Mecca

Unrelenting storms have pummelled the United States over the past week, leading to at least 50 weather-related deaths, officials and U.S. media reported Friday, as large swathes of the country brace for new winter wallops.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has delivered a message against escalating Islamophobia and xenophobia in Western countries, calling for joint action to combat the alarming trends.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on June 30 called for calm and reflection in the wake of this week's protest in which a Quran was burned outside a Stockholm mosque, which has sparked outrage and condemnation.

"It is difficult to say what the consequences will be. I think there are many people who have reason to reflect," Kristersson told a press conference.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has strongly condemned the burning of the Muslim holy book the Quran in Sweden on June 28, further clouding the Nordic nation's chances of quickly joining NATO.

"We will not bow to the politics of provocation and threat. We will show our opposition against Islamophobia," Erdoğan said in a video message to celebrate Eid al-Adha of his party's members. 

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.

President Tayyip Erdogan's election victory showed the magnetic hold he still has over millions of Turks after 20 years in power, with many believing he is the man best placed to fix problems which critics say are partly of his own making.

Vsevolod Chentsov is Ukraine's ambassador to the EU since 2021. He was a special guest at the Open Day at the EU Council in Brussels, organized by the Swedish Presidency. Bulgarian media "Club Z" talked to the diplomat in Russian.

Your Excellency, how do you see the events in the Council of the EU and the attitude towards the Ukrainians?

At least 20 people died yesterday in Saudi Arabia in a bus accident, DPA reported.

The bus, which overturned and caught fire, was carrying passengers to the holy city of Mecca, including pilgrims on their way to perform Umrah, a minor Muslim pilgrimage.

At the “Mecca” of quality and gourmet food

Ljubljana – Mufti Nevzet Porić said that authorities should eliminate discrimination between religious communities so that “the Islamic community will be treated as an equal community in the Republic of Slovenia” as he addressed Muslim believers during an Eid al-Adha service at Ljubljana’s mosque on Saturday morning.