Affairs Report: Changing track - Global

The world's major train-building nations (France, Canada and Japan) are finding there's a quick route to winning global influence while helping their own economies: send in your sleekest, sexiest trains.

Affairs Report: Outside influence - USA

War, immigration and an increasingly globalised economy mean that foreign affairs will play a bigger part in the 2008 US election than they have in any other.

Affairs Report: States of play - Global links

The states are starting to realise that the key to prosperity lies beyond their national borders.

Affairs Report: State of despair - Zimbabwe

Life expectancy in Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe is 34 for women and 37 for men. Inflation is out of control; food, water and fuel are in short supply and corruption is rife. Elections are planned for March, but no one thinks they will change much.

Europe Briefing: Letter from Udine - Italy

Many observers believe there's a problem with the EU's top-down management style.

Europe Briefing: Straight to Hell - France

In France, all the naughty books go to Hell.

Europe Briefing: Name game - Macedonia

At some point in 2008, it is likely that Nato will invite the tiny, landlocked Balkan state of Macedonia to become its newest member.

Europe Briefing: Enter the Dragon - Sweden

For the past three years, people travelling on the E4 motorway from Helsingborg to Haparanda have been following the construction of Dragon Gate with wonder.

Europe Briefing: Election watch - Spain

The forthcoming election in Spain.

Europe Briefing: Sound affects - Georgia

Leaders anxious to disperse their revolting citizens - without actually killing them - have a new weapon in their armoury: LRADs or Long Range Acoustic Devices.

Style Leaders: Clothes call - US Democratic candidates

More than ever, the appearance of the 2008 Democratic Party candidates is being dissected by an image-obsessed media and public.

Americas Briefing: Tee zone - USA

The Black Dog Tavern camouflage T-shirts.

Americas Briefing: Energy boost - Brazil

Brazilian president Luis Inácio Lula de Silva begins 2008 contemplating an embarrassment of riches.

Asia Briefing: Trying times - Japan

Imagine walking into a room bursting with not-yet-released products, from bath oils and bottled water to exercise machines and lipsticks. Now imagine being told to help yourself.

Asia Briefing: Park life - Hong Kong

On a patch of rural land in northeast Hong Kong, construction workers are breaking ground on the city's first housing development targeted at environmentally conscious home buyers.

Asia Briefing: Election watch - Taiwan

The forthcoming 2008 Taiwan elections.

Africa/Middle East Briefing: French connection - Mayotte

Quick quiz question. Which part of France has the highest birth rate?

Africa/Middle East Briefing: Election watch - Côte d'Ivoire

The 2008 Côte d'Ivoire elections.

Africa/Middle East Briefing: Magic numbers - UAE

In the United Arab Emirates, an Abu Dhabi businessman set a world record in 2007 when he paid Dh25m (€4.6m) for a vehicle registration plate.

Oceania Briefing: Election watch - Tonga

The forthcoming 2008 elections in Tonga.

Oceania Briefing: Animal magnate - Australia

Australia recently gave farmers an extension until 2017 to continue the ugly practice of keeping pregnant sows confined to cramped metal stalls.

Oceania Briefing: Clash of the Kiwis - New Zealand

New Zealanders are bracing themselves for a year of political blood sport. An election must be held no later than mid-November.

Q&A: The show goes on - Lebanon

Despite being targeted by a bomb attack in which she lost an arm and leg, political TV journalist May Chidiac, a staunch critic of Syria, remains defiant and is back presenting for the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation.

Affairs Report: Power struggle - Sakhalin

Despite its proximity to Japan, Sakhalin has seen little investment from Japanese business or the spoils of its own huge reserves of oil and gas.

Business Report: Isle be back - Naha

The poorest prefecture in Japan, Okinawa, in the far south of the country, is experiencing a renaissance as companies large and small capitalise on its relaxed, affordable lifestyle, great beaches and warm climate.

Business Report: Sleeper sell - Berlin

With highspeed trains stealing more business travellers by the day, Europe's top rail operator is betting that improved sleeper trains can also take back the night.

Business Briefing: Access baggage - Russia

A Russian airline is planning to launch the first trans-Pacific route linking Russia and the States this summer.

Business Briefing: Consuming passions - Saudi Arabia

Dubai and Abu Dhabi might be hogging the limelight on the Arabian peninsula these days, but if you run a consumer goods business the more promising market is Saudi Arabia.

Business Briefing: Join the brandwagon - Japan

Abercrombie & Fitch has announced that Ginza will be the location for its first Asian store in late 2009.

Q&A: Natural selection - Switzerland

Swiss retailer Coop has opened a supermarket just outside Zürich for the discerning shopper.

Fairplay: On the pulse - Düsseldorf

Medica is the world's largest healthcare trade fair. This year 4,360 companies displayed the latest must-haves for the 21st-century doctor.

