NEED TO KNOW ALGERIA [heading4]Ghosts of the Past[/heading4] With almost 1,000 miles of Mediterranean coastline and fertile land in the country's north, Algeria served as the Roman Empire's breadbasket – and a regional jewel for subsequent empires including the Ottomans and the French. And after decades of turmoil in...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW ALBANIA [heading4]Needed: Miracles[/heading4] A few months ago, Albanians reelected sitting prime minister, Socialist Party leader Edi Rama, in what some celebrated as a free election. That's the good news. That's because in spite of real progress since shaking off its communist mantle in the late 1990s, political...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW SYRIA [heading4]The Ties That Bind[/heading4] Disagreements between Russia and Iran over the role of Hezbollah in Syria are providing glimpses of potential future conflicts when the country’s bloody civil war finally ends. Hezbollah has sent thousands of fighters into Syria to fight on behalf their fellow...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW NORTH KOREA [heading4]Yes, No, Maybe[/heading4] Over the past six months, North Korea has tested a series of long-range ballistic missiles. In fact, the Hermit Kingdom is now inching ever closer to developing sophisticated intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) capable of striking the United States – a threshold...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW KENYA [heading4]The Ballot and the Machete[/heading4] Kenyan anti-corruption activist Boniface Mwangi once loosed pigs in front of parliament to draw attention to the greed of his country’s leader. Now he’s running in Kenya’s general elections under the banner of his new Ukweli Party on Tuesday to...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW RWANDA [heading4]Big Steps, Small Steps[/heading4] Rwandans, it seems, would have a lot to criticize about President Paul Kagame. After all, their long-serving president runs an authoritarian state that suppresses anything resembling a serious opposition, wrote the Boston Globe. But despite his flaws, when voters head to the...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW CHINA [heading4]Flexing Muscle[/heading4] With a population of only a few thousand, Sansha city on Woody Island – China's administrative center for the South China Sea – is a far cry from the hustle and bustle of Shanghai or Beijing. But residents of the disputed island can...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW GUYANA [heading4]The Curse of Black Gold[/heading4] The discovery of massive oil reserves off the coast of the tiny English-speaking country of Guyana in South America has many wondering whether those riches will be a blessing or a curse. Exxon recently announced the discovery of around 500...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW EUROPE [heading4]Out of Sight…[/heading4] Two years ago, the world watched in horror as more than a million people fleeing poverty and war tried to cross land and sea borders to Europe – thousands died along the way. Now, it's happening again: Europe now has a second...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW AFRICA [heading4]The Big Five[/heading4] Rwandan President Paul Kagame is known around the world as a leader who helped rebuild his country after the horrors of genocide. But at home, Kagame is a brutal autocrat who tortures and assassinates his political enemies, wrote London School of Economics...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW SENEGAL [heading4]No Humdrum Affair[/heading4] As the only West African country never to have suffered a military coup, Senegal is widely viewed as one of the region’s most successful democracies. But that doesn't mean the democratic process in the largely French-speaking West African nation is a humdrum...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW VENEZUELA [heading4]The Zero Hour[/heading4] With violent demonstrations held against his rule on almost a daily basis – one protester died Wednesday – Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro appears ready to quash the civil unrest that has gripped his country. Now the left-leaning, former acolyte of the late...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW VATICAN [heading4]Holy Crisis[/heading4] For years, Pope Francis has tended to his flock, flown to the world's hotspots speaking words of reconciliation, and pleaded with stony-faced leaders to help refugees. Now he is managing a full-blown crisis. Cardinal George Pell appeared in an Australian court Tuesday and prepared...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW UNITED NATIONS [heading4]Reforming Peace[/heading4] United Nations peacekeepers are charged with protecting the weak and vulnerable. It’s not an easy job. On Monday, a Moroccan peacekeeper was killed in the Central African Republic while guarding a convoy of water trucks, the BBC reported. It was just the latest...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW POLAND [heading4]Channeling 1989[/heading4] Tens of thousands of Polish supporters of diversity, free markets and globalization took to the streets over the weekend to protest their rightwing populist government’s alleged takeover of the country’s judicial system. Outside the presidential palace in Warsaw, they waved Polish and European...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW EAST TIMOR [heading4]Festa Demokrasia[/heading4] Democracy can be messy, ugly and sometimes downright inefficient. But the East Timorese don't seem to know that – or care. On Saturday, voters in East Timor will embrace it when they go to the polls to elect a new parliament. And this...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW CANADA [heading4]A Neighbor, A Beacon[/heading4] Whereas many Western countries are seeking to cut down on immigration, one exception stands out: Canada. Designed to draw in well-educated, highly skilled workers, Canada’s "ruthlessly rational" immigration policies have created the world's "most prosperous and successful immigrant population," according to...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW JAPAN [heading4]The Setting Sun[/heading4] In the Land of the Rising Sun, political tumult may be on the horizon for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Earlier this month, Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP, sustained a stunning defeat at the hands of a novice political group...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW PAPUA NEW GUINEA [heading4]The Tomato Affair[/heading4] Allegations of election irregularities, vote buying, violence and voter intimidation have mired Papua New Guinea’s month-long election slated to conclude on July 24. Recently, the three members of an independent polling observatory commission resigned, saying they weren’t given sufficient access...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW PAKISTAN [heading4]Paper Surprise[/heading4] The Panama Papers haven’t garnered much press recently. But the leaked documents that revealed graft and corruption between global elites and offshore tax shelters have caused a burgeoning crisis in Pakistan. Pakistan’s Supreme Court is slated to render a decision today on corruption charges...
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