The fact that he has risen to the top by carefully staying on the right side of all the main groups in the communist establishment, his close ties to the People's Liberation Army, his remarkable outburst in Mexico in 2009, denouncing "some bored foreigne

A beer-swilling, snorkel trip on the Great Barrier reef — the perfect get away for Kevin Rudd to teach the world’s two most powerful leaders a thing or two about how to get along. A beer-swilling, snorkel trip on the Great Barrier reef — the perfect get

FOR six decades, Germany heeded Nobel laureate Thomas Mann’s advice to seek “not a German Europe, but a European Germany”. The eurozone crisis appears to have swept this postwar caution aside. Two years into the debt disaster, Germany looks increasingly

Angela Merkel's Berlin republic is a European Germany, in the rich, positive sense that the great novelist had come to use the term. It is free, civilised, democratic, law-bound, and socially and environmentally conscious. It's far from perfect, obviousl

MUNICH (Reuters) - For six decades, Germany heeded Nobel laureate Thomas Mann's advice to seek "not a German Europe, but a European Germany." The euro zone crisis appears to have swept this post-war caution aside. Two years into the debt disaster, German

To the rest of the world, China looks unstoppable. Since 1990 its growth rate has rarely dropped below 8 percent, and output has tripled in the last decade. But at a breakfast meeting during the World Economic Forum, several experts on China said one of