Saudi authorities said Saturday the annual hajj pilgrimage would go ahead despite a crane collapse that killed 107 people at Mecca's Grand Mosque, where crowds returned to pray a day after the disaster.

Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims have already arrived in Mecca for the hajj, one of the world's largest religious gatherings which last year drew two million worshippers.

China on Monday touted "tremendous achievements" in human rights, citing legal improvements, poverty alleviation, freedom of speech and protection for minorities, even as campaign groups point to a tough crackdown on dissent and civil society.

"The tremendous achievements China has made in its human rights endeavours fully demonstrate that it is taking the correct path of human rights development that suits its national conditions," said the report.

Saudi Arabia has barred an Iranian plane carrying Muslim pilgrims to Mecca from entering its airspace because the flight had not applied for a permit, aviation authorities said Thursday.

The plane was carrying 260 passengers heading to perform the lesser pilgrimage, but it was denied access to the kingdom's airspace Wednesday afternoon "due to the lack of a permit" to fly to Saudi Arabia, the kingdom's aviation authority said.

A counter-terrorism conference attended by senior Muslim scholars from around the world on Wednesday called for education reform to tackle religious extremism.

Participants at the meeting in the Saudi holy city of Mecca urged Muslim leaders to review the religious messages in education, "to achieve a more moderate approach."

Saudi authorities on Monday severed the hand of a Yemeni national convicted of repeated theft, under the strict rules of Islamic sharia law applied in the kingdom.

A court had ordered the amputation of Ibrahim Abdulrahman Hazbar's right hand after convicting him of a "series of thefts", the interior ministry said.

Two million Muslims ritually stoned the devil Saturday in the last major ritual of this year's hajj in Saudi Arabia, while fellow believers around the world celebrated Eid al-Adha, the feast of sacrifice.

The stoning took place in Mina, about five kilometers (three miles) east of the Grand Mosque in the holy city of Mecca.

From war-ravaged Iraq and Syria to Ebola-hit Nigeria and dozens of other nations, pilgrims are converging on Saudi Arabia for the annual hajj, the world's largest Muslim gathering.

From early October, close to two million believers will congregate to follow the 1,400-year-old tradition of Islam's Prophet Mohammed.

Pilgrims in their hundreds of thousands thronged Mount Arafat in Saudi Arabia from early Monday for the climax of the annual hajj pilgrimage, arriving on foot, by train or in vehicles.

Officials said they expected around 1.5 million pilgrims to descend on the site, where later in the day they will perform prayers and listen to the annual sermon from Saudi top cleric Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Sheikh.

Saudi Arabia has cut back the number of pilgrims that may perform the hajj this year due to construction work aimed at expanding the holy site of Mecca, the hajj minister said.

The authorities had decided to reduce by half the number of pilgrims coming from within Saudi Arabia, and by about 20 percent those from abroad, said Bandar Hajjar.

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday denied allegations that the kingdom has barred citizens of war-hit Syria from performing the annual Muslim pilgrimage while local media said it has refused to increase hajj country quotas.

"The kingdom is currently working on finalizing all measures needed in coordination with the concerned authorities to enable Syrian pilgrims to perform" the pilgrimage, hajj ministry undersecretary Hatem Qadi said.