Perfect Company: Swell guys - Cornwall

British microbrand Finisterre has introduced some blue-sea thinking into a global surfwear market that's worth around €9bn a year.

Culture Report: Italian inquisition - Rome

In a media world dominated by reality TV and celebrity chat shows posing as news, Milena Gabanelli's 'Report' stands out.

Culture Briefing: Monocle books

Midwinter must-reads.

Culture Briefing: Monocle music

It's the year for fiery, folky femininity.

Culture Briefing: The selectors - Berlin

Bodo von Hodenberg wants to sell the best books from around the world, whether it's a book from the smallest art publisher in southern Japan or the coolest cookbook from Germany.

My Working Life: Pawn in the USA? - Washington

Monocle interviews Roselena Ramírez, who heads the Washington DC bureau of TeleSUR, a Venezuelan-controlled television station.

Culture Report: Art of news - Tel Aviv

Amos Schocken, publisher of Israel's most influential newspaper, Haaretz, has remained true to his grandfather's liberal ethos, unafraid to report fairly on Palestinian issues.

Culture Briefing: Standing its ground - Paris

Ground Zero, a record shop in Paris, took its name in recognition of the fact that music retailers are disappearing and they are facing a "ground zero" situation.

Culture Briefing: Dear darling - Berlin

Incoming from Berlin, hot off the presses from its Monbijouplatz offices, is 'Liebling', a tall, handsome stranger of a culture-only paper.

Design Report: The coast is cleared - Singapore & Rotterdam

Is your country too small? Make it bigger. Monocle reports from Singapore and the Netherlands.

Design Briefing: Boxer fresh - Sunspel comes out to play

It is 60 years since British underwear and T-shirt label Sunspel introduced its two-ply Egyptian cotton boxer shorts to the discerning English gentleman, and the business is still growing.

Q&A: Jean Pigozzi, designer and founder of Limoland

Monocle met Jean Pigozzi and asked him about his projections for his Paris-based brand Limoland.

Design Briefing: Military precision - Army-style jacket by Stealth Wealth

Kyoto-based clothing label Stealth Wealth is big on national pride and uses high-quality Japanese fabrics in its collections.

Design Briefing: Macs factor - Fashion's hot coupling

Mr and Mrs MacLeod's capsule women's collection consists of around 20 tailored pieces, tapping into the modern classics market led by Margaret Howell in recent years.

Design Briefing: Italian master - The massive growth of Massimo Alba

With leadership experience at Malo, Piombo and Ballantyne, Massimo Alba, 47, has a long pedigree in the world of ­Italian clothing.

Design Briefing: Hit factory - Albam to the rescue

James Shaw and Alastair Rae launched Albam a year ago in response to the "distorted prices for quality basics" prevalent in the market.

Design Briefing: Rain men - Aquascutum reinvents the cagoule

In 1996, the new chief executive for Aquascutum, Kim Winser, declared that its clothes needed "an overhaul, a new energy".

Design Briefing: Wood works - John Harris's reclaimed timber pieces

Too much old furniture ends up in skips. It's a fate met even by pieces made from precious woods. But craftsmen are beginning to tap this source of timber.

Design Report: Olympic winner - Lot-Ek's design for China's capital

Lot-Ek has designed this new mixed-use building in Sanlitun, Beijing.

Design Briefing: Factory outlet - American art collection on display

The concrete and glass Arkell Museum in Canajoharie (in upstate New York) evokes the early days of this former factory town.

Design Briefing: Walk this way - Norway's landscape gets a new look

Norway's visitors can delight in stylish rest stops like this one by Jensen & Skodvin.

Q&A: Carvalho Araújo, architect and designer

Portuguese architect and designer Carvalho Araújo has designed this pared-down porcelain espresso cup and saucer for Vista Alegre.

Design Report: On a wing and a prayer - Idaho

Quest has taken on the mission of producing an access-all-areas aircraft. Monocle explores.

Women's Fashion: 07.13: Köln to Leipzig - Germany

Avoid the queues at check-in, the tiny seats on the plane and the wait for your baggage, and take a DB intercity train when you head east.

Residence: A place in the woods - Puget Sound

With work ranging from cathedral renovations to university buildings, architect Jim Olson has stayed true to his principle that buildings should be a bridge between nature, culture and people.

Men's Fashion: 06.16 Tokyo to Hakata - Japan

It is a massive 1,174km from Tokyo to Hakata Station in Fukuoka but in a new N700 bullet train you’ll get there in just five hours. So hang up your Moncler jacket, dig out the iPod Touch and get acquainted with the window.

Fashion: Stockists, issue 10

Stockists details for issue 10 of Monocle magazine.