Iraq's top Shiite cleric has called for wide participation in next month's parliament elections, saying that despite "shortcomings," voting remains the best way for Iraqis to take part in shaping their country's future.

Iraqis are headed to the polls Oct. 10 for early elections characterized by widespread apathy and concerns of low voter turnout. The elections are being held a year before they had been scheduled to take place in line with a key demand of protesters who filled the streets in October 2019 demanding change in the country, where corruption is widespread.

Mehdi Dolatyari watched with dread in recent months as once-affordable goods at his central Tehran supermarket soared out of reach for his customers. Iranians who previously bought sacks of staple foods at the store now struggle to scrape together enough for meals, as the country's currency sinks to new lows against the dollar.

"Rice is awfully expensive," Dolatyari said, describing how its price has nearly doubled.

Israel's foreign minister headed to Bahrain on Thursday, the first high-level visit to the small Gulf state by a senior Israeli official since the signing last year of a landmark agreement to establish diplomatic ties.

Yair Lapid flew to Bahrain's capital, Manