How refugee health workers could fulfil skill shortages, how many foreign nationals make up the UK labour market, and more.

It is in our interests for these two Compacts to be as complementary as possible and for our region’s experience to help shape both.

The bomb attacks on Coptic churches in Egypt highlights the occasional focus by Islamist groups on Christian targets in the Middle East.

This week's links also cover a corruption arrest in the Solomon Islands and Fiji's custom involving sperm whale teeth in the New York Times.

It’s likely that Colombo’s willingness to co-sponsor another UN resolution is an attempt to deflect international pressure.

Tough talk with the US on war debt and the budding new relationship with China are indicative of an unpopular leader steeling for elections.

The IIIM is not is not a panacea. Its tasks are very specific. Nation states now have to step up to the plate.

The legal precedent may not have come in time to put any curbs or restraints on the controversial Xayaburi and the Don Sahong dams now being built on the Mekong.

Congratulations to Joe Hockey for anticipating Trump's win. But perhaps it was not simply a matter of elites being out of touch, as his analysis suggests.

The scandal that felled Park Geun-Hye has been covered extensively elsewhere. Here are three broader lessons in political science.

Solving China's financial sector problems doesn't depend on the fickle global financial sector. Instead, China has to address some domestic issues.

Australia would be well placed if it established a set of principles for migration when negotiating trade and other deals.

Russia’s adaptation to the asymmetry in relations with China stands in stark contrast to its clash with the EU over Ukraine and Eastern Europe in general.

Even if it was ahead of its time in 2007, the contemporary strategic logic of reviving the Quad is compelling.

Perhaps most telling - and for Swedes, the most heartening - response is the attitude displayed toward police in the wake of the attack.

The structural underpinnings that allowed for the emergence and growth of violent jihadists in Egypt are the result of decades of official and unofficial discriminatory policies against Copts.

Trapped no longer: Asia's emerging economies given an out, Turnbull in India, and David Irvine take the reins at the FIRB,

Any progress in terms of trade and investment flows will be incremental, and probably unaffected by politicians posturing.

CRAs holding back Indonesia, why an Australia-China extradition treaty was always a bad idea, Vietnamese trawlers at Scarborough Shoal, and more.

The Asia-Pacific is the most dynamic digital landscape in the world.

The world should expect that Syria will continue to use its remaining chemical weapons against its populace, whenever it chooses and with relative impunity.

Trump has set the boundaries back to what they have traditionally been, and put Russia and Iran on notice that Washington's patience has run out.

The challenges are tectonic and technological. When and if they are spent, they will leave us with a new world beyond the realms of current-day perception. Four such disruptive developments are most noteworthy.

Russian cooperation which builds Chinese military capabilities is more important and more detrimental to Western interests than any grand rhetoric coming out of officials’ mouths.

China would feel more assured if Xi’s American host would repeat his support for the One China policy.

The issues Trump and Xi do not discuss may be as telling as those they do.

If Moon Jae-in wins the Blue House, his stance on THAAD will be a good indicator of how much influence China can have over South Korea’s foreign policy.

The US Department of Homeland Security has begun fingerprinting and photographing refugees on Manus Island as part of the US-Australia refugee deal.

The core of any effort to improve the treatment of refugees, whether in the context of the Global Compacts or otherwise, must be protection.

North Korea is thus using ballistic missiles as a form of diplomatic semaphore, in keeping with long-standing habits.

This week the Lowy Institute launched its latest Penguin Special, 'A Wary Embrace'. The author, Dr Bobo Lo, sat down with me to talk about future China-Russia relations.

This week's links include the retirement of PNG's father of independence, a defence of Australia's seasonal workers program, and milestones in weight-lifting and athletics.

The only response that will matter to Assad is that which comes from Moscow and Tehran.

In a world of growing complexity and uncertainty, the Russo-Chinese relationship is not sufficiently robust to serve as a stabilising force.

S&P's ranking of Indonesia is out of line with other similar countries that have investment-grade status including India, the Philippines and South Africa.

Lam’s relative unpopularity means she will face a tough road ahead the moment she is sworn in on 1 July, also the 20th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China.

Asian strategic regionalism may prove to be more adaptable to Trump’s ‘America First’ model than NATO's more collective form of security.

The tragedy of the Park Geun-hye scandal and impeachment in South Korea should not obfuscate the larger forces that are driving Korean politics.

It's worth considering how successful Assad’s ‘wait it out’ strategy has been by examining the fate of some of the world leaders who have called for his removal over the years.

Many Russians know that most Chinese know that in the 1860s, tsarist Russia acquired 1.4 million square kilometres of Chinese territory.

Economic reform and terrorism - not human rights - will be on the agenda when Trump meets Sisi in DC.

What exactly did the Turnbull government imagine was worth the compromises that would have accompanied consent to the treaty?

Given Russia's struggling economy, underlying dissent is unlikely to fade away in the long-term.

A third-party intervention serves to keeps the Hague award alive, by internationalising it.

Intelligence organisations cannot assume their job is done once a report is delivered but should instead seek to add value through expertise, focus, and access.

Deceptive appearances in UK politics, why Putin needs to change tack to ward off Russian dissent, and how Li Keqiang's visit went down with the Chinese media.

The skills these individuals pick up in Western countries help to plug gaps created by well-known shortcomings in China’s education system and corporate culture.

Sturgeon has sought a second poll for Scotland, and the idea of Ireland reuniting has been raised again – but none of this is quite as it seems.

The shift in the country’s political iconography that began under President Thein Sein in 2011 has picked up pace since Aung San Suu Kyi took power.

Even if the C919 is a flop on the foreign market, don't count on China to give up. There is already work being done on a China-Russia joint venture to build an even larger jet in the Boeing 777 class.