If you’re a world leader looking to make a digital healthcare system that works (we’re talking to you, Mr Obama) or you’re the mayor of a city rife with unemployment, then read on. We meet the leaders who have got the basics down.

If your frosty international relations need melting, a big, friendly dog may do the trick. We meet four important members of the diplomatic staff.

The Bolivian city of Santa Cruz has an independent spirit that sees it often pushing against the country’s charismatic socialist leader, President Evo Morales. But with a surrounding province that’s the breadbasket and fuel hub of a nation, it’s a city that Morales can’t afford to lose.

The historic city of Xi’an may be best known for its ancient walls and Terracotta Army but it’s becoming a global business hub too. Monocle takes a tour, visiting an industrial park where a high-speed railway is being constructed and also the bustling Hi-Tech Development Zone.

If the atmosphere at the EuroShop trade fair was anything to go by, the death of bricks-and-mortar retail has been greatly exaggerated. In fact, the noises coming out of the retail extravaganza suggested that shops are rising to the challenge of their would-be online usurpers.

From Delhi to Brooklyn and Singapore to Berlin, these enticing speciality coffee distributors and roasteries are filtering out the competition with their focus on quality, community and provenance.

Following years of government restrictions, Pakistani TV is on the up, with a surge of new channels. Hitting the right notes and standing out from the foreign imports is new musicaxl drama ‘Taan’, Pakis-tan’s answer to ‘Glee’, which aims to tackle social taboos through the power of song.

Social housing is often regarded as the architectural afterthought of governments tackling home shortages. But four innovative new developments, from London to Tokyo, are showing how good design and collaborative ideas can enhance the lives of more than just the privileged few.

Australia’s surf-lifesaving clubs offer essential services such as plucking stricken swimmers from waters around the nation’s coast. In Sydney, a new clubhouse is celebrating the best of Australian beach culture and arrives just as surf spots across the nation are getting smart about architecture.

The annual Stockholm Furniture Fair is the place to see the work of new design studios who are dipping their toes into the market, alongside all the established brands – and, unusually, those that are somewhere in between.

The style of Turkey's embattled prime minister, a controversial new development around Belgrade and a Hungarian election watch

The challenges facing Tokyo's new governor, a Q&A with the man responsible for protecting the Philippines from climate change and a dispatch on Korea

The view from Gaza, a less than democratic election in Algeria and analysis on South Africa.

The controversial shark baiters of Western Australia, Queensland's attempts to improve exports and the colonial overhangs in New Zealand.

A report on the new laser weapons being tested by the US, a Q&A with the man selling F35s and a makeover for the Malian army.

Citizens regeneration in Detroit, salmon selling in Alaska and other business news and views.

New products and projects plus our design editor's monthly musings.

Ismail Kadare has had to do battle with autocracy and animosity throughout his 60-year career but has emerged as a world-renowned author and Man Booker prizewinner. Monocle headed to Paris to meet Albania’s celebrated literary hero.

The 42-year-old motorbike-riding CEO of one of Brazil’s biggest shopping empires tells Monocle how he runs such a huge company while staying true to his family ethos.

In a discipline that has embraced the precision of digital, architectural practice McAlpine Tankersley stands out with its commitment to tradition and hand-drawn designs. Monocle meets a master and his apprentice to uncover the firm’s impressive foundations and methods.

‘Skavlan’ is the most popular talk show in Scandinavia, watched by over three million people across Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Its host Fredrik Skavlan has a sharp eye for finding the chemistry between seemingly disparate guests. Monocle spent a day on and off-set in Stockholm.

In the centre of Bogotá stands late Colombian architect Rogelio Salmona’s striking Park Towers – a 1970s residential development that blends harmoniously with its mountainous surroundings and serves as a unique public space for all to enjoy.

This month, we fancy some new shoes, a set of sakés and a survival kit plus we put the spotlight on Wästberg’s copper desk lamp.

A longstanding and respected newsreader in Australia, Lee Lin Chin tells it how it is: she likes to keep things simple but hearty.

Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market might be the city’s must-see for tourists but it’s the Japanese capital’s flower market that’s a thing of beauty and big business.