NEED TO KNOW INDIA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/6c1e91bd-d64f-473f-b468-ad3e35a0f829.png"] Beware All Ye Populists Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ascent to power in India in 2014 was an international milestone. Riding a popular wave, Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) promised to make the world’s largest democracy finally realize its potential. Business would be...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW AUSTRALIA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/82c68faa-ff3d-46ed-9ba6-ee472c0f4612.png"] Agreeing to Agree Down Under is showing the rest of the world how climate change can dominate an election without eclipsing other important issues. In Australia, recent devastating fires and floods and record droughts and high temperatures – in January, during their summer, asphalt...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW NORTHERN IRELAND [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/226d2dbb-1710-45ca-9b83-dc0f231f2891.png"] Time of the Banshees In Irish folklore, the mournful wailing, or “keening,” of the banshee heralds the arrival of death. One might argue that much keening has been heard in Northern Ireland lately. Police recently nabbed four men in connection with the fatal...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW UKRAINE [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/f0ea258b-2bfa-43a6-bd2a-d2e226c5a8ed.png"] When Life Imitates Art Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a 41-year-old comedian who played a president on television, beat incumbent President Petro Poroshenko in a shock landslide – 73 percent to 25 percent – in Ukraine’s presidential election last month. And as Zelenskiy prepares to assume office...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW PHILIPPINES [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/86969983-42bc-4dd1-a3f0-e267a1bffacb.png"] Pyrrhus' Dilemma He’s blamed beautiful women for cases of rape and suggested he should have been the first to assault an Australian missionary during a prison riot. He’s cracked down on drug trafficking, killing more than 5,000 people in the process. He’s even threatened...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW LITHUANIA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/07796ce5-0d95-4cc8-afa8-1d198d4b74eb.png"] The Lingering Shadow Fifteen years ago this month, Lithuania and seven other countries formerly under Soviet control joined the European Union. The verdict on the fruits of EU accession since then is mixed, noted euronews. Europe has poured billions into Lithuania, improving infrastructure and...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW LIBYA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/955e87c2-1f99-445c-91e0-aacf1bcfd70f.png"] Game of Zeroes Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar got a shot in the arm when he received US President Donald Trump’s surprise endorsement last month. Trump’s nod raised eyebrows, the New York Times noted, because Haftar, 75, is seeking to depose the government in Tripoli...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW SOUTH AFRICA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/e87ee4a1-acc3-47d4-ab24-99620c359db4.png"] The Color of Land Twenty-five years after white-only rule ended in South Africa, race is expected to play a major role in parliamentary elections on May 8. Voters cast ballots along the lines of race. As Quartz explained, nearly all voters who opt...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW IRAN [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/f25b1768-9f43-4ab7-8bf0-632c08c442ab.png"] Suffer the People Iranian drivers recently lined up at gas stations as rumors flew that fuel rationing would go into effect amid rising prices – inflation approaching 40 percent – and a plunge in Iran’s currency stemming from crippling US sanctions on the...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW SUDAN [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/7ff13e19-e031-4ed8-b29a-3f9f5eaaae60.png"] Curtain Call In Sudan, it’s the people versus the generals. Since the military overthrew Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir last month, activists have been calling for the generals who once propped him up to transition the country to democracy. Instead, as al-Bashir and his allies...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW PANAMA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/969bf691-c0ca-4d20-b33a-00b55a802613.png"] The Swamp Along the Canal Laurentino Cortizo is the current front-runner in Panama’s presidential election, set for May 5. He has a curiously negative pitch. “I aspire to become president of this country firstly to defend Panama's interests, which means not stealing,” said Cortizo...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW SRI LANKA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/a49e9b75-a635-4c65-a1e7-4ec5b6cbaf3f.png"] A Special Valence Sri Lankan security forces engaged in shootouts with Islamic State-affiliated militants recently as they searched for 140 suspects linked to the suicide bombings that killed more than 250 people at churches and hotels on Easter Sunday. Much of the fallout...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW EGYPT [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/b3bfa138-2a35-4b2f-a606-17aecd7c09ce.png"] The New Pharaoh A man stood alone on a Cairo street corner in April holding a placard. “No to amending the constitution,” said the sign. Police quickly arrested him, the New York Times reported. The man was protesting a referendum that asked voters whether they wanted...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW SERBIA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/b9e09281-453b-412f-bded-1e2485e01538.png"] A Rock, A Hard Place Thousands of Serbians have been staging protests outside their parliament in Belgrade since masked thugs beat up an opposition politician in November, an incident that protesters say underscores and perfectly illustrates the autocratic rule of President Aleksandar Vucic. The...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW BRUNEI [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/3e487707-1db9-4e96-94d7-e3322af80c2d.png"] Of Rolls Royces and Executions The LGBTQ community in Brunei faces punishments that can only be described as medieval. "I thought I would not be accepted, I would be outcast by my family, I would be sent to religious counseling, to help me change,"...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW BENIN [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/81697447-2772-44bb-88ea-cb2540693466.png"] Of Gizzards and Threats History has not been kind to Benin. The tiny West African country exported more than a million slaves to the United States and elsewhere centuries ago. On the country’s coast stands the Door of No Return, a moving memorial at...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW SPAIN [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/a2934fc1-ecec-43c4-971e-42408b48ae64.png"] Third Time’s a Charm Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his Socialist Party are expected to increase their share of seats in the Spanish parliament when voters go to the polls on April 28 to elect a new government for the third time in four...
Read full story →We are happy to announce that the audio version of DailyChatter is available again, following the resolution of technical problems. Thank you for your patience. NEED TO KNOW VENEZUELA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/34d551e0-b314-42d3-a156-912df4b8bde4.png"] Safety Valves Manuel Gonzalez has been sleeping in a park in Riohacha, Colombia, with his 3-year-old son lately. “I...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW CANADA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/86dd83b3-dfbf-4c11-8b78-5721c606d3f8.png"] Bearing a Cross Leaders in the Canadian province of Quebec want to ban teachers, police officers, nurses and other civil servants from wearing religious clothing on the job. The controversial measure highlights a tension between the province’s North American and European roots, exposing a rift...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW SYRIA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/a0fb995d-af7e-4394-ad02-ecc76a056a44.png"] Circling Buzzards Fighting recently broke out between Russian troops and Iranian-backed militias in the Syrian city of Aleppo. Eleven people died as the fighting escalated from a skirmish near a vegetable market into an exchange of fire from heavy weaponry that included ground-to-air missiles. The two...
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