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Travellers, mask-clad due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, walking with luggage as part of the first group of arrivals for the annual Hajj pilgrimage, at the Red Sea coastal city of Jeddahs King Abdulaziz International Airport. - The 2020 hajj season, which has been scaled back dramatically to include only around 1,000 Muslim pilgrims as Saudi Arabia battles a coronavirus surge, is set to begin on July 29. (via AFP)

Saudi's downscaled Hajj season begins with restrictions and caution

Pilgrims are required to be tested for coronavirus before arriving in Mecca and will also have to quarantine after the...

27 July 2020 9:53 AM IST

Men wearing face masks wait before praying in front of Hagia Sophia during the preparations for the Friday prayier in Istanbul, on July 23, 2020. - The first prayers at Hagia Sophia since the Istanbul landmark was reconverted to a mosque will take place on July 23, 2020. (AFP)

World

First Friday prayers held in Hagia Sophia after mosque reconversion

Experts say Erdogan's move to reconvert Hagia Sophia is an attempt to galvanise his conservative and nationalist base

24 July 2020 3:58 PM IST

$An Israeli researcher demonstrates a coronavirus breathalyser test by exhaling into a small bag called the \Air Trap\ at the laboratory of NanoScents headquarters in Misgav industrial zone near the northern city of Karmiel. (AFP)$ World

Israeli firm developing coronavirus breathalyser test

NanoScent, the firm making the test kits, said an extensive trial within Israel delivered results with 85 percent...

24 July 2020 11:29 AM IST

Visitors look at mosaics inside the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia, in the historic Sultanahmet district of Istanbul.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to join hundreds of worshipers Friday, July 24, 2020, for the first Muslim prayers at the Hagia Sophia in 86 years, weeks after a controversial high court ruling paved the way for the landmark monument to be turned back into a mosque. The mosaics will be covered up with curtains during the prayers, officials have said. (AP)

World

Five things to know about the Hagia Sophia

The conversion of the edifice, once an important church of Christendom and 'jewel' of Byzantine Empire, has led to an...

24 July 2020 10:36 AM IST

The ministry says a delegation led by its Directorate of Defense Research and Development will travel to India in the coming weeks to experiment with different tests that use voice recordings, breathalyzers, isothermal technology and analysis of polyamino acids.(AFP)

World

Israel will send research team to India to test out diagnostic...

The delegation will also bring cutting-edge equipment' donated by the government and the private sector, including...

23 July 2020 7:25 PM IST

Kuwaits ruling emir, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah (center). (AP)

World

Kuwait's emir travels to US for medical treatment

The emir, who has ruled the oil-rich Gulf state since 2006, had been in hospital since the weekend

23 July 2020 3:44 PM IST

World

Iran executes man convicted of spying for US, Israel

The former translator also helped to locate a top Iranian general Soleimani, killed later by the Americans, the...

20 July 2020 5:34 PM IST

World

Saudi King Salman admitted to hospital

The de facto ruler and next in line to the throne is the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who is popular among young...

20 July 2020 12:12 PM IST

$An H-2A rocket carrying the Hope Probe known as \Al-Amal\ in Arabic, developed by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to explore Mars, blasts off from Tanegashima Space Centre in southwestern Japan. (Handout photograph released by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries via AFP)$ World

UAE's Amal spacecraft rockets toward Mars in Arab world 1st

Named Al-Amal, or Hope, this is Arab world's first space mission, a major step for the oil-dependent economy seeking a...

20 July 2020 8:53 AM IST

$Sarah Amiri, deputy project manager of the United Arab Emirates Mars mission, talks about the project named \Hope,\ or \al-Amal\ in Arabic, which is scheduled for launch in 2020, during a ceremony in Dubai, UAE.(AP)$ World