Cairo, July 21: Egypt has become the latest country to warn vulnerable Muslims not to perform the pilgrimage to Mecca, after a woman returning from Saudi Arabia became the first Egyptian to die from swine flu.
The health ministry “has warned the elderly, pregnant women, children and those suffering from chronic illness not to perform the hajj or omra pilgrimages,” the official MENA news agency reported late Monday.
Tehran, July 21: Iran’s post-election power struggle is shaking the nation to its roots, with no sign that its supreme leader can assuage popular anger or regain the trust of alienated politicians.
The turmoil since hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected in a June 12 vote his opponents said was rigged has rendered moot U.S. President Barack Obama’s offer of engagement with Iran, which the West suspects of seeking nuclear weapons.
Kabul, July 21: Eight suicide bombers attacked several government buildings in two eastern Afghan provinces on Tuesday, killing at least five Afghan security force personnel, officials said.
Six bombers attacked three government buildings in Gardez, the provincial capital of the south-eastern province of Paktia, Tuesday morning, killing at least two policemen and three intelligence agents, Rohullah Samoon, a spokesman for the provincial governor told German Press Agency dpa.
Dubai, July 21: Gulf countries have taken a step toward easing a regional power crunch and supplying the flow of electricity needed by their increasingly affluent societies by linking up their grids.
Economic growth has strained the infrastructure of the world’s largest oil exporters, and left them struggling to supply enough power. The downturn has slowed growth, but power supplies remain tight.
Jeddah, July 21: The body of 18-year-old Fatima was found on Monday south of the area where she disappeared on July 9.
“The body was found stuck in the rocks at a location the team of divers had earlier examined one kilometer to the south of the beach where she went down,” Border Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Nassir Al-Shahri, told Arab News. The Saudi Border Guard also acts as the coast guard.
Taif, July 21: Saudi Arabia on Monday denounced terror attacks that killed nine people and wounded more than 50 in Jakarta on Friday. “The Council of Ministers expressed its condemnation of the wicked terrorist blasts that targeted two hotels in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, and stressed the significance of solidarity with the international stand against terror and terrorists,” Culture and Information Minister Abdul Aziz Khojah said in a statement following the weekly meeting.
Riyadh, July 21: The arrest of Riyadh-based Indian muezzin soon after his arrival at Hyderabad Airport Saturday has raised many eye-brows.
The worshippers at a Hai Al-Wazarat Mosque where muezzin Shaukatullah Ghouri used to call the faithful to prayer five times a day were shocked after watching the Indian news channels that portrayed Ghouri as a member of Lashkar-e-Toiba wanted in some terrorist activities by Indian police.
Taif, July 21: The Council of Ministers on Monday authorized the Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior or his deputy to discuss with Russia a draft agreement on combating illicit trade in drugs and psychotropics and their smuggling and to sign a final agreement between the Kingdom and Russia in this regard.
The Cabinet meeting here was presided over by King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.
Jeddah, July 21: Twelve days after she went missing off the shores of the Jeddah Corniche, the body of Fatima Al-Saab has been found.
Divers located the body Monday morning lodged between rocks 90 meters beneath the sea about a kilometer to the south of the site where she was last seen.
A National Guard spokesman said that divers worked for one and a half hours to shift sand and rock and enable the removal of the body.
Riyadh, July 21: News of the arrest of a Riyadh-based Indian muezzin on his arrival in the Indian city of Hyderabad, Saturday, has raised many eyebrows here.
Many regular worshippers at a mosque in Al-Wazarat district here where muezzin Shaukatullah Ghouri used to call the faithful to prayer five times a day, and sometimes lead obligatory prayers, were shocked by Indian news reports of Ghouri’s arrest.
Ghouri was arrested at Rajiv Gandhi International (RGI) airport at Shamshabad on the outskirts of Hyderabad upon his arrival from Jeddah.
Ramadi, July 21: Five people were killed and about 40 wounded in bomb attacks on Tuesday in Baghdad and the western Iraqi city of Ramadi, security and medical officials said.
The deadliest attack was in Ramadi, where three people were killed and 10 wounded in a double car bombing outside a restaurant in the northern district of Al-Jazira, hospital officials and police said.
It was the second deadly car-bomb attack in as many days in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, once a bastion of the Sunni insurgency in Iraq.
Baghdad, July 21: Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki embarks on a trip to the United States on Tuesday grappling with strained ties with Washington and pressure over stalled national reconciliation efforts.
Maliki will meet President Barack Obama for the first time since US troops withdrew from Iraqi cities at the end of June, a milestone in Iraq’s rehabilitation since the 2003 US-led invasion.
