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West Asia
Hundreds killed in hajj stampede in Mecca
A stampede during one of the last rituals of the Hajj season — the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca — has killed more than 700 people and injured close to 900 others in Saudi Arabia. The stampede occurred Thursday morning during the ritual known as “stoning the devil” in a…
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South Asia
Guantanamo Bay releases ‘Bin Laden bodyguard’
A Saudi man, Abdul Shalabi, 39, has been transferred back to Saudi Arabia after being freed from Guantanamo Bay, the Pentagon said. Shalabi is said to have once worked as a bodyguard for Osama Bin Laden Shalabi was captured by Pakistani forces in 2001 and sent to the US base in Cuba, where…
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West Asia
Yemen’s president return to Aden
Yemen’s president Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi has returned to the southern city of Aden after six months in exile, his office says. A government source told the Reuters news agency Hadi would spend the festival of Eid al-Adha in Aden before flying to New York to address the UN. He fled Aden…
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West Asia
Russian-Israeli talks over Syrian situation
Russian President Vladimir Putin has sought to allay Israeli concerns at Russia’s military build-up in Syria. At talks in Moscow, he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Russia’s actions in the Middle East would always be “responsible”. Netanyahu is concerned by the possibility of Israeli and Russian forces inadvertently trading…
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West Asia
British help academics escape war
A British foundation created in 1933 to help academics flee Nazi Germany started helping Syrian and Iraqi academics escape in the hope that one day they will return and rebuild. In their headquarters in London’s South Bank University, Five full-time employees helped by interns work to make it easier for refugees to…
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West Asia
Ancient Egyptian manuscript pieced together
During the recent International Congress of Egyptologists in Florence,Wael Sherbiny the Belgium-based independent scholar, unveiled his findings on the oldest Egyptian leather manuscript that has been found in the shelves of the Egyptian museum in Cairo, where it was stored and forgotten for more than 70 years. Dating from the…
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West Asia
Yemen’s exiled government returns to Aden
Yemen’s prime minister Khaled Bahah and several of hos ministers traveled to Aden from exile in Saudi Arabia, two months after loyalist forces pushed Iran-backed rebels out of the city. “The government has moved its base from Riyadh to Aden,” government spokesman Rajeh Badi told AFP. There was no indication…
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West Asia
Baba ghanoush: Arabic eggplant caviar
Baba ghanoush or baba ghanoug is a Levantine dish of cooked eggplant mixed with onions, tomatoes, olive oil and various seasonings. The Arabic term means “pampered papa” or “coy daddy”, perhaps with reference to a member of a royal harem. The name has become integrated in the Middle-Eastern kitchen that…
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West Asia
Binladin Group’s projects halted after Mecca mosque disaster
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has issued a decree halting all Saudi Binladin Group construction projects in the kingdom until a full investigation of last week’s deadly crane collapse at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, a report on state-run Saudi Arabian radio said. On Friday, a construction crane…
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West Asia
Israeli authorities re-arrest hunger striker Mohammed Allan
The Israeli authorities have re-arrested Mohammed Allan, who had staged a hunger strike to protest against his detention without charge. Mr.Allan was taken back into detention on his release from hospital. He had suffered brain damage after spending 65 days without food. Mr.Allan, an alleged member of the militant group Islamic Jihad,…
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