Heritage
WORLD
Iranian Heritage Under Threat From All Sides
As civil unrest spreads across Iranian cities in early January 2026 and President Trump renews warnings about military options, the country's 28 UNESCO World Heritage sites sit vulnerable to dangers from multiple directions.
LIFESTYLE
Italy’s UNESCO Victory: Shared Mediterranean Food Gets a National Label
UNESCO has crowned Italian cooking an intangible treasure, but in a shared Mediterranean kitchen it raises a question: how far can one country claim what ends up on the plate?
EUROPE
Trafficked Antiquities: Where Southern Europe’s Treasures Actually Go
Global police dismantle a long-running antiquities trafficking network, seizing 3,000 looted artefacts worth over €100 million.
EUROPE
Spain Removes Francoist Symbols: History’s Place in Public Space
Spain's plan to catalogue and remove remaining Francoist symbols has reopened a deeper debate about what a society should preserve and what it must release.
BUSINESS
Rails Across Continents: The Orient Express and Hejaz Line Revived
Two legendary railway lines, one in Europe and one crossing the Middle East, are being restored in 2025, proving that infrastructure can tell stories across time.
Popular
LVMH, War and the Luxury of Trees
As war dents luxury sales and Europe's tree cover grows more unequal, an old truth is returning: comfort is becoming easier to buy than to share.
UAE Quits OPEC to Define New Energy Order
After missile strikes on Gulf ports and thousands of flight cancellations, the UAE's exit from OPEC shatters the old oil order, exposing a ruthless energy future.
After the Correspondents’ Dinner Shooting, Trump Changes Tone
After gunfire erupted at the White House Correspondents' Dinner this weekend, Donald Trump responded with less fury than after earlier political attacks, and that change matters.
West Overlooks Russian Grain and Borders in Ukraine
As stolen grain enters Israeli docks and Berlin hints at regional trade-offs, a quiet consensus forms around the permanence of Russia's seized Ukrainian areas.
Deraa First Trial Puts Syrian Justice on the Stand
This week's public trial of Atef Najib returned Deraa to the centre of Syrian politics, with the first courtroom reckoning for the crackdown that helped ignite the uprising.
