There are many ways for a nation to make a name for itself and build international brand equity. From winning a place on the Olympic podium to positioning itself as a must-stop hub, the options are plentiful, but the results are not always guaranteed.

In the past year 15,000 Venezuelans have fled Hugo Chávez’s regime to settle in Panama. They are not alone. Attracting everyone from US retirees to multinationals, Panama is emerging as Latin America’s most vibrant and strategic centre.

On 17 February the Assembly of Kosovo declared independence and the war-torn state became free from Serbian rule. Monocle was there as the people hit the streets. Also, overleaf, Nader Mousafizadeh, former special assistant to Kofi Annan, offers his road map for the new nation.

Financial markets are gripped by gold fever – it could soon hit $1,000 an ounce. Key to this secretive trade are the daily bullion flights between the world’s leading financial hubs. Welcome aboard Bullion Air.

An explosion of state-funded English-language news channels are attempting to transmit not just the news but their country’s brand. From Moscow to Mumbai we report on the new broadcast empires and ask if this is just propaganda disguised as programming.

Schiphol, JFK and now Frankfurt airports have all turned to one Dutch designer to create the perfect signage systems. Paul Mijksenaar tells Monocle about his crusade to take the art of wayfinding in a new direction.

Schiphol, JFK and now Frankfurt airports have all turned to one Dutch designer to create the perfect signage systems. Paul Mijksenaar tells Monocle about his crusade to take the art of wayfinding in a new direction.

Andreas Ferm and Jani Kristoffersen founded their practice DRD-A in 2003. Soon to relaunch as Guise, they are taking on ever more ambitious builds but also apply their ingenuity to smaller projects, such as the Stockholm office of photographic agency LundLund.

Milan’s I Saloni – the collective name for the Salone Internazionale del Mobile and its associated offshoots such as Salone Ufficio and SaloneSatellite – are the most important events in the design calendar, with over 2,300 exhibitors and almost 300,000 visitors buying and selling modern design.

The Japanese love vintage, but the idea of bidding for second-hand furniture is an unfamiliar concept. Now three entrepreneurs are bringing design classics to a new market in the country’s first modern and contemporary furniture auction.

From Lufthansa cabin crew to men about town, more people than ever are keeping their toes warm with Falke’s socks and tights. In the first of a series on fashion workhorses we look at the German-based hosier, which in 2006 had an €186m turnover.

Why China is miffed with Canada, and Mexico's solution to groping on public transport.

Africa's first mosquito net factory, uranium mining, and why Uganda's ruler is keeping it in the family.

The empty schools of Japan, bridging Hong Kong and searching for a new Seoul in Yongsan.

Why Australia's new gay Malaysian-Chinese MP is the politician to watch, and making high-rise healthier.

The coffee shop favoured by US troops, Dubai's building bottleneck, and mobile firms reveal their new organic deli.

Mitsubishi built Tokyo’s first office block, in the Marunouchi district, 114 years ago, and the firm is behind the area’s current redevelopment into a major financial centre. Overleaf, we dissect a Marunouchi building site.

Once a nondescript office area with little in the way of shops or restaurants, Marunouchi in Tokyo is undergoing the latest stages of a 20-year transformation into a vibrant retail and financial centre. The next phase will see the building of Mitsubishi’s Marunouchi Park Building, which includes a 34-floor office tower, shops, a rose garden and an art gallery housed in a replica of Mitsubishi’s first office building.

After spending a rumoured €273m on a total overhaul, the Dolder Grand is hoping to cement its reputation as the European elite getaway, 109 years after its first guests checked in. But has the Foster redesign retained the original’s Mitteleuropean charm?

Books: Richard Sennett's The Craftsman, 1980s Greece and the Imposters. Art: Phillips de Pury's Japanese art sale, the Berlin Biennial and Simon Starling. Film: 21, the King of Kong and Scorsese's Shine of Light. Music: Nick Cave, Envelopes and Monade.

