Merz Projects Strength Abroad as His Authority Falters at Home
A chancellor can host foreign leaders and sign investment deals right up until the moment voters at home stop believing he has a plan....
Venice Festival Turns Screens into Political Battlegrounds
Cultural festivals now face demands for political alignment that test how far artistic freedom can stretch....
How Eiffel Tower Went On Strike Over Religion
Religious accommodation is supposed to make room for someone's own beliefs, not require somebody else to disappear from view....
LVMH Pandemic Luxury Boom Loses Its Aspirational Shoppers
LVMH's slide from its pandemic-era peak shows what happens when a brand's own success prices out the customers who made it aspirational....
Nordic Compass Weighs Merging Stock Exchanges
Nordic Compass believes four national stock exchanges might attract more capital as a single regional market than as four separate systems....
Dolly Parton Proved Stars Could Avoid Political Tribes
Dolly Parton showed that a public figure could hold strong convictions without turning fame into a partisan loyalty test....
AI Floods Music, Breeds Listener Skepticism
Nearly 40 per cent of more than one million recent releases showed signs of AI involvement, suggesting synthetic music has moved from novelty to everyday presence....
Can the Rhine Group Federalise the EU?
A private club of economists, tech executives and former officials now insists Europe's stagnation demands the shared power treaties have long resisted....
Macron Deepens France’s Strategic Partnership with Saudi Arabia
France's embrace of Saudi Arabia argues that strategic and economic interests now outweigh the human-rights concerns that once made the relationship toxic....
EU Cybersecurity Rules Create a New Kind of Cyber Slop
EU cybersecurity rules are expanding just as artificial intelligence multiplies digital threats, leaving companies with more alerts and obligations to process....
