News Headlines - 29 July 2020

▽Hajj 2020 begins -- with 1,000 pilgrims, rather than the usual 2 million | CNN Travel

Islam's most important annual pilgrimage began Tuesday with just a small fraction of its regular number of worshippers, amid concerns over the coronavirus.
Only around 1,000 pilgrims will attend the Hajj this year due to new crowd control restrictions put in place by Saudi Arabia. The holy sites in the cities of Mecca and Medina normally host more than 2 million people during the pilgrimage.
For the first time in decades, international travelers have been barred from the Hajj. Some 70% of the worshippers this year are foreign residents of Saudi Arabia, with the rest being Saudi nationals. All of those selected to take part are aged between 20 and 50.

▽India is blocking more apps in the wake of the TikTok ban - CNN

India is banning dozens more apps and reportedly reviewing hundreds of others from well-known Chinese companies, as tensions between the world's most populous countries continue to rise.
The Indian government banned an additional 47 apps, all clones or variations of 59 other apps India blocked last month on national security grounds, an official at India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology told CNN Business on Tuesday.
Caught up in the initial ban were several prominent Chinese apps, including the wildly popular video sharing app TikTok. App clones or variants would likely include lighter versions designed for entry-level smartphones with limited memory.

▽Ecuador on alert over huge Chinese fishing fleet off Galapagos Islands - BBC News

Ecuador is on alert due to the appearance of a huge fleet of mostly Chinese-flagged fishing vessels off its Galapagos Islands.
Patrols are trying to ensure the fleet - which is made up of around 260 vessels - does not enter the delicate eco-system from international waters... In 2017, a Chinese vessel was caught in the marine reserve with 300 tonnes of wildlife, most of it sharks.

▽Japan's daily coronavirus cases top 1,000 for 1st time - The Mainichi

The number of fresh cases of novel coronavirus confirmed Wednesday in Japan topped 1,000 for the first time as a resurgence of infections has begun to expand beyond Tokyo.
The record single-day tally of 1,260 as of midnight, based on information given by local authorities, came after prefectures other than Tokyo with huge urban populations, including Aichi, Osaka and Fukuoka, reported their highest numbers of infections.

▽Japan's only prefecture with zero COVID cases reports first infections - The Mainichi

Japan's northeastern prefecture of Iwate, the only prefecture in the country to have reported zero coronavirus cases, confirmed its first infections on July 29 as the country saw the daily number of cases top 1,000 for the first time.
The Iwate Prefectural Government said two people have tested positive for the virus.