July 03, 2024

A Declaration of War

NEED TO KNOW A Declaration of War ECUADOR [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/7dbfcec9-d17b-43ce-97b7-0ce48bb12d1f.png"] Ecuadoran prosecutors recently asked the South American country’s highest court to convict Carlos Angulo, the leader of the drug-trafficking Los Lobos gang, and his associate, Laura Castillo, of hiring hit men on motorcycles to kill presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio...

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July 01, 2024

The Absence of Embarrassment

NEED TO KNOW The Absence of Embarrassment FIJI [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/abc4e099-dc68-e2d5-5961-e1e728a0f1a0.png"] A court in Fiji recently sentenced former Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama to a year in prison for seeking to suppress a police investigation into corruption at the University of the South Pacific. Lower courts had initially allowed Bainimarama, who...

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June 28, 2024

Match Point

NEED TO KNOW Match Point FRANCE [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/d78d9fd2-f0df-4e59-9bd4-334bffdc4974.png"] French authorities recently charged two boys aged 12 and 13 with raping a 12-year-old girl in the Paris suburb of Courbevoie in what they believe was an anti-Semitic attack. The boys mentioned Palestine during the incident, according to a lawyer and...

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June 27, 2024

Passing the Bar

NEED TO KNOW Passing the Bar IRAN [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/aa73e799-3df4-4d8a-8ec5-35a9feeb2bb4.png"] Iran’s mullahs approved six candidates to run for president on June 28, the date for a potentially tectonic election that comes as the West Asian country could face more political instability than ever. The winner will replace Ebrahim Raisi, the late...

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June 26, 2024

Sharing the Wealth

NEED TO KNOW Sharing the Wealth MONGOLIA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/d44c27c0-8811-4785-9bf7-c8eb1cb78277.png"] Mongolian judges recently visited Plainview, Texas to learn about American justice. They also visited the Cadillac Ranch art installation, which features half-buried, colorfully painted cars, and the Big Texan Steak Ranch, home of the famous 72-ounce steak-eating challenge, reported My...

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June 25, 2024

Sleepwalking Into War

NEED TO KNOW Sleepwalking Into War ISRAEL/ LEBANON [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/6b883c77-0a96-0fbb-b624-6cfe445512fa.png"] The leader of Hezbollah, the Iran-backed political party and militant group based in Lebanon, recently dared Israeli politicians to start a war to their north as they fight Hamas in the Gaza Strip in the south. “Everything you see we...

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June 24, 2024

A Permanent Transition

NEED TO KNOW A Permanent Transition SOUTH SUDAN [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/63f3bf8f-63ac-093e-e3bd-bc4bfa78b55b.png"] Global leaders are putting their heads together to solve South Sudan’s political crisis and civil war so the country can form a stable government and devote its energies into building new infrastructure, institutions and a civil society. Dennis Francis, a...

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June 21, 2024

New and Shiny

NEED TO KNOW New and Shiny NETHERLANDS [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/50b9b3d5-1234-443a-9402-f9f624fae487.png"] King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands recently visited Albany, Atlanta, and New York City in a state visit that highlighted the cultural and economic ties – including semiconductor research and development – between the US and the small,...

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June 20, 2024

The Genie in the Bottle

NEED TO KNOW The Genie in the Bottle TUNISIA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/1f262cf6-0ed8-4367-aeca-5f0f2b6684d0.png"] Last month, prominent Tunisian lawyer Sonia Dahmani was on a popular talk show addressing comments by President Kais Saied who alleged a conspiracy to push thousands of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa into Tunisia. She wondered how that was possible,...

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June 19, 2024

Back to Basics

NEED TO KNOW Back to Basics MAURITANIA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/9d3b7ddd-bfc7-fa9a-f2dd-2d4b53dc38fc.png"] In 2019, the former president of the West African country of Mauritania, Ould Abdel Aziz, respected his country’s term limits and quit his job – even though he came to power in a coup. It was the first successful, peaceful...

