Million-plus pilgrims to begin hajj under blazing sun

More than a million worshippers were set to join Islam’s most important rite under a beating sun as the hajj pilgrimage kicked off Wednesday, with authorities scrambling to avoid last year’s 1,000-plus deaths in sweltering heat.

In temperatures that are expected to climb to more than 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), robed pilgrims will slowly circle the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest site — the black cubic structure at the centre of Mecca’s Grand Mosque.

About 1.4 million pilgrims arrived…