NEED TO KNOW Two Presidents It was a peculiar moment in world politics yesterday as US President Donald Trump and his predecessor, President Barack Obama, nearly crossed paths during their respective trips to Europe. "The contrast between their visits may be a reminder of just how differently the two...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Changing Direction The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, has been a pillar of transatlantic relations in the post-World War Two era. Founded as a bulwark for Western Europe against Soviet aggression in the 1950s, NATO has evolved since the Cold War to tackle...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW May's Mission With Britain weeks away from a general election, British Prime Minister Theresa May's conservative Tory Party has just one mission in mind: destroy Labor. The terror attack that killed 22 people at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester on Tuesday might have helped...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW No Illusions Earlier this month, global leaders and the international community at large commemorated the twelfth-annual International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia by expressing solidarity with disenfranchised lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, or LGBT, communities around the world. As the day showed, the modern...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Good and Evil US President Donald Trump’s speech in Saudi Arabia on Sunday reinforced the battle lines that have long riven the Middle East in two. "This is a battle between barbaric criminals who seek to obliterate human life and decent people, all in the...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW A League of Its Own President Donald Trump will embark on a string of foreign visits Friday that includes Saudi Arabia and Israel before he circles back through Europe. But while the president has high hopes that the trip will "begin to construct a new...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW House of Cards Ordinary Chinese people know that the children of Communist Party leaders amass wealth via familial connections. They encounter bankers seeking bribes in exchange for loans. If they can’t afford the bribes, they go to loan sharks. They understand they can do...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW No to Silence Mexican journalists demonstrated on Tuesday to remember the life and protest the murder of Javier Valdez, a crusading reporter and author who was pulled out of his car and shot 12 times on Monday in Sinaloa. The journalists wrote “No to silence”...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Loathe Thy Neighbor In Iraq, military forces are opening new fronts against the Islamic State in Mosul, advancing efforts to free the city from the terrorist group. Meanwhile, peace talks over the Syrian civil war might finally be gathering some steam again. And Iranians are gearing up for a presidential...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW The Iron Mainstream German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s position as the most powerful leader in Europe appears secure after her party won local elections in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia on Sunday, unseating their Social Democrat rivals. The defeat humiliated Social Democratic leader Martin Schulz,...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Nepal [heading4]The Long Road[/heading4] Nepal's long struggle toward democracy hit another bump recently when Deputy Prime Minister Bimalendra Nidhi nearly resigned in protest over the impeachment of a judge known as a watchdog against political corruption. Nidhi timed his move to make a statement: For the...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Risks and Rewards Stretching from the Pacific to the Mediterranean, the Silk Road underpinned China’s economic and cultural dominance more than a millennium ago. Now, Chinese President Xi Jinping's modern version of the ancient route, known as "One Belt, One Road" – an almost...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Clearing the Path For decades, world leaders have launched many high-powered development and philanthropic initiatives in Africa. Seven years ago, for example, the European Union kicked off its Millennium Development Goal Initiative to help African nations reach United Nations-adopted development goals like wiping out...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW In Bloom Tech giant Google fired up its first internet servers last week on the formerly isolated island of Cuba. Internet access is shoddy and expensive in Cuba despite President Raul Castro's initiatives to set up Wi-Fi hotspots in tourist destinations on the island....
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Viva la Reprieve As Emmanuel Macron won the French presidency in a landslide on Sunday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats beat rivals in a state poll in northern Germany that many viewed as boding well for Merkel as she prepares for federal...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW A Loaded Choice The French will go to the polls Sunday to vote for a new president, choosing between the far-right National Front's Marine Le Pen and the centrist independent Emmanuel Macron. As a televised debate held Wednesday night between the two candidates showed, voters...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Turbulence and Resilience Prime Minister Narendra Modi's India has proven to be remarkably resilient, even in turbulent times. The country's GDP growth rate of 7 percent for the final months of 2016, for example, defied economists' predictions, allowing India to retain its title as the...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Strength in Numbers In a year defined by the rising tide of populism, one major world power seems to be bucking the trend: Japan. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has managed to balance a growing sense of nationalism at home with pragmatism abroad, providing a sense...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Northerly Neighbors When American policymakers complain about trade imbalances in North America, Mexico typically figures as the culprit. In fact, trade with Canada is usually discussed in much more genteel terms. But in recent weeks, economic relations between America and its northern neighbor have gone topsy-turvy:...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW In the Crossfire Iraqi commanders expect to take back Mosul from the Islamic State this month, Reuters reported on Sunday. That’s good news. But the next few weeks are crucial to whether Iraqi and US-led coalition forces earn the confidence of Mosul residents after they...
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