Bangladesh has started rebuilding 19 Buddhist temples vandalized by Muslim mobs in violence triggered by anger over Facebook content that defamed the Koran, officials said Thursday.

Army engineers will renovate the temples at a cost of nearly 120 million taka ($1.5 million) on the orders of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who recently visited the area, district administrator Ruhul Amin told Agence France Presse.

Vast crowds of Muslim pilgrims, all dressed in white, flocked from early Thursday to Mount Arafat in Saudi Arabia's west to take part in the main rituals of the annual hajj.

Many pilgrims had camped overnight in the sprawling plain surrounding Mount Arafat but the majority began arriving at dawn.

Guatemala's Mayan people accused the government and tour groups on Wednesday of perpetuating the myth that their calendar foresees the imminent end of the world for monetary gain.

"We are speaking out against deceit, lies and twisting of the truth, and turning us into folklore-for-profit. They are not telling the truth about time cycles," charged Felipe Gomez, leader of the Maya alliance Oxlaljuj Ajpop.

China's religious affairs ministry has lashed out at the rampant commercialization of sacred places and temples in the country, including the practice of employing "fake monks" and fortune-tellers.

In a statement posted online, the State Administration for Religious Affairs, which oversees the country's religious organizations, also criticized plans by some Buddhist and Taoist temples to raise funds by listing on the stock market.

More than two million Muslims began the main rituals of the annual hajj pilgrimage on Wednesday, heading from Mecca to Mina where they rest and pray for the night before moving on to Mount Arafat.

The pilgrims, of whom nearly 1.7 million came to Saudi Arabia from abroad, started to travel by bus, on foot or with the Mashair light railway to the arid plain of Mina where they will spend the night in government supplied tents.

A teardrop of salt, a whisper of saffron, a drizzle of lobster: luxury in small doses was the keynote at a giant food industry fair outside Paris this week.

Out with mustard cubes and marshmallow fluff: simplicity and taste were the common thread among the 19 products to receive a special innovation prize, whittled from a shortlist of about 400 at this year's SIAL fair.

Women are closing the gender gap with men in health and education but struggle to get top jobs and salaries, data from a study of 135 countries showed on Wednesday.

"Gaps in senior positions, wages and leadership levels still persist," even in countries that promote equality in education and have a high level of economic integration among women, the World Economic Forum (WEF) said in its annual Global Gender Gap Report.

Once the refuge of pious Tibetan monks and a few hippie travelers, Dharamshala in the Himalayan foothills is today a crowded and chaotic town where long-term residents fear for its future.

More correctly known as McLeod Ganj, it suffers from the same traffic jams, wail of car horns, construction work and stinking piles of rubbish that afflict India's largest cities.

Like many other Londoners who make a living showing tourists around the city, Viv is telling a group of visitors how Waterloo Bridge was largely rebuilt by women after World War II.

But Viv, 56, is no ordinary tour guide. She is homeless -- and the stairs under the bridge, which boasts majestic views of the Houses of Parliament and St Paul's Cathedral, were once her home.

Praying with a Koran on his knees in a mud-strewn camp, Rohin Mullah is one of thousands of Muslims uprooted by sectarian bloodshed in Myanmar. But the former monk's story is far from normal.

Born a Buddhist, he fell in love with a girl on the other side of the religious divide -- a member of the Rohingya minority group shunned by Myanmar society at large.