NEED TO KNOW MALI [heading4]A Shaky Course[/heading4] Only a few years ago, the West African country of Mali was the battleground for jihadists' quest to establish an Islamic State-style caliphate in Africa. Violence still plagues the country, as shown by the June 19 terror attack at a luxury resort patronized by Westerners...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW GERMANY [heading4]The Street[/heading4] The leaders of the world's most powerful countries will finally descend on the German port city of Hamburg on Friday and Saturday for this year's annual G20 summit. And dozens of protest groups and thousands of activists are already here – protesting the...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW POLAND [heading4]The Grander Plans[/heading4] US President Donald Trump might bypass Britain in his trip to Europe this week due to concerns over protests. Polish leaders, meanwhile, are busing in thousands of people to greet Trump when his trip to their country begins Wednesday night. NBC said they...
Read full story →EDITOR'S NOTE Today is Independence Day in America, the 241st anniversary of its birth as a new nation. And because July 4th is a day of celebration and remembrance, we are taking a short respite from the world – in all its troubles and glory –...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW SYRIA [heading4]Now, Raqqa[/heading4] The noose is tightening. On Sunday, Syrian rebels and Kurdish forces sealed off the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, the capital of the caliphate that the Islamic State has declared in the country. Around 2,500 "hard-core" jihadists remain in the city, though the Islamic...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW IRAQ [heading4]Finally, The Fall[/heading4] It was three years coming. Iraqi soldiers were poised to retake Mosul Thursday after an eight-month-long fight to recapture the country’s second-largest city, which Islamic State seized almost overnight and declared the capital of their caliphate in June 2014. “Their fictitious state has...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW QATAR [heading4]Shadowy Lines[/heading4] An already shaky Middle East now faces the ongoing Qatar crisis. Saudi Arabia – along with Bahrain, Egypt, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – severed diplomatic and trade relations with Qatar on June 5. On Wednesday, Qatari leaders criticized the coalition for...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW BRAZIL [heading4]A Telenovela[/heading4] Brazil is on track to lose its second president in a year to corruption allegations. On Tuesday, the South American country’s top prosecutors filed charges against President Michel Temer for arranging millions of dollars in bribes and approving hush money. More charges like...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW INDIA [heading4]A President, an Administrator and Drones[/heading4] Fresh off his resounding win in the heavyweight Indian state of Uttar Pradesh in the early spring, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday as part of a two-day visit. Modi and...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW ITALY [heading4]Trap of Luxury[/heading4] Living desperate and homeless on Italy’s tiny Lake Como might seem impossible. But that’s the plight of Ivory Coast refugees who fled to Europe as migrants in recent years. “I can’t go anywhere,” Fofana Abdoulaye, 31, a migrant from the Ivory Coast, told the...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW CHINA [heading4]Systems and Risk[/heading4] China might soon learn the lessons of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers. On Thursday, Chinese regulators suggested that marquee players in the world’s second-largest economy posed a threat to the financial system due to the complex web of debt they had assumed...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW RUSSIA [heading4]Tit for Tat[/heading4] Relations between Washington and Moscow have been under pressure since President Obama introduced sanctions against Russia for its 2014 invasion of the Crimean peninsula. Ties between the two powers have become more frayed since then, thanks to issues like divisions over Syria...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW VENEZUELA [heading4]Freefall[/heading4] As Venezuela continues to spiral out of control, Caracas's voracious borrowing to prop up the nation's withering economy has economists anticipating an inevitable financial crash. So far, President Nicolas Maduro has managed to meet payment deadlines on the $55 billion in oil-backed loans it...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW IRAQ [heading4]A Mosque, an Advance and Desperate Gambles[/heading4] At the heart of Mosul's historic center stands the Great Mosque of al-Nuri, a relic of the 12th Century recognizable by its iconic leaning minaret. Throughout the city's history, the mosque had been a source of pride for...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW AFGHANISTAN [heading4]Third Try[/heading4] War in Afghanistan is escalating again, putting pressure on a third American president to find a solution to the country’s woes since the US invaded after the September 11th terror attacks 16 years ago. “We are not winning in Afghanistan right now,” Defense Secretary...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW FRANCE [heading4]Man of the Hour[/heading4] Newly elected French President Emmanuel Macron is set to become one of the most powerful politicians on Earth. He trounced his opponent last month. He faces no potentially debilitating investigations or scandals. No crises, like, say, France withdrawing from the European...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW PHILIPPINES [heading4]A Terrible Question[/heading4] Every day for the past three weeks, the remaining residents of the lakeside southern Philippine town of Marawi watch the Philippine military pound their city with bombs to try and cleanse it of militants. And every day, they wonder, will there be...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW CANADA [heading4]Oh, Canada[/heading4] To Western nations shaken by populist uprisings, Canada – with its robust economy and charismatic, outward-looking prime minister – looks like a beacon of stability and liberalism. But underneath Canada's placid and polite exterior, the US' northern neighbor is grappling with its own...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW SOMALIA [heading4]A Game of Catch-Up[/heading4] It’s usually terror group Boko Haram that captures attention in Africa. But in the Horn, it’s the fight against al-Qaeda's East African affiliate al-Shabaab that is heating up. Over the weekend, the US bombed one of the group’s “nerve centers” in...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW PUERTO RICO [heading4] Number 51[/heading4] In this time of secession, civil wars and bitter disputes between opposing ideological camps around the world, Puerto Rican voters decided Sunday that they wanted their island to become the 51st state of the union. “The time for Puerto Rico's equality...
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