CAIRO, JERUSALEM // Al Azhar, the 1,000-year-old seat of Sunni Islam learning, yesterday said it wanted "better relations" with the Vatican after years of acrimony. On Wednesday an Argentine cardinal, Jorge Mario Bergogli, was elected to succeed Benedict XVI. He chose the name Francis. Benedict's

On the second anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the nightmarish task of cleanup is just about beginning. Experts working on the site say that it may take 30 to 40 years to just clean up the Daiichi nuclear plant. How long it will take to clean the 20 km radius prohibited zone around

Fifteen Saudi women who are breaking new grounds in the social, educational, economic, political and cultural fields have been named in the list of the world’s 100 most powerful Arab women, published this week by CEO Middle East. The highest Saudi entry was second place Lubna Olayan, while Princess

Caracas, Venezuela: Hugo Chavez, who rose from poverty in a dirt-floor adobe house to unrivaled influence in Venezuela as its president, consolidating power and wielding the country's oil reserves as a tool for his Socialist-inspired change, died on Tuesday, Vice President Nicolas Maduro said. H

For those of us feeling a bit low this Sunday morning, here’s some cheerful bit of news. There are about 1,500 dollar billionaires in the world, with their total wealth amounting to a staggering $5.5 trillion, the equivalent of China’s GDP. The Hurun Global Rich List 2013 is out, which ranks t

MAURICE Bucaille was born to a French parent and, like his family, he grew up a Christian. After his secondary education, he joined Faculty of Medicine, France University. Later, he became the most renowned and cleverest surgeon ever in modern France, but a story happened to change his life complete

Seffner, Florida: A Florida man screamed for help and disappeared as a large sinkhole  opened under his bedroom, his brother said on Friday. No signs of life  had been found. Jeremy Bush heard a loud crash and screaming. He said it took him seconds to get to his brother Jeff's room near midni

UNITED NATIONS: More than 40,000 people a week are fleeing war-torn Syria and the total number of refugees will likely pass 1 million in less than a month, a senior U.N. official told the Security Council on Wednesday. U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said the U.N. agency

Microsoft joined Facebook and Apple on Friday on the list of US technology titans targeted in recent cyberattacks. “As reported by Facebook and Apple, Microsoft can confirm that we also recently experienced a similar security intrusion,” Trustworthy Computing team general manager Matt Thomlinson

[caption id="attachment_26788" align="aligncenter" width="580"] In this Jan. 17, 2013 file photo, officials examine an All Nippon Airways 787 a day after it made an emergency landing at Takamatsu airport in Takamatsu, western Japan. (AP)[/caption] TOKYO: A probe into the overheating of a lithium

SANAA: A Yemeni air force plane crashed in the capital Sanaa yesterday, killing at least 12 people, security sources said. State news agency Saba said three women and two children were among those killed when the plane, on a training flight, came down in a western residential district. Eleven peopl

Over six million Umrah pilgrims are expected in Saudi Arabia this year, one million more than last year, said Minister of Haj Bandar bin Mohammed Al-Hajjar, in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency yesterday. “The number of Umrah pilgrims is expected to cross the one million mark in the mon

Cape Canaveral (Florida): A 150-foot (46-meter) cosmic rock hurtled safely past Earth on Friday. It was the closest known flyby for a rock of its size, passing within 17,000 miles (27,357 kilometers). That's closer than some satellites. The flyby occurred just hours after a much smaller me

[caption id="attachment_26266" align="alignnone" width="100"] Russia Meteor[/caption] MOSCOW: "I was driving in the car across the square. Suddenly the square lit up with a bright, bright light, not a normal light," said Chelyabinsk resident Vasily Rozhko. Witnesses of the falling meteor over

Seoul: North Korea said its nuclear test today was only a "first" step and warned of stronger action if it was faced with tougher sanctions as a result. "The latest nuclear test was only the first action, with which we exercised as much self-restraint as possible," the foreign ministry said i

United Nations: The United Nations Security Council strongly condemned North Korea's third nuclear test on Tuesday and vowed to take action against Pyongyang for an act that all major world powers, including traditional ally China, have denounced. "The members of the Security Council strongly

Washington: The Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden broke his silence Monday, recounting the night he shot the Al Qaeda leader three times and the financial anxiety he now faces as an unemployed civilian. The commando kept his identity secret in the Esquire magazine interview, but revealed his r

London: An asteroid due to whizz past the Earth this week could take out vital telecommunications satellites, scientists warn. They are sure there is no chance of the 45.7 metre wide space rock hitting the planet. However, there is a remote possibility that it could collide with one of more th