After the First Opium War from 1839 to 1842, Hong Kong became a British colony. Other nearby territories changed hands after the Second Opium War in 1860. In 1898, the British Empire forced...

I discovered Lynne Arriale — one of the greatest pianists alive — at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1999. In compositions such...

France’s 577 members of the National Assembly (Lower House) are elected in a two-round system with a run-off election if no...

Already in January 2022, Boris Johnson’s days at Number 10 seemed numbered. He survived, notably because of Putin‘s...

Until September 4, 2022 the work of the Chinese artist, human rights activist and critic of authoritarian systems Ai Weiwei (*1957 in Beijing) can be discovered at the Albertina Modern...

The art collection of the Austrian ophthalmologist Rudolf Leopold (1925-2010) contains over 5,000 objects. The core of Sammlung...

The economist Razeen Sally noted in his book Return To Sri Lanka that, in the 2015 election, the minorities – Tamils, Muslims...

[From our archives] Robert Altman is the director of classic movies such as Nashville (1975) and The Player (1992). In 2001, he has shot his best picture so far, not only from the visual...

The massive protests across Sri Lanka since March and especially April 2022 are due to the worst economic and financial crisis since gaining independence from Britain in 1948. They are the...

[From our archives, written in December 2017] The new album by the world’s greatest band, the Rolling Stones, was recorded...

[Concert review from September 1, 2000] What one could guess from listening to her last CD When I Look In Your Eyes which was...

Diana Krall: The Look of Love [Written in September 2000] With her new album The Look of Love (Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de), Diana Krall confirms her exceptional status...

With her latest album [written in 2004], The Girl in the Other Room (Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de), jazz singer...

Music is not only a matter of knowledge and competence but also of taste and fashion. After fantastic albums such as When I Look...

In the French presidential election, the worst case scenario could by avoided. President Macron was reelected for another...

As in 2017, Emmanuel Macron will again face Marine Le Pen in the French presidential election run-off on April 24, 2022....

Democracies are not strong because we are all good democrats but because democracies (normally) offer prosperity. If they can’t provide this anymore, the enthousiasm for democracy...

The Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (*1963) “wins” another two-thirds majority in the April 3, 2022...

The West must outspend Russia in Ukraine. The military might of the United States, the United Kingdom, France and other nations...

As a former KGB agent stationed in the GDR, Russian President Vladimir Putin is fluent in German. On September 25, 2001 he made a...