Mecca

BEIRUT—Down on Earth, the coronavirus outbreak was felling lives, livelihoods and normalcy. A nation-spanning blessing seemed called for. So up went a priest in a small airplane, rumbling overhead at an epidemiologically safe distance from the troubles below, wielding a sacred golden vessel from a cockpit-turned-pulpit.Before his flight over Lebanon,…

By: New York Times | Beirut | Published: March 25, 2020 10:24:13 am In a world where so many routines have been obliterated, it is the rites themselves that many cherish.(Sergey Ponomarev/The New York Times)(Written by Vivian Yee) Down on Earth, the coronavirus outbreak was felling lives, livelihoods and normalcy.…

The UAE which is home to the world's busiest international airport has suspended all passenger and transit flights in the battle against coronavirus.Dubai's airport is a vital hub connecting Western nations with Asian countries and Australia, and suspending transit flights there will impact travellers around the world. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, announced…

BEIRUT—Down on Earth, the coronavirus outbreak was felling lives, livelihoods and normalcy. A nation-spanning blessing seemed called for. So up went a priest in a small airplane, rumbling overhead at an epidemiologically safe distance from the troubles below, wielding a sacred golden vessel from a cockpit-turned-pulpit.Before his flight over Lebanon,…

JAKARTA/ISTANBUL/MOGADISHU (Reuters) - The coronavirus stopped communal Muslim prayers for the first time in living memory in many mosques from Indonesia to Morocco on Friday, but in some places believers have defied medical advice to join together in worship. In Islam's holiest sanctuary in Mecca, the usually crowded courtyard around…

Mosques are closed, sermons are shortened and communion causes anxietyEditor’s note: The Economist is making some of its most important coverage of the covid-19 pandemic freely available to readers of The Economist Today, our daily newsletter. To receive it, register here. For more coverage, see our coronavirus hubFOR CENTURIES the…

Mosques are closed, sermons are shortened and communion causes anxietyEditor’s note: The Economist is making some of its most important coverage of the covid-19 pandemic freely available to readers of The Economist Today, our daily newsletter. To receive it, register here. For more coverage, see our coronavirus hubFOR CENTURIES the…

Cairo has severely underreported the number of positive cases in the country, according to researchers. But authorities have taken it a step further by arresting people circulating figures higher than the official tally. In Egypt, the first person to die of the novel coronavirus was a 60-year-old German man who…

For the first time in six decades, Iran has requested a loan from the IMF to fight the coronavirus outbreak. US sanctions have isolated the country from the global financial system. They could also stop IMF assistance. Iranian officials confirmed they had asked the International Monetary Fund for a $5…

-6 US Rapper Akon Visits Mecca Before Virus Closure This is the moment US rapper Akon visits the Holy Kaaba in the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca just before its closure amid COVID-19 fears. The Senegalese-American star, who was born to a Muslim family and spent a large part of…