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
Police break up Nigeria protest as anger mounts over killings in southern state
- Gunmen attacked the village of Yelewata in Benue state, killiing over 100, according to Amnesty International
- Pope Leo XIV condemned the killings, in comments during his Sunday prayer in Rome, calling it a “terrible massacre”
JOS, Nigeria: Police fired tear gas to disperse protesters in the central city of Makurdi on Sunday, as anger mounted over the killing of dozens of people by gunmen in a nearby town.
Gunmen attacked the village of Yelewata on Friday night in a region that has seen a surge in violence amid clashes between Muslim Fulani herders and mostly Christian farmers competing for land and resources.
Police fired tear gas to break up a protest by thousands of people, witnesses said, as demonstrators called on the state’s governor to act swiftly to halt the cycle of violence.
“The protesters were given specific time by the security to make their peaceful protest and disperse,” Tersoo Kula, spokesperson for Benue state’s governor, told AFP.
John Shiaondo, a local journalist, said he was covering the “peaceful protest” when the police moved in and started firing tear gas.
“Many people ran away for fear of injuries, and I also left the scene for my safety,” he told AFP.
Joseph Hir, who took part in the protest, said people were protesting the killings in Benue when the police intervened.
“We are not abusing anyone, we are also not tampering with anybody’s property, we are discharging our rights to peacefully protest the unabated killings of our people, and now the police are shooting tear gas at us,” he told AFP.
Benue state governor Hyacinth Alia told a news conference late Sunday that the death toll had reached 59 in Yelewata, though residents said the toll could exceed 100.
“We will move very quickly to set up a five-man panel... to enable us find out who the culprits are, to know who the sponsors are and to identify the victims and to see how justice will be applied,” Alia said.
Amnesty International put the death toll at more than 100.
The rights group called the attack “horrifying,” saying it “shows the security measures (the) government claims to be implementing in the state are not working.”
Pope Leo XIV also condemned the killings, in comments during his Sunday prayer in Rome, calling it a “terrible massacre” in which mostly displaced civilians were murdered with “extreme cruelty.”
He said “rural Christian communities” in Benue were victims of incessant violence.
Authorities typically blame such attacks on Fulani herders but the latter say they are targets of violence and land seizures too.
Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said in a statement Sunday night he had “directed the security agencies to act decisively and arrest perpetrators of these evil acts on all sides of the conflict and prosecute them.
“Political and community leaders in Benue State must act responsibly and avoid inflammatory utterances that could further increase tensions and killings,” he said.
Governor Alia said earlier that “tactical teams had begun arriving from the federal government and security reinforcements are being deployed in vulnerable areas.”
“The state’s joint operational units are also being reinforced, and the government will not let up its efforts to defend the lives and property of all residents,” he said.
Attacks in the region, part of what is known as the central belt of Nigeria, are often motivated by religious or ethnic differences.
Two weeks ago, gunmen killed 25 people in two attacks in Benue state.
More than 150 people were killed in massacres across Plateau and Benue states in April.
J.J. Spaun weathers the worst of wet Oakmont to win US Open
- “I never thought I would be here holding this trophy,” said Spaun, who finished last year at No. 119 in the world with only one PGA Tour title in his career
OAKMONT, Pennsylvania: J.J. Spaun turned a sloppy mess of a US Open at wet and nasty Oakmont into a thing of beauty at the end Sunday with two stunning shots that carried him to his first major championship.
First came his driver on the 314-yard 17th hole onto the green for a birdie that gave him the lead. Needing two putts from 65 feet on the 18th to win, he finished his storybook Open by holing the longest putt all week at Oakmont for birdie and a 2-over 72.
That made him the only player to finish under par at 1-under 279. It gave him a two-shot victory over Robert MacIntire of Scotland.
And it made Spaun, the 36-year-old Californian who resembles the late Pittsburgh Steelers great Franco Harris, a major champion in only his second US Open.
“I never thought I would be here holding this trophy,” said Spaun, who finished last year at No. 119 in the world with only one PGA Tour title in his career. “I always had aspirations and dreams. I never knew what my ceiling was. I’m just trying to be the best golfer I can be.”
It was calamity for so many others.
Sam Burns had a two-shot lead going to the 11th tee, made a double bogey from a divot in the first cut and from a lie in the fairway so wet he thought he deserved relief. He shot 78.
Adam Scott, trying to become the first player to go more than 11 years between major titles, was tied for the lead with five holes to play. One of the best drivers could no longer find the fairway. He played them in 5 over and shot 79.
“I missed the fairway. I hadn’t done that all week really. Then I did, and I paid the price and lost a lot of shots out there,” Scott said.
