International News
Hajj Draws 1.8 Million Pilgrims, Falls Short Of Record

This year’s figures still mark a dramatic increase on the 926,000 from last year, when numbers were capped at one million following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Muslim pilgrims perform the “Tawaf al-Ifada”, a mandatory circumambulation around the Kaaba (the Cube), Islam’s holiest shrine, at the start of the annual Hajj pilgrimage at the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Mecca on August 11, 2019, following their descent from Mount Arafat. FETHI BELAID / AFP
This year’s annual hajj pilgrimage has drawn more than 1.8 million worshippers, Saudi Arabia’s statistics authority said Tuesday, a long way short of a record despite predictions of peak attendance.
The kingdom’s officials had predicted this year’s rituals, one of the world’s largest religious gatherings, would draw more than 2.5 million pilgrims, making it the largest to date.
But official figures carried by the state-run Al Ekhbariya TV showed they were still short of the 2.5 million worshippers who took part in 2019.
“The total number of pilgrims for this hajj season… is 1,845,045 male and female pilgrims,” the Saudi statistics authority said, according to Al Ekhbariya.
This year’s figures still mark a dramatic increase on the 926,000 from last year, when numbers were capped at one million following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Only 10,000 were allowed in 2020, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, rising to nearly 59,000 a year later.
The hajj is among the five pillars of Islam and must be undertaken by all Muslims with the means at least once in their lives.
AFP
International News
5 Key Players Barca Will Let Go This Summer
Barcelona are set to let five key players leave the club this summer, as they plan a squad overhaul, according to reports.
The Blaugrana are currently sitting nine points clear at the top of LaLiga, and are set to romp to a second consecutive title ahead of rivals Real Madrid.
However, after more disappointment in the Champions League, in which they were dumped out by Atletico Madrid, Hansi Flick and the board at Barcelona are preparing to rebuild their squad at the end of the campaign.
Spanish media outlet Marca are reporting that there are five players who have ‘completed a cycle at the club’ and will likely be moved on come the summer.
Marcus Rashford is one of those players. Barcelona can buy the 28-year-old, who is on loan from Manchester United, for £26million under the terms of the deal, but reports have emerged that they are not willing to exercise that option.
The 28-year-old has contributed 12 goals and 13 assists this season to help the Catalan giants run rampant in LaLiga, and as recently as last week, it was believed that Barca would like to keep him.
However, they have made a failed bid to renegotiate the £26m fee with United, who are refusing to budge on the clause which expires on June 15 – four days after the World Cup kicks off in North America.
It means there is a strong chance that Rashford will be forced to return to his boyhood club following England duty if he is selected for the tournament this summer.
Another attacker who seems set for the exit door is none other than Robert Lewandowski.
The Pole, who joined Barcelona from Bayern Munich in 2022, is out of contract in the summer, and there has been little indication that he will sign a new deal at the club.
It is believed that both Lewandowski’s ‘age and recent physical problems’ have thrust his future at Barca into doubt.
Barcelona are said to be looking at freeing up some financial legroom, and for that reason, they want to offload stars on big wage packets.
One of those players is Frenkie de Jong, who is understood to be on just under €400,000 (£348,000) per week, and Marca suggest that he could be sold to ‘ease the financial burden’ on the Spanish giants.
Former Chelsea defender Andreas Christensen and La Masia graduate Marc Casado are also said to be on the proverbial chopping block.
Christensen played 161 games in six seasons with the Blues before making the move to Catalonia in 2022 on a four-year deal. That deal is now set to expire, and there are no plans for an extension at this moment in time.
Casado, however, still has two years left on his contract, but due to a lack of minutes, could be forced to find a new club.
The defensive midfielder has failed to break into the team ahead of Pedri, Eric Garcia, and Gavi, and has started only one of the last eight LaLiga games.
International News
Gunman Kills Tourist, Injures Six In Mexico
A gunman killed a Canadian tourist and wounded six other people on Monday at Mexico’s famed Teotihuacan archaeological site, authorities said.
The gunman killed himself after opening fire at the heavily visited destination in central Mexico, home to pre-Aztecan pyramids, according to a security official.
