Muslims converge on Saudi for haj Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> User-Agent: eGroups-EW/0.82 X-Mailer: Yahoo Groups Message Poster X-Originating-IP: 66.94.237.42 X-eGroups-Msg-Info: 1:12:0:0 X-Yahoo-Post-IP: 85.18.136.86 From: "gwen831" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> X-Yahoo-Profile: gwen831 Sender: osint@yahoogroups.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Mailing-List: list osint@yahoogroups.com; contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Delivered-To: mailing list osint@yahoogroups.com List-Id: <osint.yahoogroups.com> Precedence: bulk List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Mon, 02 Jan 2006 22:12:35 -0000 Subject: [osint] Reply-To: osint@yahoogroups.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=3D79635 Muslims converge on Saudi for haj Tuesday Jan 3 07:02 AEDT More than 1.3 million Muslims have arrived in Saudi Arabia for the annual haj pilgrimage but their numbers will be slightly lower than last year due to safety concerns, a Saudi official says. About 1.5 million foreign pilgrims are expected to arrive in the Muslim holy city of Mecca from all over the world by Sunday when the five-day ritual, which is a duty at least once in a lifetime for every able-bodied Muslim, begins. "Last year we had 1,534,000 (foreign) pilgrims. But the tendency of the new minister of haj affairs is to decrease the number," said Osama al-Bar, who heads a government haj centre. Bar said about a million Saudi-based pilgrims were licensed to take part in the haj. Up to 300,000 more were expected to slip into Mecca without permits, taking the number of total pilgrims to more than 2.5 million. =20=20 A new minister of pilgrimage affairs took over this year. Some 250 pilgrims died in a stampede during the stoning of three stone pillars, which symbolise the devil, at the Jamarat bridge on the third day of haj in January 2004. Authorities say they have tightened health controls for this year's pilgrimage, which health experts have warned could create the conditions in which a fatal flu pandemic could emerge. Many pilgrims come from Asian countries, where the deadly H5N1 form of bird flu has killed more than 70 people since 2003. Bar, who heads the Institute for Haj Research, said renovations to the Jamarat bridge begun last year would be completed after this year's haj, allowing more pilgrims to come in the future. Last year, each of the three pillars was transformed into a wall, making it easier for pilgrims to direct their stones. But there remains the danger of deadly crushes on the bridge where thousands of pilgrims converge toward the walls. "The bridge will be demolished after this year's haj and (replaced with) a new one costing 4.2 billion riyals ($A1.53 billion)," Bar said, outlining a four-level system of entrances and exits to the three walls, including a subway. Haj has been plagued by a series of deadly tragedies in recent years. In 1990, 1,426 pilgrims died in a stampede and in 1997, 343 pilgrims were killed by a fire in a camp. =20 =A9AAP 2006 -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, discuss-o= [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use h= as not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a par= t of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSI= NT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the= included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of inte= lligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, tech= niques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligenc= e related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We= believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as = provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use t= his copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,= ' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml=20 Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ =20
