Dozens of tourists have been gunned down on a beach in Tunisia

GlobalPost

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NEED TO KNOW:

Multiple terror attacks have struck countries around the world. In what appears to be the worst, attackers gunned down sunbathing tourists at two hotels in the popular Tunisian resort destination of Sousse. Western tourists described fleeing the beach for their lives as the gunmen fired indiscriminately into the crowd.

Tunisia has been on high alert since March when extremists killed 22 people, mostly foreign tourists, at a museum in Tunis, the capital. Tunisia, where the Arab Spring protest movement began before sweeping across the region and the world, has successfully transitioned to a functioning democracy since ousting its longtime, corrupt leader in 2011. But threats from Islamic terrorism has remained a very real problem.

It appears terror has also struck again in France. The news is still developing. But here is what we know so far:

French President Francois Hollande said in a news conference from Belgium that around 10 a.m. local time a car carrying two men driving at high speeds plowed onto the ground of a gas factory in Lyon, in southeastern France. The car smashed into some gas canisters in the apparent hope of causing an explosion.

Hollande said one person had also been beheaded at the scene and that attached to the severed head had been some kind of message. Other reports said an “Islamic State flag" was flown at the scene. One suspect has been arrested and identified. Hollande called it a “pure” terrorist attack. According to the New York Times, the factory is operated by a US-based company called Air Products.

The attack comes about five months after terrorists attacked the offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris, and the subsequent shooting at a Jewish grocery store, which together killed 16 people. In the wake of that attack, France moved to increase security around the country and pass laws that would allow the government greater ability to monitor potential threats. But human rights groups worried the efforts would do little to protect the country and instead threaten the civil liberties of ordinary people.

Meanwhile, in Kuwait, another terrorist attack has killed at least 13 people at a Shia mosque. The number of victims is expected to rise. The explosion came during Friday prayers. It is right now the middle of Ramadan, a holy month for Muslims around the world. Kuwait's president said the attack was a reminder that no country is immune from terror.

"I think that those who want to tip the whole region ablaze in a sectarian war would be behind this attack because that is their agenda," he said.

WANT TO KNOW:

Almost a month ago, everything began to unravel for FIFA, the world's governing body for soccer. And there was not a person in the world that felt bad for any of those in charge of it. FIFA is an intensely corrupt organization, rivaling — and indeed it worked with them — some of the world's greatest kleptocrats.

Sepp Blatter, who is stepping down now as FIFA president, ran it like his own personal fiefdom. And he extorted as much money as he could from governments that sought to host the World Cup and other events. The investigation by the US Justice Department eventually led to the arrests at a hotel in Zurich of senior FIFA executives and other associates around the world. Blatter, at first defiant, announced he would resign earlier this month.

It was a new day for FIFA. And those that were left immediately set about trying to find a new leader. Whoever does take over the job will have the task of restoring public trust in the organization. That will be hard. Diego Maradona, however, thinks he can do it. Maradona is one of soccer's greatest players. And has long been an outspoken critic of corruption at FIFA. So at first glance, it seems like a good fit. But as GlobalPost Senior Correspondent Simeon Tegel writes, that may not be the case.

FIFA is going to need some sound financial management. But Maradona is famous for a lack of sound financial management. In 2013 his assets in Italy — where he once played — were frozen after accusations he failed to pay a $53 million tax bill. Maradona is also famous for taking performance-enhancing drugs (not to mention non-performance-enhancing drugs). Perhaps worst of all, a pattern of violence has followed his career and he's made numerous offensive comments about minorities. Here is a breakdown of just how checkered, to put it politely, Maradona's record has been.

STRANGE BUT TRUE:

Donald Trump is running for president again. And he's off to a really unsurprising start. On his first day, during his first speech — literally these were nearly his first words as a 2016 presidential candidate — he managed to so deeply offend Mexicans and Mexico that it caused a diplomatic row.

Calling Mexicans rapists and accusing them — all of them, it seemed — of bringing drugs and crime to the United States, Trump said he would be build a wall between the two countries, and he would have Mexico pay for it. The world shuddered. And Mexico got angry.

Now Univision, one of the biggest television networks in the United States is striking back. It announced yesterday that it would no longer show the Miss Universe pageant, which Trump partly owns. Here was the statement from one of the network's top anchors:

“Trump should go a single day without Mexican employees. I have no doubt that his business interests would grind to a halt and his empire would be paralyzed. It’s incredible that a businessman like Trump doesn’t understand the importance of Mexican-Americans.”

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