NEED TO KNOW JORDAN Neighbors, Not Friends King Abdullah II of Jordan recently annulled a lease deal that allowed Israelis to farm two enclaves of his desert kingdom. The move was especially shocking, reported German newspaper Die Welt (via Worldcrunch), because the king announced his decision on the 23rd...
Read full story →DailyChatter Archives Now Open to Subscribers – And with Full Search Capability Details at the bottom of today's newsletter...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW CENTRAL AMERICA A Land of Waiting Wearing his red and white “Make Tijuana Great Again” hat, Mayor Juan Manuel Gastélum recently described Central American migrants as “pot smokers, bums and bad people,” according to Fox News. He has refused to apologize for his incendiary remarks and...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW MOLDOVA A Shaky Domino Athletes recently sprinted through Milestii Mici, a 124-mile-long wine cellar in the tiny east European nation of Moldova. The six-mile race drew attention to the limestone caves that hold two million bottles of wine, the biggest store of vino in the world,...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW VENEZUELA A Tipping Point? How long can it go on this way in Venezuela? The economy contracted by 18 percent last year and by a third between 2013 and 2017, according to Al Jazeera. Inflation could hit 10 million percent – that’s not a typo –...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW CROATIA Selective Memories Croatia’s ombudswoman – the official charged with promoting equality and fighting discrimination in the modern-day republic – warned late last year about the revival of symbols associated with the Ustasa, a fascist movement that collaborated with the Nazis in the puppet...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW ZIMBABWE Wanted: Revolution Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa decided to skip the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last month. Ostensibly, he couldn’t leave Zimbabwe while a wave of protests rocked the country, CNN reported. But he was probably also reluctant to attend a conference where billionaires,...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW WORLD The Silent Killer Things went downhill for Tomoki, a 29-year-old Japanese man, after he quit his job in 2015. He went to a job center to find new work. He also attended a religious group to stay focused. But the group’s leader criticized him publicly...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW CHINA & RUSSIA Do Not Repeat Stories of American warplanes and naval ships jousting with their Russian and Chinese counterparts in northern Europe and East Asia are now commonplace. Read the South China Morning Post for a few incidents that occurred over the Pacific in recent...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW EL SALVADOR Bullets and Suitcases Murders in El Salvador, one of the most dangerous countries in the world, declined by half between 2015 and 2018. That's the good news. Still, in the first 20 days of this year, authorities recorded more than 200 homicides, a big spike...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW POLAND Lethal Rhetoric Americans think polarization in Washington is bad. Poland is a close competitor. On Jan. 13, a deranged man fatally stabbed Gdansk Mayor Pawel Adamowicz onstage during a public charity event, the Associated Press reported. The suspect, who was arrested, was an...
Read full story →A technical problem caused distortion in the audio version of yesterday’s newsletter. We have corrected it and apologize to our subscribers for the inconvenience - The Editors. NEED TO KNOW MALAYSIA From Miracle to Mire Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad recently justified his prohibition against Israeli athletes competing in...
Read full story →A technical problem caused distortion in the audio version of yesterday’s newsletter. We have corrected it and apologize to our subscribers for the inconvenience - The Editors. NEED TO KNOW AFRICA Waiting to be Heard Algerians are among tens of millions of Africans electing leaders this year. But they...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW LEBANON A Child Left Behind In the opening of the 2018 Lebanese film “Capernaum,” a little boy who lives in a slum sues his parents for neglect. As the Vulture review explained, he and an Ethiopian immigrant bravely try to create a new makeshift family....
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW THE GAMBIA Cooling Fires After 22 years, Yahya Jammeh’s victims of sexual violence, torture, forced disappearances and other crimes in Gambia finally have a chance at justice. Earlier this month, the 11 members of the tiny West African country’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission started their deliberations. Under the commission’s...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW GUNS Shots Heard Round the World Brazil leads the world in homicides. Newly elected President Jair Bolsonaro believes making it easier for Brazilians to own guns would help address the problem. Recently, he signed legislation that loosened restrictions on gun ownership, though would-be buyers of firearms still must be...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW CANADA Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses… Rahaf Mohammed recently shared photos of her breakfast of bacon, eggs and Starbucks coffee on social media. Mohammed is an 18-year-old Saudi woman who fled her allegedly abusive family earlier this month, reported Sky News. She...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW IRAQ NIMBY Geopolitics After President Donald Trump’s surprise visit to Iraq on the day after Christmas last year, Iraqi lawmakers called for a vote to expel American troops from their troubled country. “Parliament must clearly and urgently express its view about the ongoing American violations of...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW CHINA Population Bust Remarkably, the world’s most populous nation might suffer from a personnel shortage in the coming years. As China struggles with an economic downturn and trade war with the United States, the East Asian superpower’s population shrank last year for the first time since...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW URUGUAY Exit Right The Left has achieved many of its goals in Uruguay. The country obtains around 95 percent of its energy from carbon-free sources, the Guardian reported. The state ensures that transgender citizens enjoy the same rights as other citizens, the Associated Press wrote. Lawmakers...
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