Carlos Ortiz and Tyrrell Hatton also slashed away in slushy lies, all making mistakes that cost them a chance to survive this beast of day.
The rain that put Oakmont on the edge of being unplayable might have saved Spaun.
One shot behind at the start of the day, he opened with five bogeys in six holes with some horrific breaks, none worse than hitting the pin on the second hole and seeing it spin back to the fairway. And then came a rain delay of 1 hour, 37 minutes.
“The weather delay changed the whole vibe of the day,” Spaun said.
Remarkably, he made only one bogey the rest of the way.
But oh, that finish.
MacIntyre, the 28-year-old from Oban toughened by the Scottish game of Shinty, became the new target. He also struggled at the start and fell nine shots behind at one point. But he birdied the 17th and split the fairway on the 18th for a key par, a 68 and the clubhouse lead.
Three groups later, Spaun delivered what looked like the winner, a powerful fade that rolled onto the green like a putt and settled 18 feet behind the cup.
And then the final putt — no one made a longer one all week. He was helped by Viktor Hovland being on the same line and going first. Spaun rapped it through the soaked turf, walked to the left to watch it break right toward the hole and watched it dropped as thousands of rain-soaked spectators erupted.
He raised both arms and tossed his putter, jumping into the arms of caddie Mark Carens.
The celebration carried into those who lost the battle.
MacIntyre, so close to becoming Scotland’s first major champion since Paul Lawrie in 1999, sat in scoring in front of a TV and applauded.
Hatton was talking with reporters, bemoaning a bad break on the 17th ended his chances of winning. He watched the Spaun’s putt and it brightened his mood.
“Unbelievable. What a putt to win. That’s incredible,” he said. “I’m sad about how I finished, but I’m very happy for J.J. To win a major in that fashion is amazing.”
Hovland, who shot 73 to finish third, saw it all — the putt at the end, the bogeys at the start.
“After his start, it just looked like he was out of it immediately,” Hovland said. “Everyone came back to the pack. I wasn’t expecting that really. I thought I had to shoot maybe 3-under par today to have a good chance, but obviously the conditions got really, really tough, and this golf course is just a beast.”
Hatton (72) and Ortiz (73), both part of LIV Golf and in serious contention at a major for the first time, tied for fourth along with Cameron Young (70). The consolation for Ortiz was getting into the Masters next year.
Scottie Scheffler, 10 shots behind early in the final round, was somehow still part of the conversation on the back nine. But he missed far too many birdie chances even three-putting from 12 feet no the 11th hole. The world’s No. 1 player finished with a 70 to tie for seventh with Jon Rahm (67) and Burns, his best friend who will feel the sting.
He had a double bogey by missing the green into a bad lie on the slope of a bunker. He missed a pair of 6-foot birdie putts to seize control. And when he made a mess of the 15th for another double bogey.
Through it all, Spaun emerged as a US Open champion hardly anyone saw coming — not at the start of the year, not at the start of the round.
EU chief calls at G7 for world to ‘avoid protectionism’
- “Let us keep trade between us fair, predictable and open. All of us need to avoid protectionism,” von der Leyen says
KANANASKIS, Canada: EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday called on G7 leaders to avoid protectionist trade policies as leaders from the industrialized countries arrived at their annual summit.
“Let us keep trade between us fair, predictable and open. All of us need to avoid protectionism,” von der Leyen said at a press briefing, with US President Donald Trump’s tariff onslaught certain to enter the conversations at the three-day event.
North Korea troops suffered more than 6,000 casualties in Ukraine war, UK defense intelligence says
- North Korea and Russia are under UN sanctions — Kim for his nuclear weapons program, and Moscow for the Ukraine war
SEOUL: North Korean troops have suffered more than 6,000 casualties fighting for Russia in the war against Ukraine, more than half of the about 11,000 soldiers initially sent to the Kursk region, the British Defense Ministry said in a post on X on Sunday.
Trump directs ICE to expand deportations in Democratic-run cities, undeterred by protests
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Sunday directed federal immigration officials to prioritize deportations from Democratic-run cities after large protests have erupted in Los Angeles and other major cities against the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
Trump in a social media posting called on ICE officials “to do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History.”
He added that to reach the goal officials ”must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside.”
Trump’s declaration comes after weeks of increased enforcement, and after Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff and main architect of Trump’s immigration policies, said US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers would target at least 3,000 arrests a day, up from about 650 a day during the first five months of Trump’s second term.
At the same time, the Trump administration has directed immigration officers to pause arrests at farms, restaurants and hotels, after Trump expressed alarm about the impact aggressive enforcement is having on those industries, according to a US official familiar with the matter who spoke only on condition of anonymity.
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