Asia

Rubble is scattered across the wide areas of the town of Minami Sanriku, northeastern Japan

They come to see if anything is left – and find nothing

David McNeill in the devastated town of Minami Sanriku: The tsunami has left this town in ruins, reducing wooden houses to matchsticks and pushing debris two kilometres inland. And an estimated 10,000 people have simply vanished.

Inside Asia

Aerial view of the devastation in the town of Onagawa, Miyagi prefecture

Official toll is 1,000 – but true figure likely to be far higher

Monday, 14 March 2011

The estimated death toll from Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami leapt tenfold yesterday as the world's third-largest economy struggled to deal with the crippling aftermath of what Prime Minister Naoto Kan has described as the worst crisis to face his country since the Second World War.

Officials check for signs of radiation on children

Residents queue to be tested, but experts say this is not Chernobyl

Monday, 14 March 2011

As officials race to cool overheating reactors, there is no sign of a major radiation leak. Andrew Buncombe reports from Koriyama

UK teams fly in to join the hunt for survivors

Monday, 14 March 2011

Relief effort

The magazine advises women to always wear a niqab for protection from the sun

Al-Qa'ida glossy advises women to cover up and marry a martyr

Monday, 14 March 2011

Not content with launching an English-language magazine that debuted with a feature called "How to make a bomb in the kitchen of your Mom", al Qa'ida's media wing has followed up with a magazine for women, mixing beauty tips with lessons in jihad.

Natori, Miyagi prefecture, 10.03.11 and, below, 13.03.11

Satellite images reveal true scale of Japan's devastation

Monday, 14 March 2011

While reports and pictures from on the ground in Japan reveal the human side of the tragedy the tsunami has caused, these before-and-after aerial photographs indicate the sheer scale of devastation that was unleashed upon towns and villages up and down the country's eastern coast.

Cooling system must be brought under control to prevent meltdown

Monday, 14 March 2011

Nuclear expert Walt Patterson tells Michael McCarthy of the extraordinary complexity of the challenge engineers face

China tackles black market for fake goods

Monday, 14 March 2011

The Chinese authorities are stepping up their war on the country's thriving black market for counterfeit goods with a new crackdown in which more than 3,000 people arrested.

Pilots fail alcohol tests but fly again

Monday, 14 March 2011

India's airline authorities caught 57 pilots over the past two years affected by alcohol and about to take to the cabin of passenger-carrying jets , but most were cleared to fly again. Only 11 of the pilots caught in random pre-flight tests between January 2009 and November 2010 lost their jobs, the Times of India newspaper said, citing a statement by Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi.

Don't give up, Japan. Don't give up, Tohoku

Don’t give up, Japan. Don’t give up, Tohoku

Sunday, 13 March 2011

David Randall: The cataclysm was so powerful it shifted the Earth off its axis. Then the waters hit.

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