World Archive

Chinese officials have ordered mass killing of poultry as an emergency measure to prevent the deadly flu spreading throughout seriously infected cities in China. The flu is thought to be caused by the H7N9 virus, parasitic in wild birds and live poultry. …

On February 24 and 25, Italy was at a crossroads but the election results did not set a future direction for the country. The Italian population expected everything but not that its nation would be rendered ungovernable. If there is a winner …

In 2004 the English newspaper The Observer compiled a list of 50 sporting things to do before you die. The one sporting event ranked highest was a football game in Argentina known as “Supercalsico”. Founded in the working class dockland area of Buenos Aires …

China’s centuries-long tradition of celebrating Chinese New Year with spectacular firework displays may be at an end with the government now considering a permanent ban as the practice is blamed for intensifying air pollution. A severe haze hit Beijing as well as its …

I have been told that in the summertime Capri smells of hibiscus. But I am here in January, in the depths of winter, as the fruit rots on the vine and the sunsets lay to waste. The island is at once intimate …

After one year of technical government and almost two decades of Berlusconi government, Italy finds itself at a crossroads. Under the eyes of Europe and the world Italian voters will have to make a choice on Sunday February 24 and Monday February …

China has paid for its long-term air pollution with an unprecedented haze shrouding Beijing and sparking mass panic over the past three days. On January 12, the Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Centre (BMEMC) announced that the official measurements of PM2.5 fine particulates had reached 993 …

The Chinese media is fed up with censorship has been punished for advocating political reform. On January 4 the Beijing Communication Administration (BCA) shut down the official website of outspoken magazine, Yan Huang Chun Qiu (YHCQ). Before the denial of service, YHCQ had …

Less than 48 hours after writing an article for MegaphoneOz criticising the English media’s reaction to Kate Middleton’s pregnancy, I find myself discussing the extraordinary behaviour of the Australian media as well. The British public is outraged at a prank call made by …

China’s anti-corruption drive through social media received its first triumph when a whistleblower leaked a Chongqing official’s sex photographs on Weibo, Chinese Twitter. Zhengfu Lei, the Party Secretary of the Beipei district in Chongqing, was dismissed on November 23, three days after …