Obama just pulled off two important firsts for a sitting US president

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NEED TO KNOW:

The African Union is made up of 54 of the 55 countries in Africa. A few nations right now are suspended. But Morocco is the only one that has never been admitted to the group. It's a whole big thing involving Morocco's occupation of the Western Sahara.

The African Union was established formally in 2001. It evolved from the Organization of African Unity, which was established more than 50 years ago. Yet today, US President Barack Obama became the first-ever American leader to address either organization.

The AU, like its predecessor, is based in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. Obama also just became the first-ever US president to visit Ethiopia. So, in his historic address, what did Obama talk about?

Well, security for one. The spread of terrorist groups like Al Shabaab in the east and Boko Haram in the west is a major worry for the United States, which has increased its own security presence in the region in recent years.

He also talked about trade. China has far outpaced the United States when it comes to trade and investment in Africa. The Chinese are all over the continent. In fact, the gleaming new AU headquarters where Obama gave his speech was built by the Chinese.

Obama also addressed the growing habit of some African leaders who are constitutionally bound to two terms in office to seek illegal third terms (ahem, Burundi). He called on the AU to use its authority to help make sure African leaders stick to their term limits. “No one should be president for life," he said.

WANT TO KNOW:

You may have heard about the young Palestinian girl — a refugee seeking asylum in Germany — who German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently made cry.

Reem Sawhil broke down after Merkel, aka the most powerful woman in the world, essentially told her — in front of television cameras — that “politics is hard” and that Germany probably wouldn't be able to care for people like her.

The clip was shared around the world and Merkel was criticized for what some thought was a pretty cold thing to say to a 14-year-old girl. But Sawhil had heard these things before. And she'd seen a lot worse in her young life. Her hardships did not begin and end with that clip.

GlobalPost Senior Correspondent Richard Hall found Sawhil's family in the Lebanese refugee camp where they live. They told him their harrowing story of lives done in by war and corruption, and of perseverance and hope. It's a story similar to that of millions of other refugees. And it's a must-read.

“If Merkel's words were not heartless, they at least revealed a callousness in the complex web of domestic and international laws that guide refugees from one place to the next,” writes Hall. “Reem has lived in Germany for the past four years, learned the language, excelled at school (she was the only student in her class this year to receive the highest grade), and wanted to build a life in Germany. Here she was effectively being told by the leader of Europe’s largest economy that that wasn't enough to have earned a place in society.”

STRANGE BUT TRUE:

Ukraine apparently has a ways to go before it achieves the democracy its 2014 revolution was hoped to usher forth. This was made pretty clear in a parliamentary by-election held in the small Ukrainian city of Chernihiv over the weekend.

The top two candidates were both connected to Ukraine's wealthiest and most powerful people. And it appears they did whatever they could to win. One candidate distributed fake campaign flyers saying the other candidate had dropped out. The day before the election a candidate handed out food and other goods to poor and elderly voters, and that was one of the least offensive examples of vote-buying.

Many voters in the city didn't even bother to show up to the polls. And, as GlobalPost Senior Correspondent Dan Peleschuk writes, many of those who did show up resorted to a classic post-Soviet tactic of marking up their ballots with obscene or irreverent messages. He took pictures.