Stuck at the Stop Sign
NEED TO KNOW Stuck at the Stop Sign MALAYSIA Two seemingly unrelated events symbolize how Malaysia is starting a new chapter in […]
Environmental Chess
NEED TO KNOW Environmental Chess AZERBAIJAN World leaders, diplomats, and environmentalists first convened the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Berlin, Germany […]
Ghosts of the Past
NEED TO KNOW Ghosts of the Past NEW ZEALAND New Zealand lawmaker Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke and other lawmakers recently broke into a traditional […]
A Little Friend
NEED TO KNOW A Little Friend PALAU President Surangel Whipps Jr. of Palau was talking tough talk recently about China’s alleged incursions […]
Tremors Welcome
NEED TO KNOW Tremors Welcome SRI LANKA Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake is often portrayed as a Marxist who helped organize […]
Mix and Match
NEED TO KNOW Mix and Match TURKEY Turkey has always straddled Europe and Asia. Reflecting that geopolitical reality, the country is now […]
Risks and Rewards
NEED TO KNOW Risks and Rewards JAPAN Polls show that the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in Japan will likely lose its […]
Hope, Change and Everything In-Between
NEED TO KNOW Hope, Change and Everything In-Between UZBEKISTAN When Uzbeks cast their votes in parliamentary and local elections on Oct. 27, […]
Victors and Spoils
NEED TO KNOW Victors and Spoils KIRIBATI The Tobwaan Kiribati Party (TKP) holds a sufficiently large majority in the parliament of Kiribati, […]
Scripture and Strictures
NEED TO KNOW Scripture and Strictures AFGHANISTAN Three years after the US quit Afghanistan, the country’s ultraorthodox Islamic rulers, the Taliban, have […]
New Man, New Plans
NEED TO KNOW New Man, New Plans JAPAN When Ishiba Shigeru was running to become leader of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, […]
Maxed Out
NEED TO KNOW Maxed Out LAOS A UNICEF official recently toured Laos to see the devastation wrought by extreme floods. “Classrooms filled […]
The Depths
NEED TO KNOW The Depths MYANMAR In the Southeast Asian country of Myanmar, casualties from natural and manmade disasters are mounting. Typhoon […]
All or Nothing
NEED TO KNOW All or Nothing SRI LANKA The People’s Liberation Front (JVP) in Sri Lanka was founded as a revolutionary Marxist-Leninist […]
A Little Shot of Democracy
NEED TO KNOW A Little Shot of Democracy KASHMIR/ INDIA The Indian government recently announced that local elections in the disputed region […]
What It Takes
NEED TO KNOW What It Takes INDIA Does India have what it takes to become a great power on the world stage? […]
The Pressure Cooker
NEED TO KNOW The Pressure Cooker TAJIKISTAN A statue of Ismoil Somoni is a big attraction in Dushanbe, the capital of the former […]
Tilting at Windmills
NEED TO KNOW Tilting at Windmills AZERBAIJAN Vafa Nagi is running for a seat in parliament as an independent in Azerbaijan’s parliamentary […]
The Judicial Wall
NEED TO KNOW The Judicial Wall THAILAND The ruling party in Thailand’s parliament, Pheu Thai, recently nominated Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the 37-year-old daughter […]
Atoll Power
NEED TO KNOW Atoll Power KIRIBATI Around 1,300 miles south of the American state of Hawaii, Kiribati is a country of 115,000 […]
‘The People’s War’
NEED TO KNOW ‘The People’s War’ BANGLADESH On July 16, two police officers clashing with student protesters at Begum Rokeya University in […]
Baby Onboarding
NEED TO KNOW Baby Onboarding ASIA In Japan, a diapers company recently announced that it would be switching its focus from babies […]
Big Pockets
NEED TO KNOW Big Pockets CHINA China could be outpacing the US and Europe in the race to realize fusion, a potentially […]
Little Dirty Gem
NEED TO KNOW Little Dirty Gem SINGAPORE Holders of Singaporean passports are among the luckiest in the world. They can travel to […]