Kabul, July 21: A roadside bomb killed four American troops in eastern Afghanistan, driving the July death toll for U.S. forces to the highest monthly level of the war.
The latest deaths brought to at least 30 the number of American service members who have died in Afghanistan this month two more than the figure for all of June 2008, which had been the deadliest month for the U.S. since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion drove the Taliban from power.
London, July 21: The Saudi Arabian princess who was granted asylum in Britain after giving birth to an illegitimate child feared flogging and stoning if she was made to return home.
British and Saudi authorities have declined to comment on the woman’s case but it is understood that she told an Asylum Tribunal that she would face the death penalty under Sharia law.
The woman, who has been granted refugee status and anonymity, is married to an elderly member of the Royal Family of Saudi Arabia and met her non-Muslim English boyfriend during a visit to London.
Riyadh, July 21: A Saudi Arabian princess who had an illegitimate child with a British man has secretly been granted asylum in this country after she claimed she would face the death penalty if she were forced to return home.
The young woman, who has been granted anonymity by the courts, won her claim for refugee status after telling a judge that her adulterous affair made her liable to death by stoning.
Riyadh, July 21: Ministers are considering asylum applications for 10 Saudi Arabian nationals who claim they are at risk of persecution if they are forced to return to the Middle Eastern kingdom, it emerged last night.
The new cases were made public after The Independent revealed the plight of a Saudi princess who was granted asylum in Britain after she had an illegitimate child with a British man.
Tehran, July 21: Iran’s supreme leader has issued a tough warning to the opposition to back down after a former president called for a referendum on the government’s legitimacy, a sign of the movement’s growing boldness in challenging the country’s clerical rulers.
The exchanges between the opposition on one side and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his core of hardline clerical supporters on the other appeared to be heating up, reflecting how the month-long conflict over Iran’s disputed presidential election is entering a new level – a struggle within the leadership itself.
Baghdad, July 21: The Iraqi military has turned down requests from American forces to move unescorted through Baghdad and conduct a raid since the transition of responsibility for urban security at the end of last month, an Iraqi military commander said Monday.
U.S. combat troops withdrew from urban areas on June 30 under a security agreement with Iraq that requires all U.S. troops to be out of the country by the end of 2011.
Kabul, July 21: A roadside bomb killed four American troops in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, driving the July death toll for U.S. forces to the highest monthly level of the war.
The latest deaths brought to at least 30 the number of American service members who have died in Afghanistan this month — two more than the figure for all of June 2008, which had been the deadliest month for the U.S. since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion drove the Taliban from power.
Tehran, July 21: With the aftershocks of the disputed presidential elections showing no signs of abating, reformers are calling for a referendum on the legitimacy of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his government.
“The only way out of the current situation is to hold a referendum,” former president Mohamed Khatami has proposed.
“People should be asked whether they are happy with the current situation.
“If the vast majority of people are happy with the current situation, we will accept it as well.”
Abu Dhabi, July 21: One of the main and latest tourist attractions in Abu Dhabi, Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Mosque, will remain open to visitors during Ramadan.
The mosque, also known as the White Mosque, is the world’s sixt largest mosque.
Ajman, July 21: The police have arrested two men for allegedly offering bribes worth Dh5,000 to an Ajman Municipality health inspector for not fining them for stocking containers of honey whose expiry dates were over.
Dubai, July 21: A two-and-half year-old Indian boy has died in another suspected food poisoning case reported in Dubai.
Rishab Pranav died at Al Rafa Polyclinic in Bur Dubai on Thursday morning, Dr. Sayed PMM, medical director of Dr. Moopen’s Group and a paediatrician at the private clinic, told Khaleej Times.
The doctor said the boy’s parents had come to the clinic seeking treatment for his mother Barkha who had vomited after consuming reheated home-made food.
Cairo, July 20: Imams and rabbis from across Europe are touring interfaith centers in the US to learn from the track record of success of their American counterparts in fostering inter-religious dialogue and Muslim-Jewish relations.
“Our success in America has given us the faith and confidence to reach out to Europe,” Sayyid Mohammad Syeed, national director of interfaith and community alliances for the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), one of three hosts for the tour, told the Washington Times on Monday, July 20.
Tehran, July 20: Iranian reformist former president, Mohammad Khatami, called for a referendum on the legitimacy of the government, challenging the supreme leader who has backed the result of the disputed June presidential poll.
Clashes erupted in central Tehran between police and reformist protesters for the first time in weeks on Friday after another former president, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, declared the Islamic Republic in crisis after the disputed June 12 poll.