00:00Good day, welcome to the Gulf News Update for Wednesday, August the 7th.
00:08Here are the top stories at this hour.
00:11Every year, Muslims wait patiently for a committee to cite the moon Farid to be declared.
00:16Now religious scholars say the traditional ways of moon citing must be stopped and scientific
00:21methods adopted.
00:22The new moon will be detected with pinpoint precision with the aid of modern technology.
00:28This year, the confusion came a bit earlier on Ramadan 28 with the Supreme Court of Saudi
00:33Arabia deciding to meet last evening to decide on Eid.
00:37And as Ramadan draws to a close, residents across the UAE are rushing to shopping malls
00:41and retail outlets to complete their last-minute Eid shopping.
00:45The chances for a negotiated end to Egypt's political crisis look to have hit the rocks
00:49with the government reportedly ready to declare that foreign mediation efforts had failed.
00:54Observers say the announcement could precede a heavy crackdown on pro-Morsi supporters
00:59who have been holding sit-ins since their leader was ousted from power.
01:04Security remained tight in Yemen today after the United States and its allies pulled diplomats
01:08out of the country.
01:09Security was also stepped up at missions across the Middle East amid fears of an imminent
01:13al-Qaeda attack.
01:15Fame has opened a door for a former Gaza wedding singer that remains closed for others in the
01:20blockaded territory.
01:22Mohamed Assaf, winner of the popular TV talent contest Arab Idol, gets to move to the West
01:27Bank.
01:28Gayan Bar, an Israeli military spokesperson, confirmed that Israel has granted West Bank
01:33residency to Assaf, his sister, brother-in-law and the couple's three children, responding
01:38to a request by the Palestinian National Authority.
01:42A massive fire shut down Nairobi's international airport this morning with flights diverted
01:46to regional cities, officials said.
01:48Firefighters struggled to put out the blaze in East Africa's most important transport
01:52hub.
01:53There were no initial reports of casualties, but the arrivals and immigration sections
01:57were totally damaged.
01:59Indian and Pakistani commanders spoke by hotline today, a day after Delhi accused Islamabad
02:04of involvement in an ambush that killed five Indian troops.
02:08A Pakistani military source said the director's general of military operations on both sides
02:14discussed the alleged ceasefire violation on the line of control.
02:18The Indian rupee plunged to a new record low yesterday, dropping to 61.80 to the US dollar
02:24and 16.83 dirhams to the rupee.
02:27Later, it pared some of the losses as the government announced the appointment of noted
02:31economist Raghuram Rajan as the new governor of the Reserve Bank of India.
02:37George Duke, the Grammy-winning jazz keyboardist and producer whose sound-infused acoustic
02:41jazz, electronic jazz, funk, R&B, and soul in a 40-year-plus career, has died.
02:47He was 67.
02:48And finally, weather.
02:49The daytime temperature will be 43 degrees Celsius, falling to 32 at night.
02:53That's all for now.
02:54Thanks for watching and as always you can get the latest news at gulfnews.com
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