cTwo million Muslims from across the globe are converging on Mecca in Saudi Arabia for the hajj pilgrimage, a religious duty and for some pilgrims the journey of a lifetime. This year sees the return of pilgrims from Shiite Iran, regional rival to Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia, and comes...

Iraqi officials say a car bomb has ripped through a busy market area in eastern Baghdad, killing at least six people. A police officer says the explosives-laden car went off on Monday morning at the wholesale Jamila market in Baghdad's Shiite district of Sadr City. He says the explosion also...

( The Guardian )- Iraqi forces have retaken almost all of Tal Afar, Islamic State’s stronghold in the north-west of the country, the military has said. Fighting was ongoing in al-Ayadiya, a small area just outside the city. Iraqi forces were waiting to retake the city’s surrounding areas...

( The Guardian )- Several hundred Gazans went to the cinema on Saturday for the first time in more than 30 years, albeit for one night only. The long-abandoned Samer cinema in Gaza City, the oldest in the strip but closed for decades, hosted a special screening of a film about Palestinians...