China has arrested nearly 1,000 people in a crackdown on a Christian sect that spread doomsday rumors and targeted communist rule, state media said Thursday ahead of the supposedly Mayan-foretold apocalypse.

The Christian-inspired group "Almighty God" has been accused of spreading doomsday rumors apparently linked to the ancient Mayan Long Count calendar and urging followers to slay the "red dragon" of communism, state media reports said.

Dim lighting and quiet music accompany a faint smell of decomposing skeletons to complete a ghoulish ambiance that is proving to be a hit with visitors to a giant bone repository in the Czech Republic.

The long-forgotten ossuary in the southern city of Brno opened its doors to the public this year with a display of the best-preserved remains of tens of thousands of souls.

At its peak, the Maya civilization had one of the richest cultures in the Americas. Today, ethnic Mayas in central America and Mexico suffer from discrimination, exploitation and poverty.

In Guatemala, where nearly half of the population is indigenous, descendants of the once-mighty ancient civilization have even fallen victims to genocide.

Malaysia has removed quotas and other restrictions on Christians from the Muslim majority nation making their pilgrimage to Jerusalem, government and church officials said.

The move comes after a string of clashes in recent years between the government and the Christian minority and ahead of national polls which must be held by the middle of next year.

China's state cultural authority criticized a French auction house for selling a historic seal allegedly looted by foreign troops in the 19th century, state media reported Wednesday.

An unidentified official from the State Administration of Cultural Heritage said China opposes and condemns the sale of cultural relics illegally taken out of the country, the Beijing News reported.

Qatar-based company Alnoor Holding has said it will raise the budget for a planned movie series on the life of Prophet Mohammed to $1 billion dollars from the $1.5 million announced three years ago.

The biopics will be produced as a series of "seven films -- instead of three films as per an earlier announcement -- with a total budget of $1 billion," Alnoor chairman Ahmed al-Hashemi said in a statement received by AFP on Tuesday.

AltCity and Migrant Workers' Task Force (MWTF) are holding an event to coincide with International Human Rights Day from December 16 to 22.

“Everyone in Lebanon has human rights. Through photo essays, infographics, and positive social interactions we are working toward justice for migrant workers in Lebanon,” Dima Saber, Co-founder of AltCity, said.

A painting by the 80-year-old Spanish artist who became famous for her botched restoration of a Christ fresco in a small-town church has fetched €1,080 ($1,421) on eBay.

The closing price Tuesday for Celia Gimenez's oil painting "Las Bodegas de Borja" ("Borja's Wine Cellar") more than tripled its starting price after 52 bids.

Chinese police have detained more than 100 people, among them members of a fringe Christian group, for spreading rumors about the world's impending end, state media reported Tuesday.

Police seized leaflets, video discs, books and other apocalyptic materials in the recent arrests of 101 people across eight provinces and regions, from the prosperous east coast to less developed western China, the Xinhua News Agency said.

Before the creation of the Earth, there was only silence and darkness, only the sky and the sea until the deities Tepeu and Gucumatz created trees, animals and man -- so says the Mayan holy book.

The Popol Vuh is a spiritual and philosophical book that explains the creation of the world. Even today, it plays an important role in defining the identity of ethnic Mayas in Mexico and central America.