By Shaaz Mahboob

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia appears to be at a crossroads today. For decades the alliance between its powerful clergy and the royal family has proved to be one of the most stable and blissful. However, King Abdullah’s recent flirtation with modernity appears to have backfired. Cracks are now visible in this alliance that has up until now successfully acted as a vanguard against attempts to democratise the oil-rich state or bring any progressive reforms to its society.

By Melanie Gouby

Often, French political and societal issues create more debate abroad than on their own soil. The proposed partial ban on the Islamic burqa is one typical example, and as on so many occasions, it has largely been misread by foreign commentators.

By Adam Branson

It was never going to be a particularly focused discussion. The motion for debate – “Europe is failing its Muslims” – and the panellists chosen made this week’s British Council and Intelligence Squared event inevitably rancorous.

By V N Haridas and Yash Thomas Mannully

The aftermath of the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal in 1984 has vital lessons for India as it seeks to commercialise its nuclear industry without an adequate legal framework covering compensation and liability.

By David Cronin

Fresh from agreeing to allow blacks and Asians join his party, Nick Griffin is this week embracing a group of men who have funny names and speak foreign languages. Have his regular trips to Brussels and Strasbourg finally brought out the British National Party chief’s cosmopolitan side?

By Emanuele Comi

Illegal immigrants carry incredible personal stories. In Italy their estimated number is up to 750,000 – a quarter of all immigrants living in the country. Natalia - a Bolivian woman in her mid-twenties - was one of them. She lived with her family and the child she bore as a result of sexual abuse she suffered as a teenager in extreme poverty. Like many others, she borrowed money to escape, with the hope of repaying it as soon as she got a job overseas. “To enter Italy was easy. You just needed a valid passport and said you wanted to visit Italy,” she said.