NEED TO KNOW Closing the Door A year and a half after Europe's refugee crisis began, the question of what to do with the staggering amount of people still camped out on the continent remains, even as more continue to attempt the journey –aid workers fear...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Attention Please! Another bleaching event is already striking Australia's Great Barrier Reef on the heels of the one that just ended – its third and most severe die-off in 20 years. Last year's unprecedented event killed or reduced 90 percent of the reef's corals to...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Zebras and Stripes Many in Israel girded for a renewal of violence in the Gaza Strip when militant ex-convict Yehya Sinwar became the new leader of Hamas last month. One of 1,000 Palestinian prisoners released in 2011 in exchange for a single Israeli soldier, he...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW The Beginning of the End After nine months of speculation following last year's Brexit referendum, the UK has announced it will trigger Article 50 on March 29, officially beginning negotiations for its exit from the European Union. It could take as long as two years for the UK to...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Home, Bubbling, Home After much debate in Berlin in recent years, concerns about the skyrocketing cost of housing in the German capital erupted into full-blown demonstrations this past weekend. "Massive crowding is happening to the extent that a lot of people can't pay their rent,...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Mutti Goes to Washington German Chancellor Angela Merkel flies to Washington Friday to meet with US President Donald Trump for the first time since he took office in January. The stoic chancellor and the outspoken president may have their personal differences. But when the two...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Broken Promises, New Hopes Troubled Somalia enjoyed a rare moment of exuberance last month when thousands poured into the streets of Mogadishu to celebrate. The festivities stemmed from the Somalian parliament electing Mohammed Abdullah Mohammed – also known as Farmajo – as president...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW The Dutchman Add Geert Wilders to the list of anti-European Union, anti-Islamic, convention-demolishing far-right politicians at the height of their powers. Wilders and his anti-immigration Party for Freedom have been leading in the polls for Dutch parliamentary elections Wednesday throughout much of the race...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Of Victories and Uncertainties Pollsters and economists were quick to argue that the crackdown on cash Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated last year – also known as radical demonetization – would put a severe dent in both the Indian economy and Modi's...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW A Funeral, A Festival The crowds in Seoul on Sunday symbolized South Korea’s two minds on the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye. CNN described the demonstrators who came out in support of Park as mostly older folks who saw Park’s departure as a...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Of Nukes and Wild Hogs Japanese foodies love wild boar meat. Unfortunately, they can't dine on the hundreds of boars roaming the environs of Fukushima, the town where an earthquake and tsunami caused its namesake nuclear power plant to melt down six years ago Saturday. The...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW A State of Limbo The elections were due to take place in November. But the electoral commission said it didn’t know how many voters there were in the Democratic Republic of Congo. So it was given time, in spite of the outrage on...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Back in the Game After a few weeks of relative calm – following the contentious Navy SEAL raid that some US officials now say unfortunately yielded no significant intelligence – Yemen has once again become a US flashpoint. The US launched two consecutive days of...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW On the Altar of Brexit Talks to salvage Northern Ireland's local government quickly deteriorated Monday as the Irish-nationalist party Sinn Fein demanded that the pro-British Democratic Unionists dismiss their leader, embattled Arlene Foster, as the province’s first minister, reported Reuters. It's a demand with teeth. That’s...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Guns Versus Butter Howls of derision greeted Chinese President Xi Jinping’s decision to shoot for 6.5 percent economic growth this year at the annual National People’s Conference. That target is slightly less than last year’s growth of 6.7 percent – a 25-year-low for the world’s second-largest...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW A Disarmament, A Peace After more than 50 years of war, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) began turning in their weapons this week. Overseen by the United Nations, the disarmament was welcome news in a world driven by violence and seemingly intractable...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW The Weighted Scale In the ever-destabilizing Middle East, Iran has enjoyed a particularly good run of successful military and diplomatic power plays in recent years. Foremost among them was Tehran’s decision in 2011 to back Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his quest to reestablish...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Eternal Stagnation Greece's perennial sovereign debt crisis and the chaos surrounding Brexit frequently overshadow Italy's woes. But it might be time to pay closer attention to what's happening in Italy beyond the eruption of Mt. Etna on Sicily on Tuesday. An economic, rather than...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Waiting for Godot As the Geneva Conference for Human Rights and Dignity kicked off last week, many hoped the meeting would put an end to the bloody civil war in Syria that has killed 500,000 and displaced almost 12 million people over the...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW Keep Your Friends Close The recent “very painful” death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s half-brother has sent geopolitical ripples throughout Asia. Estranged brother Kim Jong-nam died around 20 minutes after two women poisoned him at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia on...
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