Northerly shift in daily prayers

Indonesia's Muslims learned yesterday they have been praying in the wrong direction, after the country's highest Islamic authority said its directive on the direction of Mecca actually had people facing Africa.

Muslims are supposed to face the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia during prayer but the Indonesian Ulema Council issued an edict in March stipulating westward was the correct direction from the world's most populous Muslim country.

"But it has been decided that the mosques are facing Somalia or Kenya, so we are now suggesting people shift the direction to the north-west," the head of the MUI, Cholil Ridwan, said.