The world’s shipping is being held to ransom by a band of Somali pirates in battered launches. As yet another new president tries to take control of the failed state, perhaps it’s time we stopped playing nice and took decisive action.

Often referred to as the last dictatorship in Europe, Belarus has woken up to its image problem and has embarked on a PR mission. But, with its strong-armed leadership still in place, are the changes anything more than cosmetic .

Hobart, capital of Tasmania, is the nearest inhabited landmass to Antarctica and that’s why scientists flock to the city that is at the frontline of environmental research. Add to this adventurous tourists and food pioneers, and you have a recipe to transform the island’s once bleak fortunes.

Thousands of Spaniards lost their citizenship as they fled Spain’s Civil War and Franco. Now Spain is offering its descendents the right to be Spanish. Should other countries who need migrants do more to encourage the diaspora to move home?

Occupying a strategic post at the tip of North Africa, the Mediterranean capital of Tunisia is a short hop from Sicily. Less well known than its rival Morocco, Tunis is now benefiting from foreign business and finally enjoying its time in the sun.

Switzerland’s reputation for being the most efficient country in the world is not undeserved: SBB, the state-controlled railways, has a 96 per cent punctuality rate and slick service.

Consigned to the history books as a non-viable form of transport and now more commonly seen used by film baddies, the airship is finally being reinvented for the eco generation. British firm Hybrid Air Vehicles is creating a cargo airship that is spacious, fast and green.

Next to its glittering sister Dubai, Sharjah is often overlooked. But on the art calendar, its boundary-breaking biennial is forcing a rethink of the Arab attitudes to art and the world’s attitude to Arab art. It’s an optimistic show with brilliant young women as its driving force.

It’s approaching graduation time in design schools around the globe. But are there going to be any jobs for the new talents – and, more controversially, do they deserve them? Monocle asks leading players, ‘Are we creating the designers we need for 2009 and beyond?

With sales of timepieces falling by 20 per cent in the first few months of this year, watchmakers are remaining confident by looking to their archives either to relaunch or emphasise classic, sober designs that are long-term investments for customers.

A café unchanged since the 1960s has become a great place to indulge in good coffee and the best of Norwegian design.

Why Americas need new gum control laws and the drugs cartels looking for new homes. Plus, our Washington column looks at how branding is selling the recovery package.

The Uzbek social princess-cum-diplomat who is also a style Leader, clean living in Sweden, Why the Swiss love their guns and Moscow eyes the Vegas lifestyle.

Life's is a long drag for Asian men, Japan's underground police plan, and China helps Laos get on the right track.

How Joseph Kabila, president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, gets around in Me and My Motorcade, plus why Hezbollah loves a good DVD night in and a spotlight on the forthcoming Lebanese election.

Samoa mounts operation healthcare and the truth about those fit Aussies - they are actually too busy on twitter to play sport.

The French hoist the flag over the new military base in Abu Dhabi, fence yourself in army style and how to stope Iran getting a nuclear bomb (it wont be easy).

Why fixing planes is better than flying them, why investors dig the student life and posh pawn gets the pulses racing in the US.

We test Turkey's new high-speed rail service and check upon the Shangri-La hotel in Tokyo. Plus there's our Chicago address book

Fancy a Hockney? We preview the best of New York sales and talk business with the director of the Hong Kong Art Fair.

It's all credit to the Wall Street Journal and its new payment scheme, action stations for Indian financial news and the best of Italian publishing.

Books: Catalogue of love affair, an East End turf survey, George Steiner's essays. Films:Jamie Johnson's documentary Sounds Like Teen Spirit and fresh blood in Let the Right one In. Art: New shows at Athens and Turin. Plus, our culture editor's column.

Iceland's healthy take on the pharmacy, a playful kindergarten in Germany, making Hay in Copenhagen and the sharpest knives in the box.

Britain's Nörsea, Chicago's hat man, Brittany's Guy Cotten, Montréal's Naked and Famous Denim plus Jeremy Hackett heads to Japan.

Slovenian hero Martin Strel has swum solo the entire lengths of the Danube, Mississippi, Yangtze and Amazon, winning Guinness World Records for the first three. He’s become the chunky embodiment of Slovenia: plucky, brave and up for anything.

We are living in a revolutionary age and the old order is being destroyed. Trouble is governments don’t know how to cope. But the likes of Hezbollah do. Joshua Ramo, author of ‘The Age of the Unthinkable’, reveals why the best weapon to prepare for this uncharted future is a blank sheet of paper.

The new president of Somalia, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, has a lot to contend with: pirates, a humanitarian disaster and deadly rivals. But is he the man to revive the failed state? We meet him in Nairobi during a round of shuttle diplomacy.

Paco Ignacio Taibo II is Mexico’s foremost detective novelist, as well as a professor, journalist and political activist. Author of 50 books that have been published in 29 countries, he is best known for his novels featuring hard-bitten detective Héctor Belascoarán Shayne.

Chez Jean is a café, sassy superette and international newsstand rolled into one.

The most anticipated date on the bathroom industry calendar is the ISH (International Sanitation Heating) fair in Frankfurt. Monocle was there to seek out the latest and the best in taps, sinks, baths and toilets.

Sometimes it pays to look that bit smarter, and this season’s neat but versatile tailoring, structured dresses and oversized bags are everything you need to take you from farmer’s market to meeting.

From Paris Fashion Week to Pitti Immagine Uomo Monocle’s fashion team bring you their favourite made-to-last looks for this spring.

Spring has sprung and it’s time to drag those knees out of hibernation and get friendly with this season’s shorts. If it’s a bit early to bare, might we suggest some lightweight cotton trousers, 1920s-inspired knits and blazers and a pair of moccasins for mooching?

Things that we cover this month: a wooden scooter for pootling about, Minimalux desk sets that are brass acts, new vintage Repsol guides and pilot inks for every season.

Panimo Bar is a secret bolthole for locals wanting to escape the harsh, Lappish weather. If you don’t have the hard cash for drinks or accommodation, you can pay in pieces of gold or gold dust, to be found in the rivers in surrounding Saariselkä.

Young creatives have set up shop in higgledy-piggledy Turnacibasi Sokak. It’s also a pleasant place to buy antiques, vintage records, homeware and reclaimed furniture or enjoy a steam and massage at the hamam.

For almost a century, a family-run business in St Moritz has been embroidering napkins, tablecloths and bed linen. A personalised item can take up to a year to produce, during which your chosen design will be carefully stitched by a septegenarian seamstress.

Everything you need to keep clothes and bedlinen fresh, crisply ironed and looking new.

Canals to sail on, traditional wooden houses along the dike to choose from and a nearby creative hub; these are just some of the reasons to move to Northern IJ Bank. The Dutch are catching on and, with planned developments in the area, so should you.

A terrible accident led Bruno Contigiani to found the Art of Slow Living movement. And he practises what he preaches with a leisurely ‘last’ lunch at the Elio Locanda Italiana in Tokyo, a hangout for sumo stars and politicians.

A small slice of Calabrian sunshine may not be the most obvious culinary find in Kojimachi, near the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. But for Elio Orsara (below), the opening of Elio Locanda Italiana was the culmination of a long-held dream – to recreate his southern Italian family kitchen in the Japanese capital.

The Danish Navy warship ‘HDMS Absalon’ patrols one of the busiest sea routes in the world, where more than 120 ships were attacked by Somali pirates last year.

As political parties prepare for the Lebanese elections, the wider picture looks almost rosy. The country is reeling back its highly skilled workforce from wobbly Dubai and tourism could rise – if the country makes a selling point of its slight lawlessness. Even its banks are flush with cash.