Amid the global scare following the outbreak of swine flu, Saudi Arabia has asked Haj pilgrims to provide health certificate showing that they have received flu shots two weeks prior to their departure for the holy sites in the country, health ministry said.
Shattered and still tense from their harrowed experience, over 100 pilgrims reached in Chandigarh on Friday on two state owned buses from flood ravaged areas around the Sikh shrine of Hemkunt Sahib in Uttarakhand.
Sooraj, hailing from Elanthur in Pathanamthitta district, was one of the main accused in the incident which took place on Tuesday when the hill shrine was opened for the two-day-long "Chithira Atta Thirunal," a special ritual.
The 'Maharishi Valmiki International Airport, Ayodhyadham' has become the 68th civil airport terminal in the country to come under the umbrella of the specialised aviation security group of the central force.
A man touches the place where the idol of Lord Ram will be placed.
The consulate officials said the two were in good health and their relatives have been informed of their impending release. The case has shocked hundreds of expat families in the Kingdom.
Twenty-three Shia pilgrims, including women, returning from Iran were killed on Tuesday when a powerful bomb blast hit a bus in the restive Balochistan province of southwest Pakistan.
More flights will be added from India to Saudi Arabia this year.
Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha flagged off the first batch of 4,890 pilgrims from the Jammu base camp.
In the backdrop of protests being faced by Sri Lankan pilgrims in Tamil Nadu, the island nation's government is arranging a special plane to take them back home on Tuesday. "We get reports that some people follow the pilgrims' groups, intimidate, abuse and even attack them with stones," Sri Lanka Deputy High Commissioner R K M A Rajakaruna said.
Baga and Gokarna make the list of the world's top 100 beaches.
Sixteen Amarnath pilgrims were killed and 16 others injured when a truck carrying them plunged into a deep gorge in Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir late on Thursday night.
The Light and Sound show at Jyotisar, Sri Krishna Museum and Panorama Science Centres in Kurukshetra also remained open throughout the night for the convenience of the tourists.
India abstained in the United Nations General Assembly on a draft resolution introduced by Pakistan and co-sponsored by China on Islamophobia, asserting that the prevalence of 'religiophobia' against Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and other faiths facing violence and discrimination must also be acknowledged rather than singling out just one religion.
A Shree Jagannath Temple Administration official said devotees will be required to wear "decent clothes" to enter the shrine.
While the Congress top brass has declined an invitation to the January 22 consecration ceremony at the Ram temple in Ayodhya, the party's Uttar Pradesh unit stuck to its plan to offer prayers in the holy city on Makar Sankranti.
The Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh will launch the first train carrying Hindus on an officially sponsored free pilgrimage to Haridwar and Rishilesh on March 14.
The Karnataka government on Monday asked those above 60-years of age, with comorbidities, and symptoms of cough, phlegm and fever to mandatorily wear face masks, in the wake detection of a case of COVID-19 sub-variant JN.1 in neighbouring Kerala.
On Monday, a new chapter will be written in Ayodhya's and the country's history with the consecration ceremony at the newly-built Ram temple which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and over 7,000 guests.
The order led to panic in Kashmir which has remained tense for the past few days after the Centre ordered deployment of 100 companies of additional troops in the valley.
The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Jammu and Kashmir government to pave the passage from Panchtarni to Amarnath holy cave with pre-fabricated cement tiles to ensure that pilgrims do not slip on the way.
Nearly 1,000 pilgrims are stranded in various areas of Garhwal following a series of landslides in Uttarkashi and Chamoli districts.
'I believe that Baba Budha Amarnath saved me.'
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal on Wednesday warned that they will not allow pilgrims to reach the Ajmer Dargah, where the annual Urs has begun, unless the Jammu and Kashmir government withdraws its latest order revoking the transfer of forest land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board.Bajrang Dal Rajasthan unit's convenor Mahendra Singh Meena said that Hindu activists of the saffron outfits would block buses carrying pilgrims in Rajasthan during the two-day bandh.
Specially designed coaches for adverse weather conditions have been inducted for rail travel in Kashmir Valley.
Sivadasan's family has demanded a probe into his death.
Resumption of 'Char Dham yatra' after a gap of two Covid-marred years is a welcome development for thousands of people whose livelihoods depend on it, but the death of 78 pilgrims on way to the Himalayan temples in less than a month is causing concern.
A Border Roads Organisation team will be stationed in Joshimath to monitor the yatra on a day-to-day basis and ensure immediate treatment of cracks on roads or any other problem that might arise, the chief minister said.
Twelve people were today killed when the jeep in which they were travelling rammed into a bus that was carrying foreign tourists, police said here. According to the police, the Tata Max jeep was carrying 13 pilgrims who had gone to the Prabhunath temple in Nepal.
One more pilgrim on Monday died while returning from 3,880-mt high Amarnath cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas, taking the death toll in the ongoing yatra to 98.
Six pilgrims died en route to the cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir Himalayas, taking the death toll during the pilgrimage to 30 this year, officials said.
At least 22 pilgrims from Madhya Pradesh were killed on Tuesday and 8 others injured when a bus in which they were travelling fell into Ganga river at Kodiyala in Tehri district of Uttarakhand, police said.
The Pandits congratulated the hajis for completing the pilgrimage and sought their blessings. They offered roses to the pilgrims.
After inaugurating development projects worth nearly Rs 5,000 crore for boosting the agri-economy in the Union territory, Modi said he was "elated to be among the wonderful people of Srinagar".
The Pakistani government should relax its visa policies so that more visitors from India could visit without hindrance, the Daily Times quoted them as saying on arrival.
A month after serial bomb explosions at Bodh Gaya's Mahabodhi temple in Bihar, the temple management body has appealed to foreign monasteries to help woo pilgrims and tourists.
Over 200 pilgrims were taken to safety from Badrinath today with the Uttarakhand government saying that only 500 more remained there with adequate food and medical care even as disposal of bodies in affected areas and transportation of relief material posed a fresh challenge.
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