NEED TO KNOW NORTH KOREA Thinner North Koreans are worried about their supreme leader’s weight loss. “Our people’s hearts ached most when […]

NEED TO KNOW AFGHANISTAN Leave No Man Behind Interpreters were crucial in the US-led effort to root out Islamic fundamentalists in Afghanistan […]

NEED TO KNOW INDIA Deadly Impatience The Taj Mahal reopened to visitors recently. Officials closed the 17th-century mausoleum honoring the Mughal Emperor […]

NEED TO KNOW ARMENIA The Defeated Serzh Sargsyan, a former Armenian president and prime minister now running for parliament, recently pledged to […]

NEED TO KNOW MONGOLIA Steppe Politics Mongolia’s last presidential election in 2017 was extremely close. Incumbent President Khaltmaa Battulga, a former sumo wrestler, won […]

NEED TO KNOW WORLD Precious and Few People around the world are stressing out over rare earth metals. As Britannica.com explained, rare […]

NEED TO KNOW VIETNAM A Rubber Democracy Vietnam and Laos fought against the United States together during the Vietnam War. Laos was […]

NEED TO KNOW AUSTRALIA By the Numbers Caroline Andersen has been fighting for five years to learn why her son, Wayne Fella […]

NEED TO KNOW ARMENIA Truth and Consequences President Joe Biden recently phoned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to say that the US […]

NEED TO KNOW HONG KONG The Consequences of Contretemps Chinese filmmaker Ying Liang, 34, became stranded in Hong Kong in 2011 when […]

NEED TO KNOW TIBET Dharmic Democracy In 1959, nine years after China occupied Tibet, the Dalai Lama and other Tibetans fled to […]

NEED TO KNOW WORLD Vaccines for Sale Indians were desperately searching for vaccines as the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic struck […]

NEED TO KNOW AFGHANISTAN Walking Backwards Farahnaz Forotan is an Afghan journalist who was granted an interview with Taliban leaders during peace […]

NEED TO KNOW MYANMAR Bullies: 1; Voters: 0 American oil giant Chevron is lobbying Congress hard to stop the US government from […]

NEED TO KNOW NEPAL Messy House Gray smog is cutting off the air of the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu amid a rash […]

NEED TO KNOW KYRGYZSTAN Hedging Bets Kyrgyzstan will hold a referendum on April 11 that will alter the constitution to increase the […]

NEED TO KNOW SAMOA Collective Individualism Samoan authorities have opened an investigation into lawmakers who allegedly uttered treasonous remarks during political campaign […]

NEED TO KNOW JAPAN Unfinished Business Japanese officials are storing around 1.25 million tons of radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear […]

NEED TO KNOW TURKMENISTAN Of Golden Princes and Golden Dogs Turkmenistan is culling stray dogs and cats, and sometimes pets, too, in […]

NEED TO KNOW AUSTRALIA A Free Press Isn’t Free Australia has picked battles with Facebook and other American tech giants. Some experts […]

NEED TO KNOW WORLD Lost in Space Last year, the United Arab Emirates became the first Arab state to send a probe […]

NEED TO KNOW MICRONESIA & OCEANIA Divided We Teeter The island nations in the Pacific Ocean are facing a double whammy: A […]

NEED TO KNOW AFGHANISTAN No Exits President Joe Biden has a few months to decide whether to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan. […]

NEED TO KNOW NEW ZEALAND Natural Invasions The kakapos are beautiful, fascinating birds. They are the biggest species of parrot, weighing almost […]