Affairs Report: Police Academy - Colombia

Decades of warfare against drug cartels and armed guerillas have provided Colombia with a valuable asset. Countries across Latin America are sending their troops and police to learn the techniques of its elite Jungla unit.

Affairs Report: Q&A - Carl Bildt

He is also known for his verbal agility. In response to the Wikileaks telegram in which an official at the US embassy to Sweden reportedly described him as a “medium-sized dog with big-dog attitude”, Bildt shrugged, saying that he, at least, is not a pood

Americas Briefing: Mayor Challenges

October. Among the front-runners is former mayor Enrique Peñalosa, who has become a global urban adviser. Whoever wins will face a big task. Here are five key challenges:

Americas Briefing: Election Watch - Argentina

Up to date with the poles in our Americas Briefing with a watchful eye of Argentina

Americas Briefing: Park Life - Canada

The arrival of a new park on Toronto's waterfront should have been a signal that the city had turned the corner in its frustrated ambitions to develop its lakefront properties.

Americas Briefing: Q&A - Elizabeth Berger

Asia Briefing: Suit and Thai - Thailand

When the Pheu Thai Party (PTP) trounced its rival Democrats in a July general election, it was largely thanks to Yingluck Shinawatra – now Thailand's first female prime minister – who has been described in the press as "stylish and steely".

Asia Briefing: Capital Gains - Vietnam

Having celebrated its 1,000th anniversary last year, Hanoi is now planning for the future.

Asia Briefing: On the up - Japan

When the Japanese women's football team returned home with their World Cup trophy in July, they were celebrated as national heroes.

Asia Briefing: Smashing time - China

China's museums are in dire need of more capable hands.

Africa/Middle East Briefing: Plane Living

When Yoweri Museveni was sworn in as Ugandan president in 1986, he made clear his disdain for leaders of poor countries that spent money on presidential planes.

Africa/Middle East Briefing: Poor Score - South Africa

More than a year since South Africa hosted the Football World Cup, the 10 stadiums used are struggling to make ends meet. Only one, Johannesburg's Soccer City, is thought to be nearing profitability.

Africa/Middle East Briefing: Election Watch - Liberia

Up to date in the poles with a focus on Liberia.

Africa/Middle East Briefing: Bridging the gap - Saudi Arabia

One of the world's largest bridges is set to be built between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, after the two countries finally agreed to construct a road link across the Red Sea.

Africa/Middle East Briefing: Oasis Maker - Qatar

Norway is attempting the impossible: turning Qatar's desert green.

Affairs Report: Hunger for peace - Somalia

It was a fairly typical day in Mogadishu: from first light automatic rifle fire could be heard and it was soon joined by heavier machine guns and then mortars and artillery.

Oceania Briefing: Island Hopping - Oceania

The defection of a senior military official is proving a headache for Fiji's interim government as he tours the Pacific drumming up ­opposition to the regime.

Oceania Briefing: Losing Track - Australia

Hopes of a new high-speed rail line linking Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane have once again been raised with the launch of a new government study.

Oceania Briefing: New Build - New Zealand

Close to a year after Christchurch awoke to its first earthquake and seven months after the catastrophic quake that flattened buildings and killed 182, the city has released a bold NZ$2bn (€1.1bn) rebuilding blueprint.

Defence Briefing: Blissful Isolation - Yemen

While Yemen's slow-motion collapse from dictatorship to failed state continues unabated, there is a group of Yemeni islands in the Indian Ocean that are enjoying something of a different trajectory.

Oceania Briefing: Paying the price - Australasia

Following the devastation wrought on Queensland's banana plantations by Hurricane Yasi in February, the price of the fruit has risen by 470 per cent this year.

Defence Briefing: Fear Factor - Australia

China's thirst for commodities may have helped Australia escape the worst of the global financial crisis but Canberra is wary of its powerful neighbour's military might.

Defence Briefing: Old ways dies hard - Mongolia

Mongolia, sandwiched between its two giant neighbours, China and Russia, has recently found its friendship sought enthusiastically by both thanks to its abundant natural resources.

Defence Briefing: Power Game - USA

Military relations between the US and Singapore have moved up a notch.

Defence Briefing: Feeling Blue - China

China is playing catch-up in many fields of military science, but it is the world leader in one critical defence arena: cyber warfare.

Affairs Report: Talking the talk - Hanoi

Saadi Salama Altumaizi, the Palestinian ambassador to Vietnam, has just returned from another difficult trip to his homeland.

Affairs Report: Under the Spell - Lithuania

Where Lithuania and Poland are concerned, spelling can ignite diplomatic rows.

Affairs Report: Bearing Fruit - Pakistan

One might believe relations between Pakistan and the US had deteriorated past the point at which amends can be made by gifts of perishable items.

Affairs Report: Street Talk - Algiers

The Algiers casbah has fallen into dilapidation. But now there are plans to restore its warren of streets. Is this government generosity or a bid to discourage discord in this traditionally revolution-minded neighbourhood?

Business Report: Second Life - Pittsburgh

While post-industrial towns such as Detroit languish in a 'rust belt', Pittsburgh is bucking the trend, teeing itself up as a major hi-tech hub and an alternative to California's Silicon Valley. Monocle visits its thriving East Liberty neighbourhood. <

Business Briefing: Sydney Fast Lanes - Australia

Melbourne is well known for its bustling laneways, which went through major rejuvenation in the early 1990s. Loath to let its near-neighbours have too much of a good thing, Sydney has been playing catch up since 2008 with its own Laneways Business Deve

Business Briefing: Buy into a theme - USA

A new Silicon Valley firm is offering a more inventive way to invest.

Business Briefing: Money from the mob - Italy

Two of the latest additions to Libera Terra, an Italian cooperative that develops land reclaimed from the Mafia, include Portella della Ginestra and Terre di Corleone: B&Bs that combine idyllic settings with a colourful past.

Business Briefing: Greener Favelas - Brazil

When it comes to recycling, Brazil is among the world's leaders.

Business Report: More than a Mogul - Moscow

Alexander Lebedev, former politician and owner of the UK's 'Independent' and Russian opposition title 'Novaya Gazeta', is not your average oligarch. Here, he tells us why his management style is definitely hands-off.

Business Briefing: Canadian Fly South

US airports near the border with Canada are cashing in as Canadians flock south for cheaper flights.

Business Briefing: Brew Pastures - Japan

The Japanese have been turning their backs on sake for decades, but overseas the prospects for the national drink seem brighter. The idea of brewing sake for a global audience led Takeshi Akiyama (pictured) to quit his job at a

Business Briefing: Virtual Shopping - China

In Shanghai, grocery stores face an uncertain future, now that Yihaodian, the country's leading online grocery vendor, has introduced virtual supermarkets in nearly a dozen subway stations.

Business Briefing: Tasty Air Fare - Sweden

Airplane meals are usually the stuff of nightmares but Kullaflyg, a small Swedish airline, has turned the concept around.

Business Briefing: Growing Permaculture - Global

Toilets and window sashes hardly seem the stuff of global empires but Japan's JS Group aims to build a formidable business from these humble beginnings.

Culture Briefing: Singular snapshots of power

Mao excelled at it – as has Steve Jobs and, to a lesser extent, Colonel Gaddafi. They all ran the show in their own likeness

Business Briefing: Books - Review

This months low down on books of note.

Culture Briefing: Music - Review

Some electro jive and a rock extravaganza, a feast for the ears.

Culture Briefing: Film - Review

With the Venice Film festival coming to a close we look at some favorites of our own.

Culture Briefing: Now you see it - UK

Commissioning, editing, designing and printing its own titles, Ditto Press is a fully integrated set-up based in a single room in East London.

Culture Briefing: Q&A - Sandra Hebron

This year's 55th edition of the BFI London Film Festival runs from 12-27 October. Screening over 300 films from around the world, it will also be the last for Sandra Hebron as artistic director.

Culture Report: My Frieze art Fair - London

This month sees the international art world flock to London for the ninth edition of Frieze Art Fair

(13 to 16 October). With more than 170 galleries taking part, and an estimated 60,000 visitors attending, it has become one of the most importa

Culture Briefing: Q&A - Dirk Mönkemöller

Dirk Mönkemöller's after-hours project is a breath of fresh air for newsstands – a thing of beauty that celebrates the weekend.

Culture Briefing: Canal Plus - Denmark

The Danes seem to have this remarkable ability to tweak a well-worn design in the subtlest of ways and radically improve upon the original.

Culture Briefing: No Hiding - USA

The start-up I'mOK aims to solve an old conundrum – how can parents keep tabs on their kids without nagging?

Culture Briefing: That'll do nicely - Turkey

Simon Johnson, who together with his wife co-edits the quarterly magazine THAT, distributes the 3,000 copies in person on his bike to cafés and shops on either side of the Bosphorus.

Culture Briefing: Your face fits the billboard - USA

On the internet, companies can target their ads to people who enter particular search terms, but in the real world there is no way to make advertising interactive.

Culture Report: Making Waves - Hilversum

Hilversum was the centre of Dutch broadcasting for the best part of a century, a model media city of daring architecture. Hit hard by changes in the industry, a period of self-reflection has the city searching for new relevance in the digital media age

Design Report: Type Cast - Denmark

The world has been using typefaces for hundreds of years – but only now has the first bricks and mortar shop started selling fonts.

Design Briefing: Divinly Inspired - Austria

The sleepy Austrian town of Hainburg is home to a dramatic new church by Vienna practice Coop Himmelb(l)au.

Design Briefing: Seeing a pattern - USA

The latest addition to Herman Miller's "Select" reissue programme is George Nelson's round Tray Table, designed in 1961.

Design Briefing: Joint force - Brazil

Japanese-Brazilian designer Morito Ebine is one of the design world's better-kept secrets, practising traditional carpentry just for the love of preserving skills.

Design Briefing: Real writing - UK/Singapore

London design office Industrial Facility has created a mighty fountain pen for Singaporean firm Elephant and Coral.

Design Briefing: Q&A - Daniel Charny

Charny has recently curated Power of Making, a joint exhibition by the UK's Crafts Council and the V&A museum.

Men's Fashion: Nature's riches - Fashion Report

A leafy getaway spot in central Japan is the backdrop to our autumn menswear shoot. Here's our pick of warm coats and jackets and knitwear to keep you cosy as temperatures begin to fall.

Women's Fashion: Slow Lanes - Nagano

The beautifully preserved town of Obuse in Nagano prefecture is home to old sake breweries and silk farms. It's also where we parade this season's womenswear.