New Beginning
NEED TO KNOW New Beginning NETHERLANDS In a surprise announcement in July, after 13 years in office, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte […]
Prelude and Epilogue to War
NEED TO KNOW Prelude and Epilogue to War GEORGIA Russian soldiers, currently occupying some 20 percent of the former Soviet republic of […]
Mirror Image
NEED TO KNOW Mirror Image WORLD In the West, there has been staunch support for Israel since the attack on Oct. 7 […]
Pardoning Politics
NEED TO KNOW Pardoning Politics SPAIN Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party achieved a political masterstroke to remain […]
No Exit
NEED TO KNOW No Exit NORTH KOREA North Koreans face hunger, forced labor, shortages of medicine and other supplies, and no freedom […]
Shattering Glass, Splintering Peace
NEED TO KNOW Shattering Glass, Splintering Peace EUROPEAN UNION Eighty-five years ago, the Jewish cemetery in Vienna was one of the main […]
Hooray for Nollywood
NEED TO KNOW Hooray for Nollywood NIGERIA In the Nigerian-produced film for Netflix, “The Black Book,” actor Richard Mofe Damijo plays an […]
Teasing a Detonator
NEED TO KNOW Teasing a Detonator ISRAEL/ WEST BANK, GAZA After the Palestinian terror group Hamas killed about 1,400 Israelis on Oct. […]
Young Bloods
NEED TO KNOW Young Bloods ECUADOR Ecuador, just a few years ago, was an oasis of relative prosperity and peace in the […]
The Grudge Match
NEED TO KNOW The Grudge Match MADAGASCAR A Madagascan court recently postponed the first round of the country’s presidential election by a […]
Importing a War
NEED TO KNOW Importing a War EUROPEAN UNION Police in Europe recently arrested alleged terrorists for supposedly planning attacks in connection with […]
Pick Your King
NEED TO KNOW Pick Your King MALAYSIA Malaysia has a unique form of constitutional monarchy. Every five years, nine sultans convene at […]
The Calamity Next Door
NEED TO KNOW The Calamity Next Door EGYPT Most Egyptians are sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinians as Israeli forces devastate […]
Bracing for the Storm
NEED TO KNOW Bracing for the Storm LEBANON Israel Defense Forces (IDF) recently deployed drones to strike at Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia […]
Books and Bombs
NEED TO KNOW Books and Bombs SOMALIA A locally filmed, 10-part television series about Mogadishu high school students called “Arday” hit the […]
Operation Dismantlement
NEED TO KNOW Operation Dismantlement POLAND The results of the Oct. 15 parliamentary elections in Poland are echoing throughout Europe. Women and […]
Oversight Versus Insight
NEED TO KNOW Oversight Versus Insight ISRAEL/ GAZA On Sept. 11, Gen. Herzi Halevi, the Israeli military’s chief of staff, told members […]
Something Old, Something New
NEED TO KNOW Something Old, Something New NAGORNO-KARABAKH Simon Maghakyan, a visiting scholar at Tufts University who studies heritage crime, recently warned […]
Bittersweet Chocolate
NEED TO KNOW Bittersweet Chocolate IVORY COAST Half of the dark chocolate in the world comes from cocoa that originates from Ivory […]
‘The Champagne Fascist’
NEED TO KNOW ‘The Champagne Fascist’ ITALY Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, an icon of the far-right in Europe, recently announced that […]
Failing a State
NEED TO KNOW Failing a State HAITI Kenyan lawmakers are considering a plan to deploy 1,000 police to Haiti. This unique effort […]
No Quarter
NEED TO KNOW No Quarter ISRAEL/ GAZA When Israel gave the order to evacuate northern Gaza in advance of military strikes, Lubna […]
Walking the Plank
NEED TO KNOW Walking the Plank PAKISTAN Around 700,000 Afghan refugees fled to neighboring Pakistan since 2021 when the Taliban assumed power […]
Down in the Valleys
NEED TO KNOW Down in the Valleys SWITZERLAND Polls show that Switzerland’s right-wing People’s Party will garner the most votes in parliamentary […]