Archive

December 22, 2023

Flower Power

[announcement] NEED TO KNOW Flower Power KYRGYZSTAN [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/766aa12d-4910-4bb3-a204-adba72f724f9.png"] The flag of Kyrgyzstan features a yellow sun on a red field. The sun evokes the “Tunduk,” a symbol for the circular opening in the center of the roof of a yurt, a traditional Central Asian tent. The problem is that...

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December 21, 2023

Peace, Please

NEED TO KNOW Peace, Please ISRAEL/ GAZA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/a7853464-ef94-4b48-96b9-d7badbef5e55.png"] Hundreds of people recently joined Jewish groups in eight cities throughout the US to call for a ceasefire in Israel’s attacks against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The demonstrations occurred as the United Nations also demanded a pause to the...

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December 20, 2023

When Cynics Win

NEED TO KNOW When Cynics Win DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/ed507180-9c5f-4223-b88c-6f054c876a9f.png"] Musa Bi, a 42-year-old mother, is one of the nearly 7 million internally displaced people in Congo. She fled M23 rebels who have sown chaos in the central African country, walking for seven days with six...

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December 19, 2023

Standing Up

NEED TO KNOW Standing Up ICELAND [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/05c4ecf9-d048-43ef-9046-22a7f3c10f03.png"] Iceland is considered one of the most gender-equal countries in the world based on income, education, and health. The country elected the world’s first female president, noted Time magazine. Icelandic women founded the first all-female political party. So it may be surprising...

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December 18, 2023

Death By Inches

NEED TO KNOW Death By Inches TIBET [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/ee543dae-dc0e-497c-b1b2-51199c631b8c.png"] The Chinese government recently renamed “Tibet” as “Xizang” in official diplomatic documents. The move was the latest in a series of measures that critics of China say are aimed at erasing Tibetan national identity and culture. “These are political actions of...

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December 15, 2023

Political Whiplash

[announcement] NEED TO KNOW Political Whiplash CHILE [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/baed026e-8c02-42fc-8c27-383b8bf87a6c.png"] In September 2022, the new left-wing president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, and his progressive allies asked voters to ditch the business-friendly constitution written under the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship and opt for a new document that would uphold social and indigenous rights,...

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December 14, 2023

The Stuntmen

NEED TO KNOW The Stuntmen SERBIA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/fd16e594-c67c-41ff-beb7-977236001063.png"] Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, a 73-year-old American born in California, recently became a Serbian citizen. “Now we can boast that the computer genius is Serbian, who will live most of his life in America but will also come to his Serbia,” said...

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December 13, 2023

Like Father, Like Son

NEED TO KNOW Like Father, Like Son CHAD [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/b08925fb-4623-40c3-9563-de5bd3009fa5.png"] Opposition and civil society leaders in Chad recently asked the military junta running the Central African country to ask French troops to leave. The opposition leaders want France, which formerly ruled Chad as a colony, to stop meddling in the...

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December 12, 2023

A Heater in a Fridge in a Desert

NEED TO KNOW A Heater in a Fridge in a Desert UNITED ARAB EMIRATES [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/e7c972cb-39f7-4c1c-a7c9-c1ed67fdc38d.png"] An oil man oversaw the United Nations summit on climate change, which ended Tuesday. Sultan al-Jaber was recently both the president of the 28th UN Conference of Parties (COP28) as well as the chief...

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December 11, 2023

Burying the Lede

NEED TO KNOW Burying the Lede ISRAEL/ GAZA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/a7853464-ef94-4b48-96b9-d7badbef5e55.png"] Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi recently gained the power to halt foreign media broadcasts and confiscate foreign media equipment on the grounds of national security. The new regulations, approved Oct. 20, mainly targeted Al Jazeera, the state-owned, Qatar-based news organization...

