Pilgrims have begun arriving in Saudi Arabia for this year's Hajj as preparations pick up for one of the largest mass gatherings in the world next month.
The first flights landed this week from countries including Pakistan, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Turkey and India, Saudi state news agency SPA reported.
Millions of Muslims will make their way to Makkah in early June with the intention of performing religious rites as taught by the Prophet Mohammed to his followers 14 centuries ago.
Six airports across Saudi Arabia have been designated by the government to serve Hajj pilgrims – Jeddah, Madinah, Yanbu, Taif, Riyadh and Dammam, according to Saudi Transport Minister Saleh Al Jasser.
Mr Al Jasser was at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah on Tuesday to receive the first batch of pilgrims – a flight carrying 396 people from Dhaka.
Many pilgrims are travelling under the Makkah Route Initiative, a scheme started seven years ago by Saudi Arabia that requires them to carry out travel procedures in their home country including visa issuance, health checks and capturing biometric data.
The initiative aims to help streamline processes, ensure an orderly Hajj and prevent any safety issues.
Stampedes, tent fires and other accidents have caused hundreds of deaths over the past 30 years during Hajj. The Saudi government has responded by building new infrastructure.
A quota system for visitors to Makkah was introduced in 1987, agreed by member countries of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation, to limit the number of pilgrims allowed by each country to 0.1 per cent of its population.
On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia said anyone caught performing the Hajj without a permit would face a fine of up to 20,000 riyals ($5,300) as part of a range of penalties for people violating regulations.
Fines of up to 100,000 riyals will be imposed on anyone who applies for a general Saudi visit visa to perform the Hajj without the required special permit.
Foreigners breaking the rules will be deported and banned from entering Saudi Arabia for 10 years, the Ministry of Interior added.
This year’s Hajj is expected to take place between June 4 and June 9. The fifth pillar of Islam, the Hajj is mandatory once in a lifetime for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it and is the most significant manifestation of Islamic faith and unity.
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Gertrude Bell's life in focus
A feature film
At one point, two feature films were in the works, but only German director Werner Herzog’s project starring Nicole Kidman would be made. While there were high hopes he would do a worthy job of directing the biopic, when Queen of the Desert arrived in 2015 it was a disappointment. Critics panned the film, in which Herzog largely glossed over Bell’s political work in favour of her ill-fated romances.
A documentary
A project that did do justice to Bell arrived the next year: Sabine Krayenbuhl and Zeva Oelbaum’s Letters from Baghdad: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Gertrude Bell. Drawing on more than 1,000 pieces of archival footage, 1,700 documents and 1,600 letters, the filmmakers painstakingly pieced together a compelling narrative that managed to convey both the depth of Bell’s experience and her tortured love life.
Books, letters and archives
Two biographies have been written about Bell, and both are worth reading: Georgina Howell’s 2006 book Queen of the Desert and Janet Wallach’s 1996 effort Desert Queen. Bell published several books documenting her travels and there are also several volumes of her letters, although they are hard to find in print. Original documents are housed at the Gertrude Bell Archive at the University of Newcastle, which has an online catalogue.
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THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
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Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Starring: Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Anthony Ramos
Rating: 2.5/5
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Results
First Test, Brisbane: Australia won by 10 wickets
Second Test, Adelaide: Australia won by 120 runs
Third Test, Perth: Australia won by an innings and 41 runs
Fourth Test: Melbourne: Drawn
Fifth Test: Australia won by an innings and 123 runs
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First leg: Wednesday, 11pm (UAE)
Ajax v Dynamo Kiev
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Cinco in numbers
Dh3.7 million
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The number, in kilograms, that Swarovski’s wedding gown weighed.
1,000
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50
How many looks Cinco has created in a new collection to celebrate Ballet Philippines’ 50th birthday
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The hours needed to create the butterfly gown worn by Aishwarya Rai to the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.
1.1 million
The number of followers that Michael Cinco’s Instagram account has garnered.
Uefa Nations League: How it Works
The Uefa Nations League, introduced last year, has reached its final stage, to be played over five days in northern Portugal. The format of its closing tournament is compact, spread over two semi-finals, with the first, Portugal versus Switzerland in Porto on Wednesday evening, and the second, England against the Netherlands, in Guimaraes, on Thursday.
The winners of each semi will then meet at Porto’s Dragao stadium on Sunday, with the losing semi-finalists contesting a third-place play-off in Guimaraes earlier that day.
Qualifying for the final stage was via League A of the inaugural Nations League, in which the top 12 European countries according to Uefa's co-efficient seeding system were divided into four groups, the teams playing each other twice between September and November. Portugal, who finished above Italy and Poland, successfully bid to host the finals.
