Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

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File photo of an employee counting money in a bank in Cairo. (REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih/files)

London firm launches Islamic insurance platform

by Asharq Al-Awsat | May 16, 2013 | Business

London, Reuters—London-based firm Cobalt has developed a Shari’a-compliant insurance platform that uses a syndication model to help spread risk across a panel of underwriters, a novel format that could boost capacity in the sector. Under the platform, Cobalt...

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A Turkish Airlines plane takes off at Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul November 30, 2012. (REUTERS/Osman Orsal)

Turkish airlines backs down on lipstick ban

by Asharq Al-Awsat | May 9, 2013 | Lifestyle & Culture

London, Reuters—Turkish Airlines is quashing a ban on female flight attendants wearing red lipstick and nail polish, its chief executive said on Thursday, after an outcry by secular Turks worried the country is becoming too Islamic. The national carrier had said in a...

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Islamic art on display at the courtyard level of Louvre’s new Islamic gallery. (Courtesy of The Louvre Museum)

Louvre Showcasing Islamic Art

by Juliet Highet | May 4, 2013 | Lifestyle & Culture

Paris, Asharq Al-Awsat—For the first time ever, a major Western museum, the Louvre, has provided a permanent home for an Islamic art collection. The Louvre has provided massive new gallery space to house what Louvre Director, Henri Loyrette, describes as being “one of...

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A picture released by the office of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on March 20, 2013, shows him addressing the nation on the occasion of Noruz, the Iranian New Year, in Tehran. (AFP)

Iran: A Clash of Religion and Nationalism

by Amir Taheri | Mar 22, 2013 | Opinion

Over the past year or so, the choice between two adjectives has developed into an important theme of the power struggle within the Khomeinist ruling elite in Tehran. The adjectives are “Iranian” and “Islamic”. Under the Pahlavi shahs who promoted a nationalist...