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World news at a glance

The Saudi government has been rapidly expanding Mecca’s hajj facilities to accommodate more pilgrims.

The Saudi government has been rapidly expanding Mecca’s hajj facilities to accommodate more pilgrims. At its peak in 2012, the hajj included 3.16 million pilgrims. But even at a rate of 3 million people per hajj, it would be impossible for all the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims to perform the Islamic duty of the pilgrimage in their lifetimes. In fact, for all Muslims who are alive today to perform hajj, it would take at least 581 years.

Pope Francis Will Be Visiting a Changed Ireland

The Irish church was once the bedrock of European Catholicism. In 1979, when Pope John Paul II made the last papal visit to Ireland, divorce, homosexual acts and abortion were all illegal. But in the intervening decades a clerical sexual abuse scandal, the tearing of children away from unwed mothers and other awful abuses against vulnerable Catholics have hastened a blooming of secular modernity and the evaporation of the church’s authority. Pope Francis this weekend will go to a country that was Europe’s first to legalize same-sex marriage by a popular vote, that has a gay prime minister, and that in May voted to strip a ban on abortion from its constitution.

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Former Argentine President’s Homes Searched in Corruption Inquiry

Investigators on Thursday raided homes owned by former President Cristina Fernández of Argentina, a significant development in a corruption investigation that officials are calling the most consequential in the country’s history. The searches were requested by prosecutors who have described Fernández, who governed Argentina from 2007 to 2015, and her late husband and predecessor, Néstor Kirchner, as the leaders of a wide-ranging kickback scheme involving government contracts. In an impassioned 45-minute speech Wednesday night, Fernández, who is a member of the Senate, vehemently denied any wrongdoing and accused the administration of President Mauricio Macri of using the courts to persecute her.

Man on Terror Watch List Kills Relatives Near Paris, Police Say

A man on a terrorism watch list fatally stabbed his mother and sister, and seriously wounded another person, in a Paris suburb Thursday, before police shot him to death, authorities said. As of Thursday night, officials said they believed that the killing was related to family issues, which a spokesman for the Interior Ministry described as “pretty tense.” The Amaq News Agency, which is linked to the Islamic State group, said the group had claimed responsibility for the knife attack. The claim was made in language indicating that the attacker was inspired by the group’s ideology rather than being a core member of it.

U.K. Outlines Plan to Avert Chaos of a No-Deal Brexit

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The British government issued its first contingency plans Thursday for leaving the European Union without an agreement, seeking to prepare the public for possible disruptions without spreading alarm that could undermine support for the entire undertaking. The government emphasized that it hoped and expected to work out a deal with the European Union. But in a series of technical documents, it warned that without an agreement importers and exporters could face significant bureaucratic hurdles, that credit or debit card payments in continental Europe could cost more, and that British citizens living in the bloc could lose access to banking and pension services.

British Airways and Air France to Suspend Iran Service

Two major European airlines said Thursday they would suspend service to Tehran, Iran, next month, a double-punch that underscored the power of reimposed U.S. sanctions on Iran and the limited abilities of others to sidestep them. The suspensions, by British Airways and Air France, mean at least three large European carriers will quit flying to and from the country in September. KLM, the Dutch sister airline of Air France, announced a similar suspension last month. The moves seemed bound to deepen Iran’s sense of economic isolation, which has worsened considerably since President Donald Trump scrapped U.S. participation in the nuclear agreement negotiated by the administration of Barack Obama.

Scott Morrison, a Pragmatic Conservative, Is Set to Be Australia’s New Leader

A relative moderate in Australia’s conservative party and an ally of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is poised to succeed him after a vote Friday that capped days of chaos in the capital and underscored just how turbulent Australian politics have become. Scott Morrison, who has been serving as the country’s treasurer, is set to become the sixth prime minister in 11 years after the vote by the governing party’s lawmakers. The vote was the second challenge this week to the leadership of Turnbull — who himself assumed office by leading a party revolt in 2015.

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