Animal stunning slowly being accepted by Turkey's halal butchers, say activists

As Eid al-Adha begins, a campaign for painless killing is starting to win favour with slaughterhouses and religious leaders

As Turkey gears up for Eid al-Adha, or Qurban Bayram, the Muslim festival of sacrifice, animal rights campaigners are celebrating progress in their efforts to convince religious leaders, butchers and slaughterhouses of the merits of stunning animals before ritual slaughter.

Livestock warehouses across the country were busy on Thursday before the festival began at sunset, with families inspecting sheep and cows to slaughter in honour of Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son Ismael.

Related: How the Middle East's water shortage drives demand for live animal imports

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Eid at Croke Park: 'It shows Ireland has moved to accept diversity'

The GAA, long a symbol of Catholic Ireland, is embodying change as it hosts Muslim celebration at its HQ

For most of its 136-year history the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) has embodied an Irish identity that was Catholic, nationalist and conservative.

Croke Park, the organisation’s main Dublin stadium and its headquarters, was named after an archbishop, Thomas Croke, who promoted Gaelic football, hurling and other indigenous games to counter English sports.

Related: Hong Kong property tycoon pitches new city idea to Ireland

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Scaled-down hajj begins in coronavirus era – in pictures

Attendance limited to 10,000 people already residing in Saudi Arabia, rather than the usual 2 million including from abroad, amid Covid-19 restrictions

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Man on trial for blasphemy shot dead in court in Pakistan

Tahir Ahmed Naseem is latest victim of violence connected to blasphemy laws

A Pakistani man on trial for blasphemy has been shot dead in a courtroom, in the latest violent incident connected with the country’s blasphemy laws.

Tahir Ahmed Naseem had been in prison since his arrest in 2018, allegedly after claiming he was a prophet. He is a member of the Ahmedi sect, which is persecuted in Pakistan where they have officially been declared non-Muslims.

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