International

Hundreds of thousands of Muslim pilgrims crowded Saudi Arabia’s Mount Arafat on Tuesday, the climax of a potentially record-breaking hajj pilgrimage held in fierce summer heat. As dawn broke, groups of worshippers recited Koran verses on the rocky rise, where the Prophet Mohammed is believed to have given his final sermon,reports AFP. The ritual is the high point of the ...

The annual Hajj pilgrimage commenced early on Monday, the eighth day of Dul Hijjah, with millions of Muslims from around the world taking part for the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic. The pilgrims arrived at the Grand Mosque in Makkah on Sunday where they performed the Tawaf al-Qudum, known as the Tawaf of Arrival – the first step ...

Vast crowds of pilgrims made solemn circles around the Kaaba, the black cube at Makkah’s Grand Mosque, on Sunday as  hajj began, AFP reports. Islam’s holiest site is expected to host more than two million worshippers from 160 countries during the annual rites that could break attendance records, with 1.6 million foreigners already arrived by Friday evening. The hajj began ...

President Vladimir Putin has long profited from the actions of the Wagner mercenary group, but the mutiny led by its chief Yevgeny Prigozhin presents the Russian strongman with a challenge that could irreparably damage his authority, analysts say. During its decade-long existence, Wagner’s operations in Africa, Syria and eastern Ukraine have served Putin’s political interests, with the president appearing to ...

A deep-sea submersible carrying five people on a voyage to the century-old wreck of the Titanic was found in pieces from a “catastrophic implosion” that killed everyone aboard, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Thursday, ending a multinational five-day search for the vessel, Reuters reports. A robotic diving vehicle deployed from a Canadian ship discovered a debris field from the ...

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at 4:30 p.m. Monday, the State Department said, as America’s top diplomat wrapped up a two-day visit to Beijing aimed at easing soaring tensions. A Blinken-Xi meeting had been expected, but neither side had confirmed it would happen until just an hour before the talks, which are ...

The US Senate has confirmed the former American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) attorney Nusrat Jahan Choudhury as the first Muslim woman to serve as a federal judge on Thursday. Choudhury, 46, is also the first Bangladeshi American to serve in this lifetime position. She will serve as a judge on the US court for the eastern district of New York. ...

A boat returning from a wedding capsized in northern Nigeria, killing at least 103 people, including children, officials said Tuesday. Residents and police were still searching for dozens of people who were on the overcrowded boat that capsized early Monday on the Niger River in the Pategi district of Kwara state, which is 160 kilometers (100 miles) from Ilorin, the ...

At least 25 were killed and 145 others were reported injured as heavy rain swept through Pakistan’s northwest that caused several houses to collapse. According to the authorities, rains and hail hit the Bannu, Lakki Marwat, and Karak districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province uprooting trees and knocking down electrical transmitters towers. Efforts are on to provide emergency relief Senior rescue ...

The United States on Friday announced a $2.1-billion military aid package for Ukraine, just as Kyiv appeared to be opening its long-awaited counter-offensive aimed at driving Russia from the country. The package included missiles for Patriot air defense systems, artillery rounds, drones and laser-guided rocket system munitions, AFP reports. The new arms, illustrate “the continued commitment to both Ukraine’s critical ...