NEED TO KNOW SINGAPORE The city-state of Singapore is slated to hold presidential elections on Sept. 23 – that is, if more […]

NEED TO KNOW SUDAN In January, during his last month in office, former President Barack Obama temporarily lifted the economic sanctions on […]

NEED TO KNOW KAZAKHSTAN Kazakhstan is vying for a seat at the table with global power brokers. To get it, Central Asia’s […]

NEED TO KNOW PHILIPPINES When Rodrigo Duterte won office as president of the Philippines last year, many in and outside the country […]

NEED TO KNOW NORTH AMERICA A funny thing happened on the way to negotiations over the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). […]

NEED TO KNOW INDIA When India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi swept to power in 2014, observers wondered whether the seasoned politician would […]

NEED TO KNOW GEORGIA Georgia is hailed as a success story of the post-Soviet era. The peaceful Rose Revolution at the turn […]

NEED TO KNOW ANGOLA Angolans go to the polls Wednesday to elect their next president and parliament. But what they are actually […]

NEED TO KNOW MIDDLE EAST Recent meetings between Saudi Arabian leaders and Iraqi Shiite Muslim cleric and powerbroker Muqtada al-Sadr could spell a shift […]

NEED TO KNOW SPAIN Spanish security officials underwent a period of soul-searching and reform after al Qaeda’s deadly bombings of Madrid commuter […]

NEED TO KNOW BANGLADESH Bangladesh is marking its 70th birthday this week, if one recalls that it became East Pakistan immediately after […]

NEED TO KNOW EUROPE Tectonic shifts are happening in Europe. While governments in Hungary, Poland and elsewhere still espouse nationalist agendas, pro-European […]

NEED TO KNOW GAZA In a region scarred by conflict and crises, the Gaza Strip remains a case of extraordinary hardship. Life […]

NEED TO KNOW NIGERIA Oil once fueled a boom in Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria. But plummeting oil prices, persistent terror threats […]

NEED TO KNOW BHUTAN Only around 300 feet separate angry Chinese and Indian soldiers on the Doklam plateau, where the border of […]

NEED TO KNOW ALGERIA With almost 1,000 miles of Mediterranean coastline and fertile land in the country’s north, Algeria served as the […]

NEED TO KNOW ALBANIA A few months ago, Albanians reelected sitting prime minister, Socialist Party leader Edi Rama, in what some celebrated […]

NEED TO KNOW SYRIA Disagreements between Russia and Iran over the role of Hezbollah in Syria are providing glimpses of potential future […]

NEED TO KNOW NORTH KOREA Over the past six months, North Korea has tested a series of long-range ballistic missiles. In fact, […]

NEED TO KNOW KENYA Kenyan anti-corruption activist Boniface Mwangi once loosed pigs in front of parliament to draw attention to the greed […]

NEED TO KNOW RWANDA Rwandans, it seems, would have a lot to criticize about President Paul Kagame. After all, their long-serving president […]

NEED TO KNOW CHINA With a population of only a few thousand, Sansha city on Woody Island – China’s administrative center for […]

NEED TO KNOW GUYANA The discovery of massive oil reserves off the coast of the tiny English-speaking country of Guyana in South […]

NEED TO KNOW EUROPE Two years ago, the world watched in horror as more than a million people fleeing poverty and war […]