A jaguar lies beside George Washington. The United States' first president holds a rifle with one hand as he rests the other on the dead Argentine predator.
The backdrop is a U.S. dollar and an Argentine 500-peso note joined like a book, a clear allusion to the rapid depreciation of the local currency, the peso. That has made it difficult for Argentines to make ends meet. The peso has depreciated around 60% compared to the U.S. dollar over the past year. It has occurred in parallel to one of the world's highest inflation rates. Together, the economic travails have have bolstered an anti-establishment candidate who admires former President Donald Trump.
Full StoryMore than three years after it was stolen from a museum that was shut to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, a painting by Dutch master Vincent van Gogh has been recovered, a little worse for wear, the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands said.
Van Gogh's "The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring," which was painted in 1884, was snatched in an overnight raid in March 2020 from The Singer Laren museum east of Amsterdam. It was there on loan from the Groninger Museum.
Full StoryThe British Embassy Beirut on Wednesday announced that applications for the UK Government’s flagship Chevening Scholarships program are now open. Applicants should apply online via chevening.org/apply by November 7, 2023.
The scholarship, which is now in its 40th year, offers full financial support for scholars to study for any eligible master’s degree at over 150 UK universities whilst also gaining access to a wide range of exclusive academic, professional, and cultural experiences.
Full StoryA sweeping, year-long study of sex abuse by Catholic priests and others in Switzerland published Tuesday has turned up more than 1,000 cases since the mid-20th century, as the Swiss church becomes the latest in Europe to reckon with the abuse scandal.
With few exceptions, those accused of wrongdoing were all male. Nearly three-fourths of the documents examined showed the sexual abuse involved minors.
Full StorySnap checkpoints. Internet disruptions. University purges.
Iran's theocracy is trying hard to both ignore the upcoming anniversary of nationwide protests over the country's mandatory headscarf law and tamp down on any possibility of more unrest.
Full StoryA ban on wearing the face veil in Egyptian schools announced by the government this week sparked debate on social media Tuesday with critics condemning it as "tyrannical".
The education ministry decision, announced in the state-run newspaper Akhbar al-Youm on Monday, applies to both state and independent schools.
Full StoryThe cane chairs and umbrella still stand in the courtyard of Hussein Omar's family mausoleum, where his grandmother came every morning for 19 years after her daughter — his mother — died. Near her grave, she would sit and pray under the date palm and among the flowering plants, a few hours of peace in Cairo 's historic City of the Dead.
Now the mausoleum, built in 1924 in a neo-Islamic style and housing the graves of a number of prominent Egyptians from a century ago, is threatened with demolition.
Full StoryA draft media law in Kuwait that threatens to outlaw criticism of top officials is causing anger in the country long considered to have the highest level of free expression in the Gulf.
The bill, proposed by the information ministry, has been condemned by lawmakers as a "violation of democracy" and an attempt to "silence and intimidate" the public.
Full StoryIt began with a dinner invitation. How it ends could affect more than a billion people.
State-issued invites sent to guests of this week's G20 meeting referred to India's president, Droupadi Murmu, as "President of Bharat." Suddenly, in many circles, the question was everywhere: Would the country of more than 1.4 billion now be called by its ancient Sanskrit name?
Full StoryFour Roman-era swords, their wooden and leather hilts and scabbards and steel blades exquisitely preserved after 1,900 years in a desert cave, surfaced in a recent excavation by Israeli archaeologists near the Dead Sea, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Wednesday.
The cache of exceptionally intact artifacts was found about two months ago and tells a story of empire and rebellion, of long-distance conquest and local insurrection.
Full Story