Trivia question: What do the actors Liz Hurley and Jean-Claude Van Damme and the violin prodigy Vanessa Mae have in common? Answer: They’re among a…
ENTENTE CORDIALE
What to watch for when Trump and Macron meet in Paris
US president Donald Trump and French leader Emmanuel Macron don’t see eye-to-eye on much. One is a 39-year-old pro-European Union, socially liberal internationalist, who is…
THING OF VALUE
This is the federal law that some experts believe Donald Trump Jr. may have broken
There are a fair few US legal experts out there who believe Donald Trump Jr. broke federal law by meeting a Russian lawyer with the…
60 YEARS AN IMAM
A rare interview with the Aga Khan on poverty, climate change, and demystifying Islam
His Highness Prince Karim, the Aga Khan, is many things. “Virtually a one-man state,” as Vanity Fair once put it, he’s the spiritual leader of…
MOSCOW RULES
Trump is already being played by the Russians
It was the biggest question hanging over Donald Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin: Would he scold his Russian counterpart over Moscow’s alleged meddling with the…
QUESTIONABLE CASH
A new corruption probe linked to Trump is a scathing indictment of the US real-estate industry
As US president Donald Trump whirled around Poland on July 6, a story in the Financial Times (paywall) turned up an interesting new development relating…
SANCTIONS, SYRIA OR FAKE NEWS?
What to watch for in Trump and Putin’s first meeting
After months of flirting, fawning, and fighting, US president Donald Trump will finally meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the G20 summit…
CULT OF PERSONALITY
Bashar al-Assad is pulling the ultimate insecure dictator move: Putting his face on money
No matter what they think of Bashar al-Assad, Syrians are used to seeing his face—the country has been plastered with billboards of the embattled president…
SHELLED OUT
Why Iran got away with using a $500 mln New York skyscraper as a secret slush fund for 22 years
The skyscraper in the heart of Manhattan had been violating US sanctions since 1995. Its tenants—who have included Juicy Couture, Godiva Chocolate, and Starwood Hotels—have…
GIVE US YOUR NAMES
US lawmakers’ new tactic to finally crack down on secretive shell companies: link them to Russia
Today US lawmakers will try once more to bring their country in line with the rest of the Western world on an age-old problem: money-laundering.…
WANNACRY SOME MORE
The cyber attack that knocked out Ukraine this morning is now going global
The ransomware that took out critical services in Ukraine this morning has now spread to computers worldwide with the help of leaked hacking tools allegedly…
WINNING?
People around the world have more confidence in Vladimir Putin than in Donald Trump
In the final weeks of Barack Obama’s presidency, he admonished the 37% of Republican voters who said they approved of Russian president Vladimir Putin. “Ronald…
