A wise visitor from outer space who dropped in on Earth a millennium ago might have assumed that the Americas would eventually be colonized not by primitive Europeans but by the more advanced Arab civilization — and that as a result we Americans would all be speaking Arabic today. Yet after about 1200, the Middle East took a long break: …

“The king is dead, long live the king,” is a call which, in its Arabic form, is sure to be heard before too long in Saudi Arabia. In the latest chapter of the saga of the House of Saud, the ailing and aged King Abdullah returned to the kingdom on Feb. 23 after a three-month absence, which included two back …

The Qur'an is stunning in its beauty, captivating in its words, overpowering in its message, enchanting in its harmony and baffling in its subtlety. This description means little to most, whose only exposure to the Qur'an is in translation. Join us in this remarkably unique single weekend seminar in which we will explore the unparalleled literary beauty of the Qur'an. …

 The single most astonishing fact about foreign exchange is not the high volume of transactions, as incredible as that growth has been. Nor is it the volatility of currency rates, as wild as the markets are these days. Instead, it's the extent to which the market remains dollar-centric.   Consider this: When a South Korean wine wholesaler wants to import Chilean …

In the past few years, paranoid conservatives have cooked up all sorts of conspiracy theories about President Barack Obama. Some have claimed he has a secret plan to confiscate guns. Others have said he has a secret plan to confiscate IRA accounts. Still others have contended he's setting up clandestine FEMA concentration camps. And, of course, there's the big one: …

  Last week the Guardian, Britain's main liberal newspaper, ran an exclusive report on the belated confessions of an Iraqi exile, Rafeed al-Janabi, codenamed "Curveball" by the CIA. Eight years ago, Janabi played a key behind-the-scenes role — if an inadvertent one — in making possible the US invasion of Iraq. His testimony bolstered claims by the Bush administration that …