NEED TO KNOW HONDURAS The Orchid Revolution Could unrest in Honduras spark a political revolution like the Arab Spring? That’s the question that the Los Angeles Times asked in a recent op-ed. Even though incumbent President Juan Orlando Hernandez was declared the winner this week, Honduras remains in a political...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW CONGO For the Sake of Us Start a discussion about ecosystems that are vital to the Earth’s survival and folks will undoubtedly mention the Amazon, polar glaciers, the Great Barrier Reef and the African savannahs where elephants and other animals roam. But scientists recently discovered a...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW UKRAINE The Georgian Offender Even as they wage war against each other, Ukrainian and Russian leaders agree on one thing: they both dislike the former president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili. Saakashvili is at the center of a political crisis that’s threatening to upend Ukraine as Russian-backed...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW INDONESIA The Perils of Justice Complaints of a stomach bug didn’t stop an Indonesian court from indicting Setya Novanto, the former parliament speaker and leader of the country’s second-largest political party, which is part of President Joko Widodo’s coalition. As the Associated Press explained, Novanto tried...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW SYRIA The Quagmire It’s hard to tell whether they’re coming or going in Syria. The US has declared victory against the Islamic State in the civil war-torn country. Russia has done the same. “In just over two years, Russia’s armed forces and the Syrian Army have defeated...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW ITALY He’s Back Silvio Berlusconi was recently defending his record on women’s issues during an interview with one of the television networks he owns. “The defense of women’s rights” is a priority for Forza Italia, his political party, the Associated Press quoted him as saying. Critics were...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW CHINA From There to Here China has become the full-throated defender of globalization in recent years. At the recent Fortune Global Forum in Guangzhou, for example, Vice Premier Wang Yang reiterated China’s support for open markets and opposition to protectionism, Bloomberg reported. Free marketeers like the editors...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW ZIMBABWE Hope in Africa Zimbabwean novelist NoViolet Bulawayo wrote a special message on Facebook for children born on Nov. 21, the day former President Robert Mugabe left office after almost 40 years in power. “You’re our most precious, most untarnished promise, may you never see what...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW CUBA Meeting Minds The discovery of brain damage in diplomats formerly posted in the US embassy in Cuba has reopened arguments about the risks associated with the communist island. A “high-pitched chirp or grating metal” sound sometimes accompanied by vibrations woke up American officials in the...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW PAKISTAN The Price of Chaos The latest victims of the Pakistani Taliban were teenagers who feared for their lives as they fled from the jihadists attacking their agricultural research institute in Peshawar. "We took shelter inside the bedroom and were begging the injured student not to...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW JERUSALEM Rising Up and Shrugging Palestinians rose up against President Donald Trump’s decision on Wednesday to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, fearing it was the death knell for their long-held dream of the holy city serving as the capital of their independent state in...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW RUSSIA The Return of the Tsar Russia's Vladimir Putin has a coy side. Even though everyone knew he would run for reelection next year, a few months ago when asked who his rival might be in the March 2018 ballot, he demurred. "Not only have I not...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW SAUDI ARABIA The Unlikeliest of Springs With a young crown prince now at the helm of power, many believe the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is poised for a cultural and economic revolution unseen for eight decades. Shortly after King Salman, 81, took the Saudi throne following...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW THAILAND Making up for Lost Time Thais have spent the past year mourning the death of their beloved King Bhumibol, who died in 2016 after a 70-year rule. Thais are known for the pomp and circumstance of their royal funeral processions, and this time was no...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW NIGERIA A Spark, A Fire When President Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler, took office in March 2015, he became the first opposition candidate in Nigeria to successfully unseat an incumbent in a democratic election since the nation's independence in 1960. But four years out, the...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW UKRAINE Not Quiet on the Eastern Front The fighting continues between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine despite a ceasefire. Though the conflict has largely fallen out of the news, a few soldiers and civilians are regularly killed or injured in Donbass, the region...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW ASIA More Than Silk and Spices Leaders from Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan last month opened the long-awaited, 525-mile-long Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway, a crucial link in China's revival of the ancient Silk Road. With this new link through the Caucasus, tens of millions of tons of...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW IRAQ What Comes After The prime minister of Iraq, Haider al-Abadi, recently said the combination of Iraqi government troops, US-led air strikes and Iran-backed militias had defeated the Islamic State in military terms. The jihadists’ army had collapsed, he said. They no longer held big cities...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW SOUTH AFRICA A Promise, Betrayed The imminent fall of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe has raised serious questions about the future of Jacob Zuma, the president of neighboring South Africa. Both men have presided over corruption and economic decline, and both have lost the confidence of the...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW GERMANY Angela's Choice As German Chancellor Angela Merkel's exploratory talks to form an unprecedented coalition between four vastly different political parties ripped apart last week, many in the country and outside began mulling life after "Mutti." To write off Merkiavelli would be a big mistake. Merkel has...
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