Up to 26 people are reported to have been killed after one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded struck Japan, triggering a 10-metre-high tsunami along parts of the country's northeastern coastline. The massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck Japan on Friday, sweeping away cars, boats, homes and people as widespread fires burned out of control. Japan's NHK television reported many injuries and showed …

IN NORMAL times a government sitting on $440 billion in foreign reserves would have few cares. Even in the present season of turmoil in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia is lucky. With the price of oil up by $10 a barrel since January, and the Saudis squirting out spare stuff to make up for the slump in Libya’s output, the …

While the people of Arab states are overthrowing dictators, Pakistan is sinking deeper into intolerant Islamic extremism. Emboldened by the meek response of the people to the assassinations of Salman Taseer and Shahbaz Bhatti, Islamist vigilantes will now become more brutal At least with a dictatorship, you know where you are — and if you know where you are, you …

  As the Arab world witnesses uprising after uprising, seeing dictators fall and others exposed one after another, the Palestinian case looks like the ultimate goal. The fate of Palestine has long suffered from its neighbors’ incapability (more or less intentional) of forming a strong block against Israel, whether through feeding the divisions inside the Palestinian political scene, or more …

JEDDAH: Thirty three cases of dengue fever have been reported in the last three weeks in Jeddah, according to Health Affairs Director Dr. Sami Badawood, adding that more infections were likely in the coming weeks as the cool season comes to an end. Over a month after the Jan. 26 floods, local residents are combating fears of a malaria epidemic …

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: …