads The far-right Conservative People’s Party in the tiny Baltic republic of Estonia has long espoused views opposing the European Union, immigration, same-sex partnerships and feminism. After parliamentary elections in March, the party joined a new three-party coalition government led by...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW UGANDA & CONGO [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/17fd0d0f-f16e-4569-a41d-29ee862e14ae.png"] A Killer Loose At Ihandiro primary school in western Uganda, teachers have been stressing a different lesson from reading and math: Wash your hands. That's because of a deadly outbreak of the Ebola virus in the nearby Democratic Republic of Congo that...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW SUDAN [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/7ff13e19-e031-4ed8-b29a-3f9f5eaaae60.png"] Radio Free Sudan Capital FM is going silent in Khartoum. The pop music radio station was part of a cultural revolution in Sudan this spring. "It was just so beautiful, and we were just so proud that we're soulful," Ahmad Hikmat, the station’s content director,...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW DOMINICAN REPUBLIC [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/ad966f80-19dc-4544-b116-f2348e83ec0a.png"] Paradise, Lost Four Americans died in the Dominican Republic last year, according to CBS News. At least 10 more have died this year. Others have suffered injuries during violent attacks. Bizarre sicknesses that cause heart attacks, septic shock and pneumonia have been involved...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW SAUDI ARABIA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/6d96543a-ef9b-4c9c-8184-bf756542bee6.png"] What You See… Saudi Arabia is selling permanent residency status for $213,000. A one-year residency option costs around $27,000. The fees are designed to break down barriers to foreign investment. The idea came from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who estimated it would...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW GERMANY [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/18ca6ce9-4a8f-46d8-b0b3-84a7601584cd.png"] Same Old Song Bodo Ramelow, premier of the eastern German state of Thuringia, wants his country to adopt a new national anthem to replace the Deutschlandlied (Song of Germany). “Many East Germans don’t sing it,” Ramelow told Reuters. “I would like to have a...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW INDONESIA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/26b68ea6-a202-483a-8e3e-f776f4ca7c3b.png"] Islands in the Stream When the longtime dictator of Indonesia, Suharto, lost power in 1998 after three decades in office, he was estimated to have embezzled $35 billion. Following Suharto’s example, the Atlantic reported, nearly every government official or bureaucrat was once on the...
Read full story →