MECCA Two million Muslims gather in Saudi Arabia this week for the hajj as the annual pilgrimage becomes increasingly hi-tech with apps to help the faithful navigate Islam’s holiest sites. This year the hajj comes with the ultra-conservative kingdom witnessing an unprecedented pace of change, finally ending a ban on …

TEHRAN/BAGHDAD With hotels facing mass cancellations, Iraqis in the holy city of Najaf are being hit hard by US sanctions on neighbouring Iran, which have forced cash-strapped pilgrims to stay home. At the city’s edge, surrounded by mosaic-covered walls and topped by a golden dome, sits the shrine of Imam …

BAGHDAD Iraq launched an air strike on a gathering of Islamic State fighters in neighboring Syria, killing members of the hardline militant group who planned cross-border attacks, its military said on Thursday. F-16 fighter jets bombed and destroyed an “operations room” where the militants were meeting. Islamic State, which once …

CAIRO Egypt is finalizing details of a long-term truce deal between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, an Egyptian security source said on Thursday, amid easing tensions on the border of the enclave where some two million Palestinians live. Cairo has brokered an interim truce that has allowed commercial …

WASHINGTON U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday named senior policy adviser Brian Hook as special representative for Iran. The move came as the administration prepared to increase economic pressure on Iran to force it to end its nuclear program and support for militant groups in the Middle East. …

ISLAMABAD Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khanon Thursday offered condolence at the demise of former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and said the best way to honour the “towering leader” is by establishing peace between India and Pakistan. In a statement, Khan said Vajpayee was a known and respected political personality of the subcontinent and his …

YANGON Facebook has been “too slow” to address hate speech in Myanmar and is acting to remedy the problem by hiring more Burmese speakers and investing in technology to identify problematic content, the company said in a statement on Thursday. The acknowledgement came a day after a Reuters investigation showed …

BANGKOK A three-year-old kindergartener died after she was left behind in a hot school van in Thailand, police said Thursday after arresting the driver. The girl was discovered Wednesday afternoon after her mother went to pick her up at the end of school in the southern province of Pattani and …

MANILA Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte could step down if the son of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos succeeds in overturning his 2016 vice presidential election defeat, Duterte’s spokesman said on Thursday. Duterte’s single term ends in June 2022 and he has spoken often recently about quitting before that. At two separate …

LOS ANGELES A Colorado baker who gained notoriety for refusing to make a wedding cake for a gay couple is headed for a new showdown with the state, this time over a birthday cake for a transgender woman. Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in the suburbs of Denver, …