The shooting occurred on the Pyramid of the Moon, a 45-meter (nearly 150-foot) high monument visitors are allowed to climb using steep steps carved of volcanic rock.
Six people were wounded by gunfire and taken to local hospitals, including a Canadian woman, a Colombian woman and child, a Brazilian and two Americans.
Seven other people were injured in the scramble for safety and were treated at the scene after the gunman — identified as Julio Cesar Jasso Ramirez of Mexico — opened fire.
The midday shooting stunned tourists at one of Mexico’s most visited pre-Hispanic sites, less than two months before the 2026 World Cup kicks off with games in Mexico, the United States and Canada.
AFPTV footage showed a body wrapped in a white sheet being walked down the steps of the pyramid.
State authorities at the scene seized a firearm, a knife and unused ammunition and evacuated tourists from the premises.
More than 2,000 years old, the pyramid city near Mexico City attracted over 1.8 million visitors in 2025, tourism officials said.
Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand in a post on X called the attack “a horrific act of gun violence.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum called for a thorough investigation, and said she sent personnel to the site to provide assistance.
“What happened today in Teotihuacan deeply pains us,” Sheinbaum posted on X.
‘Send security’

Located about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the capital Mexico City, Teotihuacan draws domestic and foreign tourists to see its pyramids and its Avenue of the Dead.
Federal security officials said police and the national guard were dispatched to the area following the attack.
Videos on social media showed the gunman firing periodic shots from a pistol about halfway up the Pyramid of the Moon while some tourists took cover behind stairs below and others fled.
“A person is opening fire on us, take care friends, send security,” a voice from one video, which AFP has not verified, can be heard saying.
Other videos show authorities examining the pyramid in a complex cordoned off with crime-scene tape.
Designated as a World Heritage site of “outstanding universal value” by the United Nations, the monuments at Teotihuacan were built in the pre-Hispanic Classic period — a golden age of Mesoamerican history — between the first and seventh centuries.
Mexico’s nearly 200 archaeological sites are popular with tourists, and although accidents have been reported, this is the first reported case of armed violence in decades.
While Mexico continues to struggle with frequent drug gang-related violence, untargeted mass shootings are relatively rare, especially compared to the country’s northern neighbor, the United States.
Mexico expects over 5.5 million visitors for the World Cup in June, when the popular football contest hosts national teams from around the world.
American tourist Anna Durmont, a 37-year-old art historian, told AFP she was walking towards the pyramid when she was startled by the sight of emergency vehicles and police.
“It actually felt extremely calm,” Durmont said, explaining she hadn’t heard gunfire.
“It was very measured. The park is full of souvenir sellers and they hadn’t left. It wasn’t clear to us until we got closer that there was a serious emergency,” she said.
International News
Snakebite Victim Dies After Family Immerses Him in River
A 13-year-old teenager in India tragically lost his life after his family kept him immersed in the Ganges River for 12 hours following a snake bite instead of seeking medical help, the country’s media reported.
The death of the young boy recently caused outrage throughout India and reignited the heated debate regarding the potentially deadly consequences of superstition and the denial of proper medical care.
Acting on the instructions of a ‘witch doctor,’ a rural family kept their 13-year-old son immersed in the holy Ganges River for 12 hours, instead of taking him to a hospital after he got bitten by the poisonous snake.
The boy, whose name was given simply as Amit, a Class 4 student from Pitampur village in Uttar Pradesh, was bitten by the snake last week Thursday.
He immediately told his family what happened, but instead of rushing him to a hospital, they decided to consult a witch doctor.
The man reportedly told the family to tie Amit to bamboo poles and keep his body immersed in the Ganges River, so that the holy water of the river could cure him.
Indian media reported after 12 hours, the family noticed that Amit had become unconscious, and then they finally decided to take him to a medical doctor, but by that time, there was nothing to be done.
Even after learning of Amit’s death, the family allegedly tried to throw his body into the Ganges, hoping for a miracle.
Dr. Shashank Chaudhary of the health centre in the village told reporters that he and his colleagues routinely conduct awareness-raising campaigns, urging people to come to the hospital immediately after getting bitten by snakes, as every minute counts.
Amit’s preventable death sparked outrage on social media, with many asking that his parents should face consequences for their negligence.
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