Nearly 1.5 million people begin annual hajj in Saudi

From Asia, Africa and points in between, nearly 1.5 million Muslims begin the annual hajj in western Saudi Arabia Saturday, undeterred by a stampede which last year killed around 2,300. Tens of thousands of Iranians are absent because of long-running tensions between their Shiite nation and Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia, friction exaggerated by the stampede. After preliminary rituals this week in Mecca at the Grand Mosque, Islam's holiest site, the pilgrims will move on Saturday in buses, by trai