NEED TO KNOW IRAN Bold Steps and Backfires Atefeh Ahmadi, 29, took a bold step recently. “Me and two of my friends […]

NEED TO KNOW TANZANIA Bulldozing Hope Tanzanian President John Magufuli, popularly referred to as “the bulldozer” from his time as the nation’s […]

NEED TO KNOW The Big Boys Seventeen years ago, the term “BRIC” generated a lot of buzz. It was an acronym for […]

NEED TO KNOW WESTERN BALKANS 200 Years Away Part of a region that saw Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II, the […]

NEED TO KNOW PAPUA NEW GUINEA Superstitions, Polio and Facebook Papua New Guinea is a study in contrasts. A theater group in […]

NEED TO KNOW ISLAMIC STATE Long Fuses A series of explosions went off in southwestern Syria recently, killing more than 100 people […]

NEED TO KNOW ETHIOPIA/ERITREA An Olive Branch, and Thorns It’s been a whirlwind few months for Ethiopia and Eritrea after the election […]

NEED TO KNOW MALI Guns and Butter More than five years ago, French soldiers defeated Islamic militants in Mali, paving the way […]

NEED TO KNOW SOUTH SUDAN The Forever War Perpetual civil war has often seemed to be the fate of the people of […]

NEED TO KNOW PAKISTAN The Umpire’s Finger During sit-in protests against corruption in Islamabad in 2014, Pakistani cricketer turned politician Imran Khan […]

NEED TO KNOW CAMBODIA Fireflies and Powder Kegs Cambodian voters go to the polls on Sunday. Few believe anyone but Prime Minister […]

NEED TO KNOW EUROPEAN UNION Winning to Lose It’s too early to say Brexit has been a failure. But even cautious voices […]

NEED TO KNOW ZIMBABWE A Crocodile’s Tears For the first time, Zimbabweans will vote this month on a presidential ballot that does […]

NEED TO KNOW GUATEMALA Fact or Fiction? What do Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, Russian state bank VTB and the United Nation’s […]

NEED TO KNOW ISRAEL End Days Maybe Benjamin Netanyahu, or “Bibi,” leads the Jewish state at a dangerous time. Iran’s influence is growing. […]

NEED TO KNOW SOUTH KOREA Hard Day’s Night Last year, the Singapore newspaper, the Straits Times, followed a few young professionals in […]

NEED TO KNOW RUSSIA Friends and Foes Before he left for Europe, President Donald Trump reflected on his busy agenda for the […]

NEED TO KNOW PHILIPPINES A Culture of Violence An assassin riding a motorcycle gunned down Mayor Ferdinand Bote of General Tinio, a […]

NEED TO KNOW UNITED KINGDOM Hot Air The 20-foot-long, orange inflated baby is now famous. Sporting President Donald Trump’s signature blonde coif, […]

NEED TO KNOW NATO You’ve Got Mail American President Donald Trump normally takes to the Twittersphere when he has choice words for […]

NEED TO KNOW INDIA Deadly Fake News American regulators are investigating how Facebook might have aided and abetted bad actors who allegedly […]

NEED TO KNOW MEXICO Magic Man To call it a landslide would be an understatement. After two previous failed presidential bids, leftist […]

NEED TO KNOW SINGAPORE Cutting the Strings The small yet wealthy city-state of Singapore was in the international spotlight last month for […]

NEED TO KNOW NORTH AFRICA/EU Passing the Buck After debating the bloc’s refugee policies into the wee hours of Friday morning last […]