How Mecca has changed. Sitting in a corner of the Haram Mosque as the heat of the day begins to ease, you can feel the shadows of a building that soars to the sky in the south.

And indeed, across from the King Abdul Aziz Gate stands a super-building (officially opened last August), called Abraj al Bait. It is a giant over 600 meters high: the tallest clock-tower in the world. The four clock faces at its peak are all copies of London's Big Ben which