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December 08, 2023

Empty Victories

[announcement] NEED TO KNOW Empty Victories EGYPT [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/180d3d63-0093-422e-a6d2-b3d9896f0053.png"] Egypt’s economy is in shambles. Inflation is running at a record 38 percent. Youth unemployment is 17 percent. The country’s human rights record is dismal. Police routinely arrest government critics on charges of misinformation, according to Amnesty International. Freedom of expression, the...

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December 07, 2023

Help Wanted

NEED TO KNOW Help Wanted PORTUGAL [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/e9920e0b-df86-4240-9933-aed7de687bff.png"] The Portuguese government is cracking down on so-called “digital nomads,” the remote workers who moved to foreign countries, especially during the pandemic, to take advantage of the joys of new locales, as well as liberal visa rules, favorable exchange rates, lower...

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December 06, 2023

Countdown

NEED TO KNOW Countdown MYANMAR [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/9ef34308-9cd1-4a8e-a2b3-e7a7ab6846ed.png"] Ye Htut is a 64-year-old retired lieutenant colonel in the Myanmarese army, who also served as a spokesperson and information minister in the military-backed government of President Thein Sein from 2013 to 2016. Recently, he was arrested on charges of corruption and...

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December 05, 2023

Treasure Islands

NEED TO KNOW Treasure Islands CARIBBEAN [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/4581691a-6945-43fc-1156-d55dc4f524b8.png"] The Council of the European Union recently deemed the Caribbean countries of Antigua, Barbuda, and Belize as “non-cooperative” on requests for tax information, governance inquiries, and transparency. They joined Panama and Anguilla, the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Turks and...

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December 04, 2023

And the Winner Is …

NEED TO KNOW And the Winner Is … MIDDLE EAST [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/7000f0bb-c02b-4438-87c6-002be2c0dfc6.png"] On Sunday, the warship USS Carney, based in the Red Sea, shot down two drones fired at it and the merchant ship it was assisting, CNN reported. Yemen-based Houthi rebels, who have been battling Saudi Arabian forces...

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December 01, 2023

Faltering Resolve

[announcement] NEED TO KNOW Faltering Resolve UKRAINE/ RUSSIA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/1fcd4036-786d-9ce0-309a-14f74105b898.png"] The admission shocked Ukrainians who have shown little but resolute courage as they tried to fend off the Russian forces that invaded their country in February last year. In an interview with the Economist, the commander of Ukraine’s forces, General...

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November 30, 2023

Tragedy Redux

NEED TO KNOW Tragedy Redux SUDAN [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/224b0e8f-5be6-4e44-b799-a1b865717c98.png"] In 2003, rebels in Darfur, the western region of Sudan, took up arms against the central government in the capital of Khartoum because they felt officials were mistreating non-Arab citizens. In response, as the Encyclopedia Britannica recounted, the Sudanese government armed...

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November 29, 2023

Germany Divided

NEED TO KNOW Germany Divided GERMANY [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/96d66e57-2644-40b9-aed7-fc66370c3077.png"] The far-right, xenophobic Alternative for Germany political party has long concerned observers who fear a resurgence of the fascistic spirit in Europe’s largest, wealthiest country. Now, not to be outdone, German politician Sahra Wagenknecht is launching a new political party that is...

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November 28, 2023

Hitting Pause

NEED TO KNOW Hitting Pause ISRAEL/ GAZA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/a7853464-ef94-4b48-96b9-d7badbef5e55.png"] Diplomats worked overtime into Tuesday morning to extend the ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas by 48 hours beyond the four-day deadline to Thursday morning , the BBC reported. Both sides said that they wanted to prolong...

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November 27, 2023

Rapprochement

NEED TO KNOW Rapprochement VENEZUELA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/f52c66cd-9299-42e6-acd8-f970f62c524b.png"] As post-pandemic inflation gripped the global economy and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused energy costs to spike, the United States sought to expand the oil available on world markets by easing sanctions on oil-rich Venezuela. The sanctions date from 2005, when the US...

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