Buenos Aires, Reuters—Argentina defaulted for the second time in 12 years after hopes for a midnight deal with holdout creditors were dashed, setting up stock and bond prices for declines on Thursday and raising chances a recession could worsen this year. After a long legal battle with hedge funds t
Jerusalem, AP—Israel said Thursday it has called up another 16,000 reservists, allowing it to potentially widen its Gaza offensive against the territory’s Hamas rulers in a three-week-old war that has killed more than 1,300 Palestinians and more than 50 Israelis. The new call-up follows anothe
London, Reuters—NATO is not prepared for the threat of a Russian attack on one of its members, British lawmakers said on Thursday, calling for more equipment and troops to be positioned in the Baltic States, which, they said, were particularly vulnerable. Parliament’s Defence Select Comm
Washington, AP—Contending that President Barack Obama exceeded his constitutional powers in the way he has enforced the 2010 health care law, a sharply divided US House of Representatives approved a Republican plan to file an election-season lawsuit against him. Democrats say the lawsuit is a campai
I was recently speaking with a well-known “moderate” Islamist figure about the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and how this terrorist group has managed to defame the true image of Sunni Islam within just a few short months—more than Al-Qaeda and other violent extremist groups ever have.
Beirut, Asharq Al-Awsat—New restaurant Motto, just off Mar Mikhael’s main street in Beirut, is the first in Lebanon to invite customers to draw up their own bills. The ‘pay-what-you-want’ concept was imported from restaurants around the world, where some eateries have been running an honor system fo
Over the past four decades, many Muslim-majority countries have suffered from conflict, revolution, war and terror while trying to face the challenge of finding their proper place in a modern world they find both attractive and repulsive. While everyone has had a share of the suffering, it is possib
This year’s International Religious Freedom Report was prepared by the US government prior to the tragedy in Mosul, where Christians were forced to flee their homes. However, the report stated that 2013 witnessed the largest displacement of religious communities in modern history. “In almost e
Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat—Insurance companies in Saudi Arabia will suffer major losses during the Eid holiday season as a result of a spike in claims due to the increased incidents of motor accidents and health problems that tend to follow the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, industry sources have told A
Ramallah, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Egyptian government has called on the Palestinian Authority and Hamas to unify their stance on the Egyptian-sponsored ceasefire initiative to end the fighting in Gaza ahead of a forthcoming meeting in Cairo. A senior Palestinian official, speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on
Freetown, Reuters—The doctor leading Sierra Leone’s fight against the worst Ebola outbreak on record died from the virus on Tuesday, the country’s chief medical officer said. The death of Sheik Umar Khan, who was credited with treating more than 100 patients, follows those of dozens of l
Gaza, Reuters—Israeli shells blasted a UN-run school in a Gaza refugee camp on Wednesday, killing at least 19 people and wounding about 125 others taking refuge there, a UN official said. Blood splattered floors and mattresses inside classrooms, and some survivors picked through shattered glas
Beijing, Reuters—Western tourists saw a body lying in a pool of blood in a major city in China’s violence-prone Xinjiang province on Wednesday, as security forces flooded in after the government said dozens of knife-wielding attackers were shot dead elsewhere in the region earlier in the week.
Baghdad, Asharq Al-Awsat—Iraqi tribal leaders have called on authorities to pay more attention to winning the “hearts and minds” of citizens in order to combat the advance of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters towards the capital Baghdad. The calls came after Iraqi troops launched an at
Erbil, Asharq Al-Awsat—While Western and international media continue to shine a spotlight on the mass exodus of Mosul’s Christians at the hands of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), many Muslims from Mosul—including members of minorities and Sunnis affiliated to the former regimeR
Jeddah, Asharq Al-Awsat—In 647 CE the Caliph Uthman Ibn Affan selected Jeddah as a major seaport for the holy city of Mecca and a gateway for trade with neighboring states. Consisting of four districts, Jeddah is surrounded by a wall that was constructed to shield the city from raids by the Portugue
Crises in the region have been proliferating and competing with one another since 2011, so much so that global media attention is changing on a weekly basis. While one crisis jumps to the forefront of the news, another retreats a little—though this does not necessarily mean that things in that
Benghazi, Reuters—Islamist fighters and militants overran a major Libyan army base in the eastern city of Benghazi on Tuesday after a fierce battle involving rockets and warplanes in which at least 30 people were killed. Special forces troops had to abandon their main camp in southeast Benghazi afte
Beijing, Reuters—China’s Communist Party said on Tuesday it had launched a corruption investigation into former domestic security chief Zhou Yongkang, one of the country’s most influential politicians of the last decade, in a case that has its origins in a party power struggle. Zhou, 71,
With the latest crisis pushing Iraq back onto the world’s headlines, it is no surprise that a number of books examining Iraqi politics and history have appeared or reappeared in bookshops across the West. These books could be grouped in three categories. In the first category we find books that trea
