Muslim Pilgrims Elated at Safety as Haj Winds Down
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MECCA, Saudi Arabia  - Muslim pilgrims performed  final rites of the haj on Saturday, with many praising its  safety following fears of stampedes or al Qaeda strikes.
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MECCA, Saudi Arabia  - About 1 million Muslim pilgrims from across the world packed the mosque and streets around the Kaaba shrine in the holy city of Mecca for the last Friday prayers before the annual haj pilgrimage.
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BAGHDAD -- Tens of thousands of Shi'ite Muslim pilgrims headed to a shrine city south of the capital yesterday amid heavy security as the daily toll of casualties mounted in a sectarian war without respite.
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: Shia fighters left the holiest shrine in Najaf today and began turning in their weapons, after tens of thousands of pilgrims celebrated a peace agreement that ended a bloody rebellion.
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ARAFAT, Saudi Arabia  - Tens of thousands of Muslim pilgrims reached the plain of Arafat east of Mecca on Monday, the vanguard of a throng expected to peak at more than 2 million people by Tuesday, the climax of the haj pilgrimage.
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MUZDALIFA, Saudi Arabia  - Millions of Muslim pilgrims moved to Muzdalifa on Tuesday evening after spending the afternoon on the plain of Arafat east of Mecca at the peak of the annual haj pilgrimage.
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Millions of Shiites are making a pilgrimage to Karbala, Iraq, this weekend, despite the threat of snipers and suicide bombers.
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NAJAF, Iraq  For centuries, the world&#39;s 120 million Shiite Muslims have revered the gold-domed mosque of Imam Ali bin Abi Talib named after the slain cousin and son-in-law of Islam&#39;s prophet Muhammad as a place of pilgrimage.
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The faith-based compromise that has brought an apparent end to three weeks of bitter fighting around the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf should also bring thunderous sighs of relief from the Bush
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KERBALA, Iraq  - Thousands of Shi'ite pilgrims defied bombers and gunmen to flock to the holy city of Kerbala on Wednesday, the day after scores were killed in a string of attacks.
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Pilgrims and a new Palestinian leadership celebrated Christmas in the town of Jesusâ birth with prayers for peace on Saturday, lifted by fresh hope following Yasser Arafat&#39;s death.
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MECCA, Saudi Arabia  - "Move along, pilgrim, move along," say the Saudi policemen, trying to clear a path for ambulances or cleaning squads during the world's biggest gathering that is the annual haj pilgrimage to Mecca.
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Shi'ite fighters left the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf Friday and began turning in their weapons, after tens of thousands of pilgrims celebrated a peace agreement that ended a bloody rebellion.
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Muslims from around the world descended on Bangladesh on Friday for the annual Bishwa Ijtema (world congregation), the second biggest gathering of Muslims after the Haj, with troops and police maintaining tight security.
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Millions of Muslims in Mecca for the Hajj can stay connected thanks to free Wi-Fi covering much of the city.
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Saudi Arabia says it is ready to host more than two million pilgrims at this year's haj after tightening security and safety to ensure the annual Muslim rite passes without incident.
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The millions of pilgrims in Mecca this week for the Hajj, an annual gathering of Muslims, can stay connected thanks to a temporary Wi-Fi mesh network covering a large part of the city.Hajjis, as the pilgrims are called, come to the city in Saudi Arabia from around the world for several days of religious rituals. More than 2 million gather each year. A network of about 70 meshed routers from Tropos Networks has been set up to provide free Internet connectivity, according to Denise Barton, director of marketing at Tropos. Users only have to register before using it. Barton believes it is the first public Wi-Fi network set up for the Hajj.Mesh networks are well-suited to temporary deployments because they need fewer fixed-line connections than do traditional Wi-Fi systems. Packets can hop from one router to another until they reach one that&#39;s connected to a landline. The technology has also been used for permanent municipal Wi-Fi networks, including the one Google had built with Tropos equipment in its hometown of Mountain View, California.Saudi Arabia&#39;s Communications and Information Technology Commission appointed an Internet service provider, Bayanat Al-Oula, to provide the temporary network. It was rolled out in less than 60 days with no help from Tropos personnel, Barton said. Aptilo Networks, a wireless-management software and services company based in Stockholm, is running the network as a managed service from its offices in Malaysia. This also helped Bayanat get the infrastructure up and running quickly, said Per Knutsson, Aptilo&#39;s co-founder and director of product development. Aptilo is handling user authentication, security, customer-support calls and other features, as well as setting up the portal visitors use to register for the network.Aptilo and Tropos are no strangers to temporary Wi-Fi networks. Aptilo has managed systems for large sporting events, and in 2004 Tropos built a network in downtown Redwood City, California, for a high-profile murder case. The trial of Scott Peterson, who was convicted of killing his wife and their unborn child, drew massive public and media attention. The county court where the trial took place set up a temporary network with five surveillance cameras and five meshed routers for its own security needs and for reporters who descended on the area for several months.The Mecca network is made up of Tropos 5210 mesh routers, which use IEEE 802.11a for mesh connections and can support users with 802.11a, b and g devices, Barton said. Such networks typically require between 20 and 40 routers per square mile, she said.