Analysis: The stresses and strains on EU unity are bubbling up in Brussels EU unity has been one of the great surprises of Brexit: the bloc’s 27 remaining member states have managed to hold a united front in public in a way the UK – a single country – could ... Read More »
Notre Dame fire: How Victor Hugo’s hunchback saved the cathedral from ruin in the 1800s
‘It is difficult not to sigh, not to wax indignant, before the numberless degradations and mutilations which time and men have both caused the venerable monument to suffer’ Notre Dame has gone through a lot in its 856 years. It has endured ill-advised remodelling, revolutionary ransacking and pollution-induced decay. Hitler ... Read More »
US grovels to Israel the same way ‘supporters’ fawned on Saddam
Is there any other country on Earth with which America would dare collude on such a scale? Forget the “special relationship” with the crackpots in Britain, or the New World coming to the rescue of the Old World in the Second World War. There’s only one special relationship that matters ... Read More »
Moderate media, a compassionate leader: how New Zealand reacted to a tragedy
Is New Zealand’s civilised response to the Christchurch massacre just down to good stewardship, or is there something else going on? To the rest of the world, New Zealand’s reaction to the Christchurch massacre has been extraordinary. The killing of 50 people at Friday prayers in two mosques by a ... Read More »
Jacinda Ardern is showing the world what real leadership is: sympathy, love and integrity
The New Zealand prime minister has reacted to the Christchurch shootings with steel, compassion and absolute clarity. And she has given us a vision of a better world Out of the horror inflicted by those who cannot accept the world as it is, comes a vision of a better world. ... Read More »
Is Venezuela lurching toward war?
Want smart analysis of the most important news in your inbox every weekday along with other global reads, interesting ideas and opinions to know? The political standoff in Venezuela teetered toward open conflict over the weekend. Clashes between opposition supporters and security forces — as well as armed mobs loyal ... Read More »
Fragmenting nuclear arms controls leave world in a more dangerous place
US could withdraw from a second treaty while Vladimir Putin’s Russia promises a new generation of nuclear weapons The decision on whether or not to destroy the world came down to a humble Soviet duty officer early one morning in 1983. Stanislav Petrov was told by his computer that the ... Read More »
Forget Brexit, war in Ukraine is the biggest threat to Europe
History may compare the handling of a defeated and depressed Russia in the 1990s to that of Germany after 1918 While parliament fiddles, Europe burns, or at least sputters into flame. History could not be clearer. The diversion of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict into the Sea of Azov is precisely the ... Read More »
Report on the “1st Public Health Policy and Management (PHPM) Program” Chandigarh – India
Prepared by: Rima Abd El Samad Ministry of Information Lebanese Directorate of Studies and Publications Overview The 1st Public Health Policy and Management (PHPM) Program under the International Public Health Management Development was organized by the Department of Community Medicine & School of Public Health – Post Graduate Institute of ... Read More »
With Trump absent, China and Russia to take center stage at Asia-Pacific summits
When world leaders gather in this city-state and Papua New Guinea for regional summits this week, there will be a conspicuous absence: President Trump. It is summit season in Asia, with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meetings due to start Tuesday in Singapore. The 10-member bloc hosts world leaders ... Read More »