Category: World

Updates to this page Published 3 July 2015 Last updated 24 December 2025 + show all updates 24 December 2025 Updated Letter of Authorisation templates. 2 April 2025 Annual review – multiple sections of the guide have been updated. 14 January 2025 Updated China Bereavement Pack 8 January 2024 Updated new version 14 December 2022 […]

The Suez Canal has taken a decisive step toward normalising global shipping flows after more than two years of disruption, with two major CMA CGM container vessels completing successful passages through the waterway in recent days. The move signals a potential easing of freight pressures that have strained supply chains since regional instability escalated around […]

A fatal business jet crash south of Ankara has claimed the life of Libya’s top military commander, Lieutenant General Mohammed Ali Ahmed al‑Haddad, along with four accompanying officials, according to Turkish and Libyan authorities. The incident occurred Tuesday evening shortly after the delegation departed Ankara’s Esenboğa Airport following high‑level defence meetings. Turkish Interior Minister Ali […]

Catalan politics are now, it seems, a far cry from 2017’s infamous, unauthorised independence referendum. It was violently repressed by national police forces, led to widespread rioting, triggered a constitutional crisis in Spain, and saw leaders like Carles Puigdemont flee the country. The 2024 regional elections were a stark contrast. For over a decade, Catalonia […]

We have long been clear that Nicolás Maduro’s claim to power lacks legitimacy.   Venezuela’s National Electoral Council has still failed to publish the full results of the July 2024 Presidential elections after 18 months.  Independent domestic and international reports observed significant irregularities and a lack of transparency.  Meanwhile, political freedoms in Venezuela remain severely restricted. […]

For 14 years while Syria’s brutal civil war raged, Germany provided a safe haven for those fleeing the violence. Now, a year after that conflict ended with the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, many in Germany – including the country’s leader – want those same Syrians gone. In November, German Chancellor Friedrich […]

The new US national security strategy marks a significant historical turn. It shifts the focus from global overpopulation to anxieties around population decline in the western world. Coupled with renewed criticism of Europe’s military weaknesses, the strategy updates longstanding anti-European narratives. US-European relations have so profoundly influenced the course of the 20th and 21st centuries […]

Around 2,400 years ago, before the emergence of the Roman empire, a small armada of boats approached the island of Als off the coast of southern Jutland in modern-day Denmark. The armada carried around 80 warriors armed with spears and shields. Some of them were officers, and these men carried iron swords. The seafarers had […]

OpenAI has officially launched a built‑in App Store for ChatGPT, marking one of the platform’s most significant evolutions since its debut. The new marketplace—referred to as the ChatGPT App Directory—allows developers to publish third‑party integrations directly inside the chatbot, transforming ChatGPT from a conversational AI into a full‑scale app ecosystem. The rollout enables hundreds of […]

Hans Christian Andersen is one of Denmark’s most cherished writers – a master of the literary fairy tale whose influence stretches far beyond The Little Mermaid, The Emperor’s New Clothes and the other classics many of us first encounter in childhood. Born in 1805 in Odense, on the island of Funen, Andersen was the son […]