Twirl, Dip and Turn
NEED TO KNOW Twirl, Dip and Turn ARGENTINA Argentina’s financial markets reeled in August after presidential candidate Javier Milei won the largest […]
Bloody Franchise
NEED TO KNOW Bloody Franchise UKRAINE Ukrainians are fighting to defend their country’s sovereignty and, ostensibly at least, democracy. That’s why the […]
The Before and the After
NEED TO KNOW The Before and the After ISRAEL/ GAZA No matter what one thinks of the plight of the Palestinians who […]
Down and Out, Down Under
NEED TO KNOW Down and Out, Down Under AUSTRALIA Australians over the weekend shot down a constitutional amendment to provide the country’s […]
Sovereign Hearts
NEED TO KNOW Sovereign Hearts POLAND Senior European Union officials are demanding an explanation from Poland over allegations that Polish diplomats sold […]
Plus ça Change
NEED TO KNOW Plus ça Change NEW ZEALAND The former prime minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, who served from 2017 through […]
Goodbye, Status Quo
NEED TO KNOW Goodbye, Status Quo ISRAEL/ GAZA Thousands of young people were dancing at an outdoor music festival near the Gaza […]
The Devils You Know
NEED TO KNOW The Devils You Know LIBERIA The Supreme Court of Liberia last week called on the West African country’s National […]
Isthmus, Jammed
NEED TO KNOW Isthmus, Jammed PANAMA Officials operating the Panama Canal recently capped the number of ships passing through the commercial waterway […]
Speak, Calliope
NEED TO KNOW Speak, Calliope LIBYA Poet Mustafa al-Trabelsi penned eerily prescient lines in the days before he would die in a […]
A Family Affair
NEED TO KNOW A Family Affair INDONESIA Kaesang Pangarep, a 28-year-old YouTube influencer and entrepreneur who is also the youngest son of […]
Looking Outward
NEED TO KNOW Looking Outward CANADA/ INDIA Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar recently said that his government was open to investigating any […]
Roots and Branches
NEED TO KNOW Roots and Branches UKRAINE Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov resigned in early September. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that, while […]
Disappearing the Disappeared
NEED TO KNOW Disappearing the Disappeared MEXICO The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, recently announced that prosecutors had sought to […]
Fickle Friend
NEED TO KNOW Fickle Friend SLOVAKIA Since the invasion of Ukraine last year, Russia has become diplomatically isolated from the West – […]
An Absolute Problem
NEED TO KNOW An Absolute Problem ESWATINI Late last year, pro-democracy activists, political dissidents, and others gathered in South Africa to discuss […]
Despair in the Black Garden
NEED TO KNOW Despair in the Black Garden ARMENIA/ AZERBAIJAN Another nightmare appears to be unfolding on the far edge of Europe. […]
Bricks and Blood
NEED TO KNOW Bricks and Blood MOROCCO Mohammed Ounasser lost his wife and two daughters when a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck Morocco […]
Halal Cash
NEED TO KNOW Halal Cash RUSSIA Russia launched a pilot program this month for Islamic banks in the Muslim-majority regions of Tatarstan, […]
The Micro and the Macro
NEED TO KNOW The Micro and the Macro ANDORRA/ MONACO/ SAN MARINO Three microstates with a combined population of only 150,000 people […]
Scattered and Scarred
NEED TO KNOW Scattered and Scarred ERITREA Recently, the Israeli government appropriated $7.85 million to “encourage the voluntary repatriation of infiltrators” and […]
R.E.S.P.E.C.T.
NEED TO KNOW R.E.S.P.E.C.T. SOUTH KOREA South Korean teachers say they have it tough. Their complaints include pupils assaulting them in the […]
The Black Gold Rush
NEED TO KNOW The Black Gold Rush GUYANA A remarkable economic experiment is occurring now in Guyana, one of the poorest countries […]
The Power in Numbers
NEED TO KNOW The Power in Numbers WORLD An economist from Goldman Sachs coined the term BRICS in 2001 as an acronym […]