JEDDAH: Saudi Hajj and Umrah Minister Mohammed Salih Bentin visited the National Tawafa Establishment for South Asian Pilgrims to oversee its preparations and services for this year’s Hajj season.
He viewed a simulation model of a pilgrim hostel, preparations by the emergency and safety committee, and a simulation model to introduce heads of pilgrims’ affairs offices and tourism companies to the Two-Story Family project, which aims to improve pilgrim housing.
Raafat bin Ismail Badr, chairman of the National Tawafa Establishment, said: “We are constantly working to improve performance and services every year, in a manner that is in line with the special care the country’s leadership gives to the visitors of Makkah.”
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Minister inspects preparations for Hajj pilgrims
Minister inspects preparations for Hajj pilgrims
- The Hajj, the largest annual pilgrimage in the world, is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in the lifetime of every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so
All smiles as Djokovic and Kyrgios treat crowd to flashy shots in doubles victory
- It was Kyrgios’ first match in 18 months due to wrist and knee injuries, while Djokovic missed the season-ending ATP Finals
BRISBANE: Exchanging smiles, laughs and flashy shots, Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios teamed up in doubles on Monday as they both returned to the court in preparation for the Australian Open.
The two former Wimbledon final opponents reached the second round of the Brisbane International with a 6-4, 6-7 (4), 10-8 win against Alexander Erler and Andreas Mies.
It was Kyrgios’ first match in 18 months due to wrist and knee injuries, while Djokovic missed the season-ending ATP Finals last month with an unspecified injury.
They had the crowd on their feet several times at Pat Rafter Arena, including when Djokovic flicked an around-the-net backhand winner during the first set. Djokovic then turned to point at a grinning Kyrgios, who slapped Djokovic’s outstretched hand in celebration.
“That’s just an iconic Novak moment. The way the guy moves around the court, I’ve never moved like that in my life. I was just loving it,” said Krygios, who treated the crowd to some shot-making of his own.
When Kygrios won another point following another extravagant shot — playing the ball between his legs, known as a tweener — he jogged proudly around the court with a grinning Djokovic chasing after him.
Then, after Kyrgios sealed the win with an ace, the pair jumped in the air to chest-bump each other.
“We tried to get the crowd on our side,” Djokovic said. “Get that energy and just use it for some good tennis.”
Kyrgios lost to Djokovic in the 2022 Wimbledon final, but the 29-year-old Australian had not played tennis since June 2023.
“This injury has been brutal for me so I wasn’t taking any of this for granted,” Kyrgios said afterward in a courtside interview. “I don’t know how many Aussie summers I’ve got left so I was just looking around and loving the energy and just so happy to be back out here.”
The 37-year-old Djokovic has won the Australian Open singles title a record 10 times and counts a men’s record 24 majors. He owns 99 singles titles overall but only one in doubles.
Kyrgios won the won the 2022 Australian Open doubles title alongside Thanasi Kokkinakis, and said the timing was right to team up with Djokovic in Brisbane before the Australian Open starts next month.
“We promised that we were going to do this one more time before either he goes or I go, so I’m glad we’re still alive,” Kyrgios said.
Djokovic quickly agreed to the idea.
“He said the other day that it should be a pleasure to play with him, and it is. I’m glad to share the court with him on his comeback,” Djokovic said. “I haven’t played that many doubles matches in my life.”
They were given a wild-card entry into the doubles tournament and next face top-seeded pair Nikola Mektic and Michael Venus.
Saudi crown prince offers condolences after South Korea plane crash
- All 175 passengers and four of the six crew were killed when a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 belly-landed and skidded off the end of the runway at Muan International Airport
RIYADH: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sent a cable of condolences to South Korea’s acting President Choi Sang-mok after a plane crash killed 179 people on Sunday.
All 175 passengers and four of the six crew were killed when a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 belly-landed and skidded off the end of the runway at Muan International Airport, erupting in a fireball as it slammed into a wall. Two crew members were pulled out alive.
The crown prince extended his condolences to the families of the deceased and the people of South Korea and wished the injured a speedy recovery.
What We Are Reading Today: ‘Genius at Play’ by Siobhan Roberts
A mathematician unlike any other, John Horton Conway (1937–2020) possessed a rock star’s charisma, a polymath’s promiscuous curiosity, and a sly sense of humor.
Conway found fame as a barefoot professor at Cambridge, where he discovered the Conway groups in mathematical symmetry and the aptly named surreal numbers.
He also invented the cult classic Game of Life, a cellular automaton that demonstrates how simplicity generates complexity — and provides an analogy for mathematics and the entire universe.
Two killed in Gaza as aid convoy looted: WFP
- WFP said “coordinated movement to bring in 40 trucks on behalf of humanitarian partners” Sunday “was faced with violent, armed looting, resulting in the deaths of two”
GAZA STRIP: Two people have been killed in northern Gaza as gunmen attacked an aid convoy, the World Food Programme said Monday, prompting Hamas to accuse to UN agency of having failed to coordinate security.
Gazans face dire conditions after nearly 15 months of war, triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, with humanitarian agencies repeatedly warning not enough aid was reaching Palestinians in need due in part to looting as well as Israeli restrictions.
The World Food Programme (WFP) said in a statement that “a coordinated movement to bring in 40 trucks on behalf of humanitarian partners” on Sunday “was faced with violent, armed looting, resulting in the deaths of two.”
“Amidst the armed looting, five trucks of commodities were lost,” it added.
Hamas, the Palestinian group that runs the Gaza Strip, said in a statement that “a catastrophic mistake” by the WFP “claimed the lives of two citizens and injured dozens with bullets.”
“We hold it fully responsible and demand that it not violate the protocol followed regarding coordination to secure aid trucks,” the statement said.
The WFP said in its statement that for the past two weeks, “nearly every movement of aid through crossings in south and central Gaza has resulted in violence, looting and tragic deaths due to attacks and the absence of law and order along convoy routes inside Gaza.”
The organization said that it was still following “procedures of coordination set in place in previous months” and that it had “repeatedly warned of the dangers of movement in the absence of law and order” in the Palestinian territory.
For months, both Israel and aid agencies including the WFP have noted widespread looting by armed gangs, as well as civilians desperate for supplies.
Humanitarian agencies also say the delivery routes they take through Gaza are sometimes blocked by Israeli military activity.
Aid organizations have repeatedly warned of the deteriorating conditions in Gaza, saying civilians are starving and that aid shipments in recent months have been lower than at any time during the war.
US and foreign leaders praise Jimmy Carter’s legacy
Joe Biden led US presidents and other world leaders in paying tribute to Jimmy Carter, who died aged 100.
“America and the world lost an extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House on Sunday.
He added later in a televised address that Carter “lived a life measured not by words, but by his deeds.” “We’d all do well to try and be a little more like Jimmy Carter.”
President-elect Donald Trump said Americans owe
Carter “a debt of gratitude.” “The challenges Jimmy faced as president came at a pivotal time for our country and he did everything in his power to improve the lives of all Americans,” he said on social media. Among former US presidents, Bill Clinton said his predecessor had “worked tirelessly for a better, fairer world.”
George W. Bush said Carter “dignified the office. And his efforts to leave behind a better world didn’t end with the presidency.”
Barack Obama hailed Carter for teaching “all of us what it means to live a life of grace, dignity, justice and service.”
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