Affairs Report: Foreign bodies - Global

As the Gulf develops a taste for German bedside manners, the UN might need to check itself into a clinic for an overhaul or follow the brand-building happening at Asia's answer to MIT.

Affairs Report: Divided we stand - United Nations

Its role in Darfur is seen as a failure. It has almost no role in the Middle East.

Affairs Report: Body adrift - A new world

Is it time to pull down the shutters on the UN?

Europe Briefing: Tower struggles - Sweden

Stockholm markets itself as the capital of Scandinavia, but when it comes to architecture, it is getting tough competition from Copenhagen, Oslo and Helsinki.

Europe Briefing: Coughing up - Russia

More than half of Russian men and over a third of women smoke, which contributes to the low life expectancy (under 59 for men) in the country.

Europe Briefing: Let's join lands - Germany

If Arne Weber has his way, Germany is about to overcome another great historical division.

Americas Briefing: Mane street - La Paz

Bolivia's administrative capital La Paz has just 70,000 vehicles on its roads but they have 14,000 accidents a year.

Americas Briefing: Dash for cash - Curaçao

Tourism on the Caribbean island of Curaçao is getting an unintended boost from Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez.

Americas Briefing: Hard bitten - USA

It's not the hurricane season that Americans will be dreading this summer - it's mosquito season.

Asia Briefing: Pushing boundaries - China

China will be redrawing its borders again this year after regaining control of half of Heixiazi, a 327 sq km river island opposite Khabarovsk, from Russia.

Asia Briefing: Death 1: dead ringers - Japan

Bar codes are popping up in the most unusual of places in Japan - namely, on tombstones.

Asia Briefing: Death 2: track record - Japan

Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world - more than 30,000 people kill themselves every year.

Asia Briefing: New China town - Laos

The sun always shines in the workers’ paradise of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.

Style Leaders: Fashion dictator - Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi

His rule over Libya may have been constant for nearly 40 years but Colonel Gaddafi's wardrobe has evolved - from military uniform to Arabian hybrid.

Africa/Middle East Briefing: Lethal TV hits - Lebanon

While Lebanon's politicians have been arguing over the election of a new president, trigger-happy citizens have reverted to their old, war-like ways.

Africa/Middle East Briefing: Renaissance sculpture - Senegal

At the top of a hill in Senegal, work has begun on a 50m-tall statue - Africa's answer to the Statue of Liberty.

Q&A: Wanted man - Somalia

As a former radio journalist, Ahmed Abdisalam Adan has faced death threats and seen colleagues killed.

Affairs Report: In the pipelines - Kurdistan

It is one of the world's most dangerous places, but the lure of taking control of Iraq's untapped oil reserves is pulling in a band of risk-happy prospectors such as Norwegian Magne Normann, aka the General.

Oceania Briefing: Do not press delete - Australia

Australia's National Library is on a crusade to save the country's internet browser history.

Oceania Briefing: Rating Rudd - Australia

A Security Council bid, meetings with US presidential hopefuls, a rebuke for China over human rights:

Oceania Briefing: Asia's mix masters - New Zealand

Highly educated Asian migrants are changing the face of New Zealand.

Oceania Briefing: 'Bourne supremacy - Australia

Melbourne has a case of urban indigestion as 1,200 new residents arrive each week.

Affairs Report: Wave power - Hawaii

On the island of O'ahu in Hawaii, members of a local independence movement have succeeded in winning back land claimed by the US in 1893.

Affairs Report: Prized fighters - Folkestone

From Afghanistan to Angola, if you want the best person to protect your troops or your game reserve, you get a Gurkha.

Business Report: Greek revival - Thessaloniki

Taking advantage of its position at the oil and gas gateway to southern Europe, Thessaloniki has become northern Greece's boom town.

Perfect Company: Beer leader - Tschlin

Heineken and Carlsberg have been changing the Swiss beer market by buying up the country's independent breweries.

Business Briefing: Bio-business - Japan

Japan's decision in November to launch mandatory fingerprinting and photo-taking at airports was greeted with puzzlement by some of the country's two million foreigners, who called it discriminatory.

Business Briefing: Mall systems go - Brazil

São Paulo already has 72 shopping centres but the newly opened Cidade Jardim aims to be different and raise standards.

Business Briefing: Streets ahead - London and Paris

We predicted here some months ago that London's Mount Street would become the address of choice for discerning brands (joining the likes of Marc Jacobs).

Business Briefing: Slash and burn - Australia

Australia's zeal to slash its greenhouse gas emissions is at odds with its valuable coal industry.

