Sharks in troubled waters
The rescue of a six-year-old Cuban boy off the coast of Florida was the first episode in a soap opera with as many unpredictable turns as it has characters. Hisham El-Naggar goes back to the beginning

Where loyalties lie
Yoshiro Mori takes the helm as Japan's new prime minister amid speculation about his political agenda and opposition calls to move up elections, writes Mohamed El-Dessouki from Tokyo

Sticks, stones and money
Following a war of words over Russian human rights violations in Chechnya, the EU and the Kremlin have buried the hatchet, writes Abdel-Malek Khalil from Moscow