No central banker today will raise interest rates without looking carefully at Sweden's example.

Och, witch room? Clash of the tartans and a wee dram later, Kevin Pilley is still deciding.

Isis has threatened to flood Europe with half a million migrants from Libya in a 'psychological' attack against the West.

Turkey's largest city is a place of grandeur and contradiction, writes Nicola Lamb.

Italy has only grown 4 per cent - in total - since the euro was created 16 years ago.

It seems history is repeating itself as Greece again finds itself in the headlines, asking Germany to re-think the terms of the bailout package or risk Greece leaving the European union.

It's 1940, Britain is at war and code-breaker Alan Turing is hard at work. Danica Kirka time travels at Bletchley Park.

The 94-year-old Wellington veteran received the honour at French Ambassador Laurent Contini's home in Thorndon tonight.

Finally, the Springboks are top priority in a World Cup year.

Kiwi broadcaster Dennis Katsanos rediscovers his Greek heritage - and adds 4kg in weight.

Mark Lister writes: This year has started in an eventful fashion and a number of key developments will set the tone for 2015.

Hercule Poirot, aka Kevin Pilley, tips his homburg to Agatha Christie's mysterious bust using Franglais clues.

Entertainment is a funny business, especially when it's not that funny at all. Take, for instance, The Missing, a new British television drama series that launched on TV One on Sunday night in both terrific and dreadful style.

Bed and breakfast under those famously dreaming spires allows a glimpse into how the other half thinks, writes Steve Braunias.

Liz Light finds Hoorn is steeped in Netherlands history.

Another tale of Russian spooks operating in the US has emerged, described by the former CIA analyst Mark Stout as a "classic case of espionage".

Those at Davos, seemingly representing the interests of the very wealthy, like to think they are working to make the world a better place - as long as they are not inconvenienced in doing so.

A wildlife cruise on the Isle of Mull is heaven for bird lovers, writes Richard Tulloch.

Alexis Tsipras was sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Greece, after his radical left-wing movement forged an unwieldy alliance with a far-right party.

On a cruise stopover in Kotor, Carol Smith finds the view from the top is worth the climb. The medieval Balkan town and hilltop fortress is one port of call on a magical trip around the Mediterranean.

Greece's new far-left Syriza party promised to dump tough austerity measures - but will that mean the country will have to leave the Eurozone to do it?

Anti-austerity party on the brink of a landmark election victory in Greece as critics claim it could haul the country out of the Eurozone and leave it bankrupt.

A radical leftist party that wants to cancel Greece's European Union debts of more than 200 billion ($300 billion) went into today's election with a seven-point lead.

In Ibiza's bars, young travellers pay big prices, but there are ways to avoid a budget blowout, writes Sam McKeith.

Financial markets will this week find whether the Swiss National Bank's fears were well-founded when the European Central Bank announces its plan to revive economic growth.

Combined wealth of world's richest 1 per cent will overtake that of remaining 99 per cent by 2016 unless action taken to curb "shocking extremes" of inequality.