Saudi King Abdullah on Saturday demanded a U.N. resolution condemning insults on monotheistic religions after a low-budget film produced in the U.S. sparked deadly protests last month.

"I demand a U.N. resolution that condemns any country or group that insults religions and prophets," he said during a meeting at his palace with religious figures and heads of hajj delegations in the Mina valley where pilgrims were performing final rituals of hajj.

Jacques Barzun, a pioneering cultural historian, reigning public intellectual and longtime Ivy League professor who became a best-selling author in his 90s with the acclaimed "From Dawn to Decadence," has died. He was 104.

Barzun, who taught for nearly 50 years at Columbia University, passed away Thursday evening in San Antonio, where he had lived in recent years, his son-in-law Gavin Parfit said.

The United States has returned more than 4,000 artifacts to Mexico, some more than 1,500 years old, that were brought across the border illegally, U.S. customs officials said.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Thursday that the artifacts had been seized at the border and inside the United States in more than a dozen operations in recent years.

It's scratchy, lasts only 78 seconds and features the world's first recorded blooper.

The modern masses can now listen to what experts say is the oldest playable recording of an American voice and the first-ever capturing of a musical performance, thanks to digital advances that allowed the sound to be transferred from flimsy tinfoil to computer.

An archaeologist says a structure that is believed to be the remains of an ancient Hindu temple has been unearthed on Indonesia's resort island of Bali.

Wayan Swantika of the local archaeology agency says workers digging a drainage basin last week in eastern Denpasar, Bali's capital, at first discovered a large stone about 1 meter (3 feet) underground.

Hundreds of thousands of Muslim pilgrims began to stone a pillar representing Satan in the Saudi holy city of Mina on Friday, the first day of the Eid al-Adha holiday.

Worshipers from 189 countries surrounded Jamrat al-Aqaba, the largest of three adjacent pillars, in the rite which they will continue at least until Saturday. The ritual marks the start of the Muslim holidays.

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.