The new Danish Royal Theatre, Simón Vélez's bamboo, Dutch architect Wiel Arets, a Holocaust memorial and Mexican furniture

Artist-designed sunglasses, tailoring by Italian brand Barbisio, Stockholm store Nitty Gritty and Margret Howell for Baracuta.

Qatar may be small, but with a GDP of €46bn it has the money to pull off minor miracles. Its latest plan is to become one of the world’s leading sports nations and to host the 2016 Olympic Games. The motivation is simple: to promote brand Qatar.

Nato, the EU, the Chinese, the US, property developers and private jet owners looking to refuel: it seems suddenly everyone wants to be Cape Verde’s friend. That’s because despite being resource-poor, the islands have one asset: a powerful strategic location.

Her parents are from Algeria and she has spent her life working for radical campaign groups, but now Fadela Amara is at the heart of government in France. Her challenge from President Sarkozy: rebuild France’s riot-hit suburbs.

George Town, on the Malaysian island of Penang, was a colonial trading hub but after the Second World War it lost out to Hong Kong and Singapore. Now its faded Art Deco villas and relaxed pace of life are luring a new generation of international entrepreneurs.

The centre of Germany’s second-largest city used to be known for its drugs and sex shops. Now, with ongoing gentrification, comes a retail concept that combines local organic produce with slick design.

Having converted one spare room into the perfect home office (see Monocle issue 4) we decided to turn our attentions to the guest room. Here we furnish the quarters with best-for-guests accoutrements.

The Bronner Brothers’ first hair show attracted 300 people at a local YMCA. Now one of the largest producers of African American haircare products, their legendary trade shows are part circus, part religious meeting.

The next correspondent in our series looking at foreign coverage of the US presidential elections is Corine Lesnes of ‘Le Monde’. Once frosty, France’s relations with the US have improved with the arrival of President Sarkozy.

Situated off this Provençal village’s main square, Le Thé dans l’Encrier serves as the sole bookshop to 1,100 inhabitants and myriad tourist

America has the vestiges of a patchwork of local media barons. The ones that thrive have managed to mix tradition with cutting-edge technology. The 80-year-old owner of the ‘Free Lance-Star’ is still a pioneer and the owner of an empire that rivals covet.

A Japanese inn special: the Masuichi Kyakuden Brewery hotel in Obuse, plus our great spring gift guide.

As the northern hemisphere heads from winter into spring and the invitations to al fresco celebrations start rolling in, we thought a spring round-up would help take the pain out of purchasing presents.

The popularity of ‘natural’ cosmetics and remedies has burgeoned, and Austria is one of Europe’s top markets. In Vienna a group of friends with a passion for botany and herbal medicine are championing the use of local plants in everything from massage oil to health food and have created a collection of well-designed and thriving businesses.

In the 1980s the only deals being done in Cartagena were for cocaine. Now the drugs barons have been kicked out and the property kings are moving in to one of Latin America’s most promising cities.

As a shy teenager from an island off Rotterdam, Anton Corbijn only felt confident behind a camera. Described by Bono as the ‘fifth member of U2’, he has befriended many of the subjects he has shot and filmed in his 30-year career. Corbijn invited us to lunch at his new house in the Vredespaleis area of the Hague, in the benign shadow of The International Court of Justice.

From Ulan Bator to Accra, there’s a global shortage of pilots – and schools to teach them. That’s why business has taken off at Moncton Flight College in New Brunswick, Canada. It’s home to 240 students who will one day be captains welcoming you aboard flights for Xiamen Airlines and Mongolia’s Miat. But before they can get near an A380, there are 200 training hours to notch up in the Diamond Eclipse, aka the “Flying Sperm”.

Last year’s C40 summit in New York was a good start but the leaders of the world’s major cities need to get out even more to keep an eye on the competition and form alliances. London is facing a thin field for its upcoming leadership race.