Thousands mark Buddha's birthday at Myanmmar's Shwedagon pagoda

Crowds shuffled up a roofed stairway crammed with stalls selling flowers, candles and incense to reach the hilltop complex that dominates the skyline of commercial hub Yangon. Reaching a giant marble platform dotted with smaller shrines, families split off and headed to different parts of the complex to make their offerings. Towering over them was the main, gold-plated spire of the Shwedagon pagoda that rises 99 metres (325 feet) into the sky and is believed to house four relics of the Buddha. Some took selfies against the backdrop...