Sir Vartan Melkonian: From Beirut street child to the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

President Obama is just where he didn't want to be - fighting another war in the Middle East. He promises that American troops will not be dragged back into Iraq, yet he portrays the confrontation wit...

21 Loka 201423min

Is there a new brand of violent extremism that is identifiably different from all forms of militancy that have gone before? The question is prompted by the shocking and self-publicised brutality of th...

20 Loka 201423min

Twenty-five years after the world’s most notorious wall came crashing down, Germany is Europe’s undisputed, dominant nation. This is a reflection of economic power but also of media power. Hardtalk is...

17 Loka 201423min

Next month the international club of rich nations, the G20, will meet in Australia. For much of the past decade the host nation boasted one of the strongest economies in the developed world, but not a...

15 Loka 201423min

A sense of gloom is hanging over Europe. Years of economic stagnation are at the heart of it, but there are other factors too - for example, the security challenge posed by Vladimir Putin’s Russia, an...

13 Loka 201423min

The Middle East is in turmoil, beset by ethnic, religious and sectarian conflicts that together have created one of the gravest global humanitarian crises since World War II. And once again a US-led m...

10 Loka 201423min

The US led military operation against the so-called Islamic State organisation has raised a host of awkward questions. Is the makeshift coalition fighting a war, or mounting an anti-terror operation? ...

8 Loka 201423min

The warnings about Ebola have been apocalyptic - Liberia's defence minister says it threatens his country's existence, while the US president says it threatens 'global security'. Three thousand people...

6 Loka 201423min