I'd never heard all the details of the Hajj. That was really interesting.

‘Inside Mecca’ is an interesting documentary made by National Geographic. The film centers on the stories of three people traveling to Mecca (مكة المكرمة‎) to perform Hajj (حج): a Muslim professor from the States, a black journalist from South Africa, and a businessman from Indonesia. The documentary explains the detailed preparations which both the pilgrims and the Saudi authorities must complete so that the Hajj runs smoothly. It also offers an insight into historical and theological origins of Mecca and the Hajj pilgrimage. Some of the problems which can occur during Hajj are also investigated – including racial discrimination.

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28RSipiz6pA
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDWnR42Tyo0
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxSSUSYAv_4
Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBt9AxlV-gA

News from Al-Jazeera English, recorded at 20:00 hrs on January 11, 2007. Reaction to George Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq, Afghanistan events, Bangladesh events, intervention in Somalia.

Al Jazeera (Arabic: الجزيرة‎, meaning "The Island", is a television network headquartered in Doha, Qatar. Al Jazeera initially launched as an Arabic news and current affairs satellite TV channel of the same name, but has since expanded into a network of several specialty TV channels.

The original Al Jazeera channel's willingness to broadcast dissenting views, including on call-in shows, created controversies in autocratic Arab Gulf States. The station gained worldwide attention following the September 11, 2001 attacks, when it broadcast video statements by Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders.

In 1999, New York Times reporter Thomas L. Friedman called Al-Jazeera "the freest, most widely watched TV network in the Arab world." The station first gained widespread attention in the west following the September 11, 2001 attacks, when it broadcast videos in which Osama bin Laden and Sulaiman Abu Ghaith defended and justified the attacks. This led to criticism by the United States government that Al Jazeera was engaging in propaganda on behalf of terrorists. Al Jazeera countered that it was merely making information available without comment, and indeed several western television channels later followed suit in broadcasting portions of the tapes.

On 25 March 2003, two of its reporters covering the New York Stock Exchange had their credentials revoked. NYSE spokesman Ray Pellechia claimed "security reasons" and that the exchange had decided to give access only to networks that focus "on responsible business coverage". He denied the revocation has anything to do with the network's Iraq war coverage.

While prior to September 11th, 2001, the United States government lauded Al Jazeera for its role as an independent media outlet in the Middle East, US spokespersons have since claimed an "anti-American bias" to Al Jazeera's news coverage. In 2004 the competing Arabic-language satellite TV station Al Hurra was launched, funded by the U.S. government.

On January 30, 2005 the New York Times reported that the Qatari government, under pressure from the Bush administration, was speeding up plans to sell the station.

On November 22, 2005, the UK tabloid The Daily Mirror published a story claiming that it had obtained a leaked memo from 10 Downing Street saying that U.S. President George W. Bush had considered bombing Al Jazeera's Doha headquarters in April 2004, when U.S. Marines were conducting a contentious assault on Fallujah.

In light of this allegation, Al Jazeera has questioned whether it has been targeted deliberately in the past — Al Jazeera's Kabul office was bombed in 2001 and a missile hit its office in Baghdad during the invasion of Iraq, killing correspondent Tariq Ayoub. Both of these attacks occurred despite Al Jazeera's provision of the locations of their offices to the United States.

Al Jazeera cameraman Sami Al Hajj was detained while in transit to Afghanistan as an "enemy combatant" in December 2001, and is now held without charge in Camp Delta at Guantánamo Bay.

- More @ <ahref="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_jazeera">Wikipedia. http://english.aljazeera.net/News.