SAUDI ARABIA: More than 1,300 people died while visiting Islamic holy sites this year, as the desert kingdom experienced high temperatures, with the majority being Egyptian nationals.

Health Minister Fahd bin Abdurrahman al-Jalajel said that 83 per cent of the fatalities were unauthorised pilgrims who walked long distances to perform the Hajj rituals in and around the holy city of Mecca.

INDIA: The number of people who died after drinking bootleg alcohol last week has risen to 57, with about 156 people still being treated for illnesses such as excessive diarrhoea.

A senior police officer and 10 members of a prohibition enforcement wing have been suspended for negligence while the man who allegedly sold methanol, used in the illegal liquor, to the vendors has been arrested.

GERMANY: A prominent German far-right politician who plans to run for the governor’s job in an eastern state later this year has gone on trial for the second time on charges of knowingly using a Nazi slogan at a political event.

Bjorn Hocke was fined €13,000 (£11,000) last month for using the phrase “everything for Germany,” a verdict that his lawyers are appealing against, with the second trial focusing on a second instance of the same charge.

JERUSALEM: Leaders of major churches have accused Israeli authorities of launching a “co-ordinated attack” on the Christian presence in the Holy Land by initiating tax proceedings against them.

Israeli officials have tried to dismiss the disagreement as a routine financial matter, but the churches say the move upsets a centuries-old status quo and reflects mounting intolerance for a minority Christian presence in the Holy Land.