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...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Papal Visits, Fragile Relations When bombs exploded at two Coptic Christian churches in Egypt on Palm Sunday, some wondered what that would mean for Pope Francis's pending and much-anticipated visit to the world's largest Muslim-majority country. They need not have worried. Despite the horrific...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Milk and Walls It's no exaggeration to say that relations between the US and Mexico have reached new low since November. On Wednesday, Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray floated the idea of an entry fee for Americans – a clear riposte to President Donald Trump’s call...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Bad Company Iranians vote for president on May 19 at a time when their country stands poised either to end or to double-down on its so-called rogue status. But the country isn't likely to make a u-turn any time soon. On a positive note for...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW A Looming Flashpoint Events in France, Germany and the United Kingdom have overshadowed those in Spain this year due to national elections and referendums that threaten to change the trajectory of the European Union. But as the UK grapples with Brexit and Germany and...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Herd Mentality The shooting of conservationist Kuki Gallmann on her ranch in northern Kenya was a high-profile example of a widespread and underreported trend in Africa: violence related to grazing rights. Gunmen ambushed the Italian-born, 73-year-old author of the bestselling I Dreamed of Africa on...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Mainstream and Mavericks The first round of voting in the French presidential election on Sunday was already billed as a showdown between mainstream and maverick politicians that could determine the fate of Europe. “Vote for president could reshape Western world,” read the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Neighborly Relations, Hard Lines A resurgent Taliban has posed problems as the US and Afghanistan discuss how to move forward in their 15-year-long relationship. That resurgence, in turn, has raised issues about the Taliban and Afghanistan's neighbors – notably Pakistan. Observers have long said that...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW No 'Plan B' Argentinian President Mauricio Macri has pushed the country down an ambitious path of reforms since his election win in 2015. The measures introduced by Macri – the former mayor of Buenos Aires and a well-known businessman – have so far included floating...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Squaring the Circle During Chinese President Xi Jinping's meeting with US President Donald Trump in Florida earlier this month, the leaders of the world's two largest economies made strides toward avoiding a full-scale trade war. Now North Korea might help erase whatever misgivings remained between...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW A New Turkey Elections are supposed to decide issues. The vote in Turkey on Sunday has almost certainly not done that. By a narrow but definitive margin, Turkish voters opted to grant new sweeping powers to their president, abolishing the office of the prime minister and...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW The Lost Children Three years ago, Boko Haram militants kidnapped 276 schoolgirls in Chibok in northern Nigeria. Nearly 200 are still missing, USA Today reported Thursday. The fate of the missing Chibok girls isn’t the only sad tale in Boko Haram’s long reign of terror. Human...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Wanted: A Compelling Alternative South African President Jacob Zuma has been called the Teflon Don thanks to his unflappable ability to bounce back from scandal after scandal. The 74-year-old leader of the African National Congress, or ANC, has survived attempted ousters and a court...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW An Appeal to the Masses Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte was in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday meeting with King Salman. On their agenda was the plight of Filipino workers who were kicked out of the desert kingdom without pay, as well as the living conditions...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Mutual Mistrust Even under the best circumstances, tensions between Russia and the US would probably have been high ahead of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's visit to Moscow Tuesday. A number of "difficult subjects" had made their way onto the agenda for the highly...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW The Confidence Crisis In the short run, the Islamic State’s attacks on two Coptic Christian churches in Egypt on Palm Sunday appear to have spurred solidarity between Muslims and Christians – who comprise around 10 percent of the country’s 91 million people. “Your terrorism...
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