Mecca

A sea of pilgrims ascended Mount Arafat in Saudi Arabia on Monday to pray and repent, the climax of the annual hajj bringing together more than two million Muslims from around the world.

An aerial view shows the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca on June 3, 2018. AFP PHOTO / BANDAR ALDANDANI

A Turkish company has scammed 68 people set to perform a religious pilgrimage to Mecca by instead giving them a tour of the southeastern provinces of Gaziantep and Kahramanmaraş, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on April 13.

Hundreds of participants took part in the first women's marathon in Saudi Arabia, Arabian Business reported, quoted by BGNES.

The marathon was held in the Al Aqsa area. Many of the participants were in traditional clothing. The next women's marathon is scheduled for April 6 in Mecca.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Nov. 27 criticized the growing use of smartphones in sacred places such as Mecca and Medina, arguing that technology is “gradually detaching people from life.”

Even a well-trained robot like Sophia would be confused by Saudi Arabia. A week ago, the famous machine was among the powerful western financiers attending a coming-out party, in which the heir-to-the-throne, Mohammed bin Salman, was showing off the kingdom’s new embrace of modernity.

The French satirical weekly magazine "Charlie Hebdo," against which a terrorist attack was made in January 2015, announced that they had filed a complaint about death threats in social networks after publishing a cartoon of a Swiss Islamist accused of rape, reports mediapool. 

"Ever since Lausanne, we have dreamed of establishing a state," Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) leader Massoud Barzani said in 2016 during a visit to the U.S.

When you look at the borders in the Middle East, Barzani said in March 2016, they only apply on paper. "The region's realities are mapping something new," the Kurdish leader said.

Turkish Muslims will celebrate the birth of the Prophet Muhammad in the week starting Nov. 29 this year following a date change made by the new chair of the Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet), Ali Erbaş.

More than 100,000 members of Saudi security forces will help protect 2 million pilgrims who are part of Hajj's annual pilgrimage to Mecca today, the agencies said.