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June 18, 2024

Talking Trash

NEED TO KNOW Talking Trash NORTH KOREA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/081c0373-fb17-4e7d-af63-346faaef42b7.png"] The French first used balloons in war for reconnaissance during the battles that erupted after the French Revolution in the late 18th century. Now the inflatable devices have become a mainstay of the psychological warfare underscoring the tensions between North...

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June 17, 2024

Just Say No

NEED TO KNOW Just Say No CANADA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/c7ee49a6-d768-4bd1-93d6-b44b086c3c21.png"] Two years ago, officials in British Columbia decriminalized the possession of small amounts of drugs like cocaine, fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamines to end the stigma that often keeps addicts from seeking help. “Addiction is a health issue, not a criminal one,”...

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June 14, 2024

Let the Games Begin

NEED TO KNOW Let the Games Begin FRANCE [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/d78d9fd2-f0df-4e59-9bd4-334bffdc4974.png"] French officials are only fairly sure that the opening ceremony for the upcoming summer Olympics starting in late July will occur on the River Seine that winds through the City of Light. At present, the plan is for the athletes...

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June 13, 2024

Tinted Lenses

NEED TO KNOW Tinted Lenses ISRAEL/ GAZA STRIP [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/a7853464-ef94-4b48-96b9-d7badbef5e55.png"] Bombs and bullets are flying in the Gaza Strip even as both sides mull a ceasefire deal. Even so, the battles over hearts and minds are just as intense. As a result, what Israelis see is a very different war...

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June 12, 2024

Eye of the Beholder

NEED TO KNOW Eye of the Beholder RUSSIA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/db8acf88-8b4f-4b1c-bf9a-1e71d4eee94b.png"] Russian-American historian Yuri Felshtinsky recently told Times Radio that Russian elites are in a “state of panic” over Russia’s massive losses in the war against Ukraine. In order to maintain their control over the country, however, Felshtinsky said, Russian...

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June 11, 2024

Colonial Democracy

NEED TO KNOW Colonial Democracy NEW CALEDONIA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/0b159188-f92e-4960-9cfd-19bcbc628d0f.png"] Four people, including a security officer, died recently in riots in the French territory of New Caledonia, prompting French President Emmanuel Macron to declare a temporary state of emergency on the Pacific island. Since unrest broke out in New Caledonia last...

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June 10, 2024

Becoming Besties

NEED TO KNOW Becoming Besties KENYA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/042c2340-7f46-4be6-b8d2-b99757193837.png"] Western influence on the African continent has been waning in recent years, with many countries moving toward China and Russia, often after military coups have overthrown democratically elected leaders – for example, in Niger and Mali. Kenya, however, has been an outlier,...

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June 06, 2024

Rightward Ho

NEED TO KNOW Rightward Ho EUROPEAN UNION [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/597ff6f5-aa2a-4913-81c8-7a38f364a41b.png"] Expect right-wing parties to win big when 400 million voters in 27 countries elect new members of the European Parliament from June 6 through June 9, the Guardian said. After a tough five years since the last election thanks to Brexit,...

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June 05, 2024

Irreconcilable Differences

NEED TO KNOW Irreconcilable Differences BELGIUM [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/46999ca2-dabf-15d8-3505-820844e95828.png"] A few years ago, Belgium famously had no elected government for more than 600 days, as politicians negotiated a coalition agreement. Now, reflecting that history of instability, Belgians are seriously discussing splitting the country into Dutch-speaking Flanders in the north and French-speaking...

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June 04, 2024

Hands Off

NEED TO KNOW Hands Off SWITZERLAND [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/2b943183-27c5-4545-a4cd-06237a4dff08.png"] Around 60 years ago, when rabies was widespread in Europe’s fox population, Switzerland invented an innovative way to stop the disease. Officials in the wealthy Central European country stuffed chicken heads with vaccines and dropped them from helicopters. The vulpine scavengers gobbled...

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