Brands Explained: Floor fillers - Frankfurt

Deutsche Börse, a public company since 2001, operates Germany's biggest stock exchange, in Frankfurt. With locations in 14 countries, the company is valued at €26bn, making it one of the largest exchange organisations in the world.

Business Report: Instant classic - Osaka

This year 100 billion portions of instant noodles will be eaten around the world.

Business Report: Health visitors - Germany

Affluent Arabs used to head to hospitals in the US when they needed treatment.

Business Briefing: Inn luck - Zürich

Unlike Zürich's Mitteleuropan grand hotels, the Swiss city's new B&B, Zum Guten Glück, offers travellers a very different overnight concept.

Business Briefing: Urban survey: 01 - Paris

In the first of a new series of urban surveys we offer five addresses you'll need for a night in a much-frequented city destination:

Business Briefing: Arrivals & departures

Europe's two most aggressive carriers in the Asian market continue to open up new routes.

Culture Report: India ads up - Mumbai

Monocle visits Mumbai's advertising agencies to witness an atmosphere as heady as New York or London in their 1970s golden days.

Culture Report: Spiegel eye - New York

Continuing our series looking at foreign coverage of the US presidential elections is Klaus Brinkbäumer, one of five US-based correspondents for the German weekly 'Der Spiegel'.

Culture Briefing: Global gathering - Boston

Charles Sennott sits down with Monocle two weeks into his new job as co-founder, vice-president and executive editor of Global News Enterprises.

Culture Briefing: Monocle music - June tunes

June tunes.

Culture Briefing: Monocle art - Shows out for summer

Shows out for summer.

Culture Briefing: Monocle movies - Film directions

Film directions.

Culture Briefing: Monocle books - Brain pleasers

Brain pleasers.

Culture Briefing: Mission crítica - Buenos Aires

Jorge Lanata is firing up the Argentine media landscape with his tabloid 'Crítica', seen as a return to the era of combative journalism.

Design Report: Robot college - Daejon

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology is Asia's MIT or Cambridge, and determined to be as well-known. Its innovation - and robot humanoids - proves it to be worthy of the task.

Q&A: Philipp Mainzer

Monocle speaks with Philipp Mainzer, founder of design practice e15.

Design Briefing: New stone age - Portugal

With its low-lying, partially concealed structure, this new extension for the Geira Museum in Portugal quietly blends in to the serene surrounding landscape.

Design Briefing: Cut to fit - US

New York-based design practice UM Project proves that editing suites need not be dark, cramped places with this ­interior for New York production company The Station.

Design Briefing: Cool living - Sweden

Swedish architects Franson Wreland perfect the summer retreat with this one-bedroom cabin outside Stockholm.

Fashion Briefing: Parka life - Permanently wearable rain jackets

As sunshine is never guaranteed, it might be worth investing in this latest waterproof from Aspesi for summer storms.

Q&A: Berndt Hauptkorn

Monocle speaks to Labelux CEO Berndt Hauptkorn about its new acquisition, Bally.

Fashion Briefing: Short change - Taking the plunge

Deciding that most swimwear is too sporty or too designer, Christophe Vérot aims to send men 'to a different destination' each season.

Fashion Briefing: Trench revolution - A classic revisited

Assisi-based brand Toma's unisex city-sportswear has us excited.

Fashion Briefing: Soft touch - A tour de force in cashmere care

Lucien Pellat-Finet has released this Cashmere Shampoo to treat your Johnstons sweaters to a freshen-up before you close your winter wardrobe.

Fashion Briefing: Sneaker peak - Logo-free trainers

Common Project's classic and minimalist trainers are made in Italy with premium leather and no logo.

Fashion Briefing: Polo champion - Tomorrowland's gold standard

Monocle on the quest for the ultimate polo shirt.

Design Briefing: Magic numbers - Beams' new partnership

The latest collaboration by Japanese select shop Beams is with 7-Eleven, producing a stationery collection that includes pens, sketchbooks and sticky notes.

Design Report: Elgin marvel

For the past 211 years, Johnstons has operated from the Scottish Highland town of Elgin. Monocle explores.

Design Report: Show time - Basel

Baselworld watch fair is where manufacturers unveil the new timepieces that often take years to craft. There are no quick sales either; brands eager to retain exclusivity don't sell to any old oligarch.

Fashion: Decked out - Hachijojima

Design Report: Upwardly mobile - Milan

This year's Salone Internazionale del Mobile defied the credit crunch with an optimistic mood and a record number of visitors - 348,000 in total, 29 per cent more than 2007, 210,000 of whom came from abroad.

Fashion: Stockists, issue 14

Stockist details for issue 14.