NEED TO KNOW CUBA Meeting Minds The discovery of brain damage in diplomats formerly posted in the US embassy in Cuba has […]

NEED TO KNOW PAKISTAN The Price of Chaos The latest victims of the Pakistani Taliban were teenagers who feared for their lives […]

NEED TO KNOW JERUSALEM Rising Up and Shrugging Palestinians rose up against President Donald Trump’s decision on Wednesday to move the US […]

NEED TO KNOW RUSSIA The Return of the Tsar Russia’s Vladimir Putin has a coy side. Even though everyone knew he would […]

NEED TO KNOW SAUDI ARABIA The Unlikeliest of Springs With a young crown prince now at the helm of power, many believe […]

NEED TO KNOW THAILAND Making up for Lost Time Thais have spent the past year mourning the death of their beloved King […]

NEED TO KNOW NIGERIA A Spark, A Fire When President Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler, took office in March 2015, he […]

NEED TO KNOW UKRAINE Not Quiet on the Eastern Front The fighting continues between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine […]

NEED TO KNOW ASIA More Than Silk and Spices Leaders from Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan last month opened the long-awaited, […]

NEED TO KNOW IRAQ What Comes After The prime minister of Iraq, Haider al-Abadi, recently said the combination of Iraqi government troops, […]

NEED TO KNOW SOUTH AFRICA A Promise, Betrayed The imminent fall of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe has raised serious questions about the […]

NEED TO KNOW GERMANY Angela’s Choice As German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s exploratory talks to form an unprecedented coalition between four vastly different […]

NEED TO KNOW NEPAL A Dam, A Vote, A Future Until 2006, the Nepal government was mired in a decade-long war against […]

NEED TO KNOW Dear Readers, Today is Thanksgiving Day in America, a time of gatherings, feasting and gratitude across this vast nation […]

NEED TO KNOW VENEZUELA A Drizzle, then a Storm Venezuela hasn’t bottomed out just yet – but it’s close. Last week, the […]

NEED TO KNOW DENMARK A Little Hygge – For Foreigners, Too At a time when America is building a wall on the […]

NEED TO KNOW ZIMBABWE The King Is Dead… For 37 years, one man ruled supreme. And for the struggling youth of Zimbabwe […]

NEED TO KNOW CHILE The Pendulum Chile’s Nov. 19 presidential election will likely cement a trend in South America of right-wing business […]

NEED TO KNOW SYRIA Cautious Starts Syrian government forces shook the Islamic State from their last urban foothold in Syria this month […]

NEED TO KNOW IRELAND Hope, and a Hard Place Ireland’s newest prime minister, Leo Varadkar, 38, recently joined the ranks of Canadian […]

NEED TO KNOW INTERPOL The Long Arm of the Law The International Criminal Police Organization, better known as Interpol, extends the long […]

NEED TO KNOW AFRICA Whack-a-Mole Early this month, for the first time ever, the United States launched airstrikes against the Islamic State […]

NEED TO KNOW ASIA The Forest and Trees As President Donald Trump embarked on his first tour of Asia since taking office, […]

NEED TO KNOW LEBANON A Fragile Mirror The bizarre snap resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri over the weekend has shattered […]