October 19, 2021

Of Flyovers and Squid

NEED TO KNOW Of Flyovers and Squid TAIWAN [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/dab1143a-8514-4f63-8098-bd36050d9680.png"] Chinese President Xi Jinping recently called for the peaceful unification of his country with Taiwan, a country that China has viewed as a breakaway province since nationalist forces lost a civil war to the communists and fled to the...

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October 14, 2021

Pop Goes the Bubble

NEED TO KNOW Pop Goes the Bubble CHINA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/198e41ed-dcee-4398-8f9e-af928160f105.png"] China’s real estate bubble is bursting. As Reuters explained, Evergrande has acquired $300 billion in debt but missed more than $130 million in payments since late September. The 30-day grace period for nonpayment is set to expire soon. The company,...

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October 06, 2021

Me, too!

NEED TO KNOW Me, too! AFGHANISTAN [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/2beac6fe-a680-4765-a2ff-d329629a897c.png"] Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar recently told Western leaders that he and his forces will treat women with dignity in the wake of his group taking control of Afghanistan after the recent exit of US forces. "Women will be given rights in...

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September 16, 2021

The Forever Insurgency

NEED TO KNOW AFGHANISTAN [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/2beac6fe-a680-4765-a2ff-d329629a897c.png"] The Forever Insurgency The Taliban claimed victory after the recent end of the US-led NATO occupation of Afghanistan. Now, while they face serious challenges governing their traumatized nation, as Deutsche Welle explained, they at least won’t have to deal with the terrorism that...

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September 15, 2021

Demography, Meet Destiny

NEED TO KNOW INDIA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/1ac703d1-8192-40be-95ea-427a8f7ed9ee.png"] Demography, Meet Destiny India is slated to surpass China and become the most populous country in the world before the end of the decade. By 2050, according to the United Nations, as reported in the Hindu, India will have 1.64 billion residents while...

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September 10, 2021

Too Big To Succeed

NEED TO KNOW CHINA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/198e41ed-dcee-4398-8f9e-af928160f105.png"] Too Big To Succeed Chinese President Xi Jinping recently announced the creation of a new stock exchange for small and medium-sized enterprises in Beijing. The announcement might have surprised some observers. As Reuters explained, the world’s most populous country and second-largest economy already...

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September 06, 2021

Sweaty Palms

NEED TO KNOW AFGHANISTAN [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/2beac6fe-a680-4765-a2ff-d329629a897c.png"] Sweaty Palms Indian envoys recently spoke to Taliban officials who now run Afghanistan after the American withdrawal from the Central Asian country last month. “Discussions focused on safety, security and (the) return of Indian nationals stranded in Afghanistan,” the Indian Ministry of External Affairs...

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August 30, 2021

No Vacancy

NEED TO KNOW AFGHANISTAN [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/2beac6fe-a680-4765-a2ff-d329629a897c.png"] No Vacancy Airbnb will offer 20,000 Afghan refugees free, temporary housing around the world as they seek to reestablish new lives after the militant, theocratic Taliban reasserted control over their Central Asian country, reported TechCrunch. Unfortunately, however, the platform can’t offer a sustainable solution...

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August 27, 2021

Brother, Can You Spare a Wage Hike?

NEED TO KNOW WORLD [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/486ddb7e-3777-4543-ab44-3536360a3ce9.png"] Brother, Can You Spare a Wage Hike? An Iranian immigrant, Zahra Hossein Zadeh, earns $19 an hour cleaning hotel rooms in Sydney, Australia. “Honestly, I don’t have any financial problems,” Zadeh told the Washington Post. When she learned about the US federal minimum wage...

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August 25, 2021

Recall Rage

NEED TO KNOW TAIWAN [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/dab1143a-8514-4f63-8098-bd36050d9680.png"] Recall Rage Is too much democracy a bad thing? If you ask some progressive politicians in Taiwan these days, they would likely answer yes. That's because a mechanism that was intended to deepen democracy is now being wielded as a weapon in "partisan revenge...

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August 23, 2021

The Winners of Nothing

NEED TO KNOW AFGHANISTAN [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/2beac6fe-a680-4765-a2ff-d329629a897c.png"] The Winners of Nothing A week ago, the Taliban toppled the Afghan government and took over the country. Thousands have fled and many thousands more are trying to. Most of the international community is holding back diplomatic recognition. The US has frozen billions...

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August 19, 2021

Truth & Consequences

NEED TO KNOW THE PHILIPPINES [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/76f74898-7b3b-4fc1-b7d7-88cadfea2fdf.png"] Truth & Consequences Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court want to investigate whether people died unjustly in Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs. “Information…suggests that state actors, primarily members of the Philippine security forces, killed thousands of suspected drug users and other...

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August 16, 2021

The Fall

NEED TO KNOW AFGHANISTAN [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/2beac6fe-a680-4765-a2ff-d329629a897c.png"] The Fall Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country Sunday as Taliban fighters entered Kabul, leading to the collapse of Afghanistan’s democratically elected government and the takeover of the country. For anyone watching the country over the past few weeks, it was no surprise. In...

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August 05, 2021

The Invasion of the Nurdle

NEED TO KNOW SRI LANKA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/d469a690-58fa-4bcb-9cd4-16e56a24386f.png"] The Invasion of the Nurdle First, smoke from the burning container ship X-Press Pearl polluted the skies off Sri Lanka’s west coast. Now, Sri Lankans are watching as the vessel’s cargo pollutes the sea around their island nation to the south of...

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July 27, 2021

Pride Goeth…

NEED TO KNOW CHINA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/198e41ed-dcee-4398-8f9e-af928160f105.png"] Pride Goeth… China is building more than 100 new nuclear missile silos in its northwestern desert, according to the California-based James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. Reported in the Washington Post, the facilities represent a significant increase in the country’s nuclear capabilities. The...

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July 23, 2021

Laurels in Silence

NEED TO KNOW JAPAN [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/ab764327-df98-4918-badd-17c2c79d5685.png"] Laurels in Silence Victorious Olympic athletes will put on their own medals at the Tokyo games this summer. "The medals will not be given around the neck," International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said in an announcement covered by Newsweek. "They will be...

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July 16, 2021

Falling Down

NEED TO KNOW WORLD [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/486ddb7e-3777-4543-ab44-3536360a3ce9.png"] Falling Down The tragic collapse of the Surfside condominium in Florida last month highlighted how such accidents are unfortunately common around the world, often due to larger systematic reasons that are beyond any building manager or even local official. Take the photo of a...

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July 12, 2021

Time Off

NEED TO KNOW WORLD [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/486ddb7e-3777-4543-ab44-3536360a3ce9.png"] Time Off A stereotype of Japanese culture would depict it as workaholic. In reality, Japanese officials are pushing companies to offer an optional four-day workweek for employees who want to devote their free time to “further their education, take care of family members or...

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July 08, 2021

Thinner

NEED TO KNOW NORTH KOREA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/081c0373-fb17-4e7d-af63-346faaef42b7.png"] Thinner North Koreans are worried about their supreme leader’s weight loss. "Our people's hearts ached most when we saw (Kim Jong Un’s) emaciated looks," said North Korean state-owned media, according to USA Today. "Everyone says their tears are welling up in their eyes...

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July 02, 2021

Leave No Man Behind

NEED TO KNOW AFGHANISTAN [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/2beac6fe-a680-4765-a2ff-d329629a897c.png"] Leave No Man Behind Interpreters were crucial in the US-led effort to root out Islamic fundamentalists in Afghanistan over the past 20 years. Now they feel betrayed. As the US and other countries plan to pull out their soldiers in the coming weeks from...

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