Two million Muslims gathered at Saudi Arabia’s Mount Arafat on Saturday amid the summer heat and regional tensions for a vigil to atone for their sins and seek God’s forgiveness as part of the annual haj pilgrimage. Pilgrims clad in white robes signifying a state of purity spent the...

 The United Arab Emirates' Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed called Saturday for an end to the military escalation in Yemen's southern city of Aden, the UAE official news agency WAM reported.

More than 2 million pilgrims have gathered in the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia to perform initial rites of the hajj, an Islamic pilgrimage that takes the faithful along a path traversed by the Prophet Muhammad some 1,400 years ago. The hajj in Islam is meant to unify Muslims, with...

In the Saudi city of Mecca, dotted with fast food eateries and stalls selling Chinese-made trinkets, vendors are ready to cash in on the annual hajj pilgrimage. "Business is going very well," said Faisal Addais from his stall close to the Grand Mosque -- Islam's holiest site. "The...