At least six Pakistani nationals were convicted of violating the sanctity of the Masjid-e-Nabawi (PBUH) in Madina during Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to Saudi Arabia. A court in Madina awarded 10-year jail term each to Anas, Irshad, Muhammad Saleem, while 8-year jail term each to Khawaja Luqman, Muhammad Afzal, and Ghulam Muhammad. The convicts were also fined Saudi Riyal 20,000 each.

Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in a US strike in Afghanistan over the weekend, American President Joe Biden said on Monday. Zawahiri, an Egyptian surgeon who had a $25 million bounty on his head, helped coordinate the Sept 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. “Now justice has been delivered”, Biden said in remarks from the White House. 

An Israeli journalist has breached a total ban on non-Muslim access to Islam’s holiest site in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, triggering an online backlash and potentially straining growing ties between Tel Aviv and Gulf nations. Israel’s Channel 13 News aired a 10-minute report in which journalist Gil Tamary drove past the Grand Mosque that houses the Kaaba, and climbed the Mount of Mercy.

John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to United Nations and former White House national security adviser, admitted that he had helped plan attempted coups in foreign countries. Bolton made the remarks to CNN after the day’s congressional hearing into the Jan 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Bolton \stated that Trump was not competent enough to pull off a “carefully planned coup d’etat.”