Alliances are easy in times of comfort. Governments sign papers. Leaders shake hands. Speeches are made about friendship and partnership.

France is sending two frigates to the Red Sea as part of the EU's Aspides naval mission. Emmanuel Macron, meeting with the leaders of Cyprus and Greece, spoke of a "purely defensive, purely escort mission." A measured gesture. A careful statement. A perfectly calibrated non-event.

For too long, the West treated Iran’s nuclear program as a negotiable irritant and its missile arsenal as a manageable nuisance. That fiction is over. 

Parisian brasseries are more than restaurants. They are part of France’s cultural fabric, places where time slows, waiters glide between tables in long aprons, and the menu rarely strays from the classics. 

Phuket, Thailand’s flagship island destination, is stepping up efforts to diversify its tourism markets. 

Ras Al Khaimah welcomed 2026 with an impressive 15-minute New Year’s Eve show combining drones and fireworks, earning a new Guinness World Records title for the largest aerial phoenix formed by multirotor drones.