Affairs Report: Frozen Assets - Norway

The world's third-biggest oil producer is also blessed with vast reserves of gas, fresh water and fish. But prosperity is creating its own worrying problems.

Europe Briefing: Call of the wild - Sweden

This summer the Swedish government enacts a new law allowing hunters and the owners of domestic animals to kill wolves.

Europe Briefing: In hot water - Germany

Munich and its hinterland have become the new frontier for deep-seated geothermal energy, the latest trend in sustainable power.

Europe Briefing: The contender - Bulgaria

Boyko Borisov, mayor of Sofia, is widely tipped to become the country's new leader when national elections are held in 2009.

Europe Briefing: Letter from Samara - Russia

Moscow and St Petersburg grab the headlines but it is cities such as Samara that are the silent powerhouses of the Russian economy.

Africa/Middle East Briefing: Drink war 1: Coke

On Somalia's official Coca-Cola franchise.

Africa/Middle East Briefing: Drink war 2: coffee

Starbucks finally made it to Egypt two months ago with two cafés in Cairo and one in Alexandria. But its arrival has not been as smooth as its lattes.

Africa/Middle East Briefing: Votes please - Nigeria & Mali

Forthcoming elections in Nigeria & Mali

Africa/Middle East Briefing: The Gay vote - Israel

Billionaire businessman Arcadi Gaydamak has suddenly emerged as Israel's most unlikely political heavyweight.

Africa/Middle East Briefing: Feminine wheels - Saudi Arabia

Despite a ban on driving, Saudi women are a key market for car dealers.

Asia Briefing: Stamp of approval - Taiwan

A sign of Taiwanese self-assertion - not in the realm of politics or the military, but in the world of postage stamps.

Asia Briefing: All for kicks - China

Brawling, abandoned matches, corrupt referees - in China, the beautiful game has a few personality problems.

Style Leaders: She wears the trousers - New Zealand

In the second of our series decoding power dressing, we look at New Zealand's Prime Minister, Helen Clark.

Oceania Briefing: Woolly thinking - Australia

Michael Kiely set up adoptasheep.com.au in response to the situation on his farm in New South Wales.

Americas Briefing: Get on the right trak - USA

What to do with Amtrak?

Americas Briefing: Friends in the north - Canada

Canada now has a higher military profile than at any time since the Korean war.

Affairs Report: Banana republic - Ecuador

Despite oil and banana wealth, Ecuador's new government faces a perilous future.

Q&A: Naked ambition - Catalonia

Politician Albert Rivera believes that Catalan nationalism has gone too far and now threatens to isolate the miracle region fuelled by Barcelona.

Business Report: Space to grow - Bremen

Bremen has reinvented itself as a hi-tech hub.

Business Briefing: Square route - The most inspired cubes since Rubik

Bloq, Method's new line of bodycare products, are introduced in the US and Canada this month, and in the UK at the end of the year.

Business Briefing: Bouncing back - Beirut's retail resurrection

In Beirut, however bad things get, business rarely comes to a halt.

Business Briefing: Flying high - Black Sea black spot

Bulgaria's airports are struggling to cope with the ever-increasing passenger traffic.

Business Briefing: Urban Spacemen - Manhattan to Mars in a Coke can

New York has become an unlikely space-exploration hub.

Business Briefing: Loaves and fishes - Can a beef-heart kebab save Peru?

In Lima, a messianic chef named Gastón Acurio is trying to save his country through food.

Business Briefing: Reach for the stars - PR reaches new heights in Tokyo

With high-rise property developments springing up all over the city, Tokyo property companies are queuing up to hire famous faces to front their publicity campaigns.

Business Briefing: Reclaim the beach - Why sand has become big business

International dredging company Royal Boskalis Westminster had a bumper year - net profits increased 60 per cent to a record level of €100m in 2006.

Business Briefing: Aliens have landed - High-end computers for gamers

Every sector of consumer technology has its high end. A conspicuous omission, however, has been PCs. There is, however, Alienware.

Brands Explained: Contain yourself - Rotterdam

The Nieuwe Waterweg in Rotterdam is Europe's main port and the world's fifth-largest, employing 58,000 people.

Q&A: Mister Midtown - Tokyo

Tetsuya Matsufuji is the man responsible for creating the ultimate retail environment - Tokyo Midtown.

Fairplay: Weapons of mass attraction - Abu Dhabi

Every two years, defence firms gather at IDEX to display their latest products. Monocle travelled there to see what is on offer and who is buying.

Perfect Company: Dane and Deluca - Copenhagen

Emmerys is the kind of food "chain" that we would like to see in every country. Run by Per Brun, each outlet is individual, each product high-quality.

Business Report: Blue-sky thinking - India

KS Kohli and his Frankfinn training schools are making a fortune training young men and women to serve lunch at 33,000ft. But, warn analysts, the Indian airline industry could be heading for a nasty nosedive.

Culture Report: Novel concept - Japan

Downloadable novels, written to be read on mobile phones, are the most remarkable success story in Japanese publishing.

Culture Briefing: Monocle music - Hip-hop, trip-hop, heartbreak

Issue 02's Monocle Music, April 2007

Culture Briefing: Blue paper, white lies - Chinese whispers delight commuters

Beijing's "blue tabloids" are a publishing phenomenon and an especially surprising one, given the Communist government's short press leash.

Culture Report: Golden girls - USA

Who is to blame for a TV news diet of soft stories, banal banter and Identikit blondes - a public unwilling to engage with global affairs, or the networks trying to brand news as entertainment?

Culture Report: Dream team - Scandinavia

If money were no object, what would a new, world-beating Scandinavian media organisation look like? Who would work for it? What kind of equipment would they use?

On the shelf: News brothers - Istanbul, Turkey

The Tünel, an underground railway with just two stops, has ferried Istanbulites from Galata to Péra since 1875, and a newsstand has stood at its top station for 60 years.

For the record: Hearts on sleeves - Stockholm, Sweden

A friendly face and idiosyncratic selection have helped Pet Sounds blossom in an age when other record shops have wilted.

My Working Life: Drawn together - Paris

The artists, animators and graphic designers Olivier Kuntzel and Florence Deygas.

Design Report: High on drugs - Basel

Roche and Novartis' hard-fought commercial struggle is being matched by an architectural rivalry that will result in the building of the tallest tower in Switzerland.

Design Briefing: Design dynamics - Hans Wegner 2.0

Marianne Wegner, 59, daughter of celebrated furniture designer Hans Wegner, plans to run her father's studio for at least 15 years.

Design Briefing: Superior storage - Sweden does Denmark

The 50-year-old Øresund collection, by Danish furniture-maker Børge Mogensen, is enjoying a renaissance.

Design Briefing: Home for summer - Wespi de Meuron

The celebrated partnership of Markus Wespi and Jérôme de Meuron has completed a holiday home on the hills above Locarno, in stark contrast to typical villas in this dense residential area.

Design Briefing: Hot seats - Are you sitting comfortably

Simplicity has recently collaborated with Arflex on a dining/office table and accompanying chair.

Design Briefing: Sella vision - Ferragamo's new It Bag

The s/s 2007 Sella Satchel seems to be something special.

Design Briefing: Midtown's moment - Tokyo's newest neighbourhood

Last year Omotesando Hills was Tokyo's place to be. This year, the action is in Midtown.

Design Briefing: Homeware coming - Muji goes home

Japanese retail giant Muji has announced plans to take part in the redevelopment of Tokyo Midtown.

Design Briefing: Banking on it - Witty new label Clerk & Teller

New menswear label Clerk & Teller has fun with the sartorial style of the City banker out of office hours.

Design Briefing: Ray of light - Sunspel keeps it British

One firm that still delivers outstanding quality and believes in "Made in Britain" is Sunspel.

Design Briefing: Merchant of Venice - Golden Goose takes flight

Venice-based Golden Goose feels a bit like old-school Helmut Lang without the rigid frame.

Design Briefing: White Vans man - UA ties up with Vans

Tokyo's retailers have a knack for developing a solid collaboration and one of the most interesting hitting shopfloors is the United Arrows tie-in with Vans.

Design Briefing: Holey spirit - Aertex's fresh reinvention

Aertex is revamping its trademark cellular cotton clothing for the more style-conscious modern consumer.

Design Briefing: Reborn in the UK - Abercrombie & Fitch goes to London

Abercrombie & Fitch has just opened on Savile Row in London, its first shop outside North America.

Design Report: Buying game - Como, Vienna & Tokyo

To mark the start of a seasonal series, Monocle visited three of its favourite retail outlets to talk to the men who buy their twice-yearly line-up of labels for men and women.

The Firm: Close-knit family - England

John Smedley is a 223-year-old company that has thrived on its ability to move with the times - and now it is preparing to launch a non-knitted fashion line.

The Bureau: Icing on the cake - Los Angeles

Profile of LA-based Austrian architect Andrea Lenardin Madden

Men's Fashion: Power Macs - raincoats

Menswear fashion story for issue 02, April 2007.

Women's Fashion: Finishing touches - details

Womenswear fashion story for issue 02, April 2007.

Fashion: Stockists, issue 02

Stockists details for issue 02 of Monocle magazine.