NEED TO KNOW Cracks in the Tent Pole CHINA For the past 25 years, pundits in the West have been issuing dire […]

NEED TO KNOW Walking Out NORTH KOREA The mother of an American serviceman who sprinted across the border to North Korea last […]

NEED TO KNOW A Playing Field PAPUA NEW GUINEA The world is wooing Papua New Guinea, a poor country to the north […]

NEED TO KNOW Promises, Betrayed AFGHANISTAN This week, the Taliban marked two years since it returned to power following the US-led troop […]

NEED TO KNOW Squeaky No More SINGAPORE There’s a tacit agreement between Singapore’s rulers and the population: We the People will settle […]

NEED TO KNOW Opaque Waters JAPAN Chef Kazuyuki Tanioka owns a sushi restaurant called Toya in the Chinese capital of Beijing. Life […]

NEED TO KNOW Dimming Star BANGLADESH The foreign minister of Bangladesh recently called ambassadors from the United States, Britain, France, and 10 […]

NEED TO KNOW A Worrying Popularity THAILAND When Thai voters cast their ballots for a new parliament in May, they roundly rejected […]

NEED TO KNOW Null and Void CAMBODIA Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s chances of winning reelection on July 23 are very good. […]

NEED TO KNOW Come Visit HONG KONG Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, is giving out 700,000 plane tickets to […]

NEED TO KNOW A Voice, a Divide AUSTRALIA After a recent historic parliamentary vote, Australians will vote on a constitutional amendment to […]

NEED TO KNOW Backroom Chats CHINA American diplomats claimed that the autocratic president of China, Xi Jinping, had no clue that one […]

NEED TO KNOW Pride and Pressure KYRGYZSTAN D Billions is a quartet of Kyrgyz singers whose performances for kids on YouTube have […]

NEED TO KNOW Mission Wealth LAOS Anousa “Jack” Luangsuphom is a prominent activist and critic of the authoritarian, communist government of Laos. […]

NEED TO KNOW Villains CAMBODIA In a final decision, Cambodia’s Constitutional Council recently rejected the claims of opposition politicians with the Candlelight […]

NEED TO KNOW Terrorist Vs. Terrorist AFGHANISTAN Since the US exited Afghanistan nearly two years ago, the leader of the Islamic Emirate […]

NEED TO KNOW Full Court Press CHINA American and Chinese officials held more than eight hours of “candid” and “constructive” talks in […]

NEED TO KNOW East of Eden EAST TIMOR Timor-Leste, or East Timor, depends on an oil-funded sovereign wealth fund to finance 80 […]

NEED TO KNOW Family Business THAILAND Thai political candidate Paetongtarn Shinawatra, 36, who is the frontrunner in upcoming national elections, recently gave […]

NEED TO KNOW Demography and Destiny INDIA The world’s largest democracy, India, is now the world’s most populous country. The distinction is […]

NEED TO KNOW More for Everyone UZBEKISTAN President Shavkat Mirziyoyev feels like staying around for a while. That’s why voters in Uzbekistan […]

NEED TO KNOW Shiny, Happy People BHUTAN In Bhutan, the law states that “if the government cannot create happiness for its people, […]

NEED TO KNOW Peace and Sabers TAIWAN After the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, met with Taiwanese President […]

NEED TO KNOW Rubber Duck Politics THAILAND Thai authorities sentenced a man to jail for two years for peddling calendars featuring rubber […]