Few countries in the Asia-Pacific embody reinvention quite like Vietnam. Once defined globally by war and rigid central planning, Vietnam today tells a dramatically different...

Deep in the forests of East Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo, Indonesia is building something few nations ever attempt: an entirely new capital...

On a map, Australia and New Zealand sit far from the world’s traditional centres of power. They have relatively small populations. Limited military reach. No ancient empires or global financial hubs. And yet, again and again, they shape outcomes well beyond their size. Their influence isn’t loud — but it’s real.

Australia and New Zealand appear near the top — again. Cities like Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland, Wellington, and Perth regularly feature in global “most liveable” lists. The reaction is predictable: pride, eye-rolling, and the suspicion that these rankings don’t tell the whole story. They don’t — but they aren’t wrong either.

Australia’s origins were harsh and authoritarian. The early colonies were governed by military officers with near-total power. Convicts had few rights. Punishment was brutal. Law served order, not representation

Australia and New Zealand like to describe themselves as young countries. What they really are is countries built by movement — waves of people arriving...

Some rivalries are fought with armies. Australia and New Zealand fight with coffee cups, bakery counters, and dessert forks. On the surface, it’s playful banter — jokes about flat whites, meat pies, and pavlova. But underneath the humour is a deeper story about migration, identity, and how two young nations define themselves through what they eat.

For much of its modern history, New Zealand ran on four legs. Sheep paid for the roads, the schools, the hospitals, and the welfare state. They shaped the landscape, the economy, and the country’s sense of itself. At one point, there were more than 70 million sheep in a nation of barely three million people.