NEED TO KNOW All in the Family PHILIPPINES America produced the Adams, Bush, Clinton and other political dynasties. Now leaders in Asia […]

NEED TO KNOW Battlegrounds INDIA With live political rallies banned due to the coronavirus, LED screens are going up throughout India in […]

NEED TO KNOW Chocolate, Beer and Sovereignty TAIWAN Lala Sin has shied away from speaking Mandarin Chinese around her three children. Instead, […]

NEED TO KNOW The Gates of Hell TURKMENISTAN Turkmenistan’s autocratic President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov recently went on state television to demonstrate his awesome […]

NEED TO KNOW Of Chickens and Eggs MYANMAR Aung San Suu Kyi won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her pro-democracy […]

NEED TO KNOW Fed Up, Pushed Down KAZAKHSTAN Officials in Kazakhstan recently announced that, with the help of Russian troops, stability had […]

NEED TO KNOW What’s In a Name CHINA / INDIA Indian leaders recently blasted Chinese officials for moves that appear to ramp […]

NEED TO KNOW Mission Impossible NORTH KOREA North Koreans were barred from laughing, drinking alcohol or enjoying leisure activities from Dec. 17-28. […]

NEED TO KNOW Bloody Passions PAKISTAN Priyantha Kumara was a Christian and Sri Lankan citizen who managed a Rajco Industries factory in […]

NEED TO KNOW After the Fall AFGHANISTAN Two veteran foreign correspondents from the Washington Post recently journeyed along the 300-mile highway from […]

NEED TO KNOW Olympic-sized Snubs CHINA When President Jimmy Carter ordered an American boycott of the 1980 winter Olympics in Moscow, he […]

NEED TO KNOW Pig in the Poke HONG KONG A wild boar infestation in Hong Kong provided fodder for a political cartoonist […]

NEED TO KNOW King of the Sinking Mountain TURKEY President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s nearly 20 years’ long quest to dominate Turkish politics – […]

Editor’s Note: Dear readers, a technical problem caused a delay in the delivery of today’s newsletter. We apologize for the inconvenience. NEED […]

NEED TO KNOW Red Halo CHINA If communists practiced canonization, Chinese President Xi Jinping would be a candidate for sainthood. The honchos […]

NEED TO KNOW When Heroes Fall GEORGIA The European Court of Human Rights recently demanded that the ex-Soviet republic of Georgia safeguard […]

NEED TO KNOW Chaos Theory CENTRAL ASIA The former Soviet republics of Central Asia are following in the footsteps of Russia in […]

NEED TO KNOW Meta Problematic WORLD Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg had a chance late last year to stand up to the […]

NEED TO KNOW Stuck in Purgatory CAMBODIA Thirty years ago, diplomats signed the Paris Peace Agreement to bring an end to civil […]

NEED TO KNOW Headwinds WORLD The coronavirus pandemic disrupted global energy supplies. Now it’s not clear if world leaders can fix the […]

NEED TO KNOW On a High Wire INDONESIA Indonesian President Joko Widodo – known as Jokowi – is urging the world’s rich […]

NEED TO KNOW Fait Accompli UZBEKISTAN When voters in Uzbekistan head to the polls to elect a new president on Oct. 24, […]

NEED TO KNOW Of Flyovers and Squid TAIWAN Chinese President Xi Jinping recently called for the peaceful unification of his country with […]

NEED TO KNOW Pop Goes the Bubble CHINA China’s real estate bubble is bursting. As Reuters explained, Evergrande has acquired $300 billion […]