NEED TO KNOW ITALY Living desperate and homeless on Italy’s tiny Lake Como might seem impossible. But that’s the plight of Ivory […]

NEED TO KNOW CHINA China might soon learn the lessons of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers. On Thursday, Chinese regulators suggested that […]

NEED TO KNOW RUSSIA Relations between Washington and Moscow have been under pressure since President Obama introduced sanctions against Russia for its […]

NEED TO KNOW VENEZUELA As Venezuela continues to spiral out of control, Caracas’s voracious borrowing to prop up the nation’s withering economy […]

NEED TO KNOW IRAQ At the heart of Mosul’s historic center stands the Great Mosque of al-Nuri, a relic of the 12th […]

NEED TO KNOW AFGHANISTAN War in Afghanistan is escalating again, putting pressure on a third American president to find a solution to […]

NEED TO KNOW FRANCE Newly elected French President Emmanuel Macron is set to become one of the most powerful politicians on Earth. […]

NEED TO KNOW PHILIPPINES Every day for the past three weeks, the remaining residents of the lakeside southern Philippine town of Marawi […]

NEED TO KNOW CANADA To Western nations shaken by populist uprisings, Canada – with its robust economy and charismatic, outward-looking prime minister […]

NEED TO KNOW SOMALIA It’s usually terror group Boko Haram that captures attention in Africa. But in the Horn, it’s the fight […]

NEED TO KNOW PUERTO RICO In this time of secession, civil wars and bitter disputes between opposing ideological camps around the world, […]

NEED TO KNOW UNITED KINGDOM “May’s big gamble fails,” read front page of the Times of London. “Mayhem,” splashed the Sun. “Exit […]

NEED TO KNOW FRANCE As Americans await news of Russia meddling in their electoral politics, it may be instructive to consider the […]

NEED TO KNOW INDIA Indians are practicing a new form of civil disobedience. They are eating beef. “Eating beef has become a […]

NEED TO KNOW QATAR The most fascinating aspect of the diplomatic crisis surrounding Qatar is that nobody appears to know exactly why […]

NEED TO KNOW UNITED KINGDOM Police killed the three Islamic State-affiliated terrorists who staged an attack on London Bridge over the weekend […]

NEED TO KNOW TERRORISM In the early 1990’s, law enforcement throughout the United States adopted community policing with the aim of reinvigorating […]

NEED TO KNOW ASIA In addition to sealing business deals worth billions when they met at the White House on Wednesday, Vietnamese […]

NEED TO KNOW A Difficult Goodbye After nearly 40 years in power, ailing Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos has announced that […]

NEED TO KNOW Tenacious Temer When Michel Temer became Brazil’s president last year, hopes were high he would restore a measure of […]

NEED TO KNOW New World Order The world order ended on Sunday. It’s not the first time, of course. Plenty of folks […]

NEED TO KNOW Two Presidents It was a peculiar moment in world politics yesterday as US President Donald Trump and his predecessor, […]

NEED TO KNOW Changing Direction The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, has been a pillar of transatlantic relations in the post-World […]

NEED TO KNOW May’s Mission With Britain weeks away from a general election, British Prime Minister Theresa May’s conservative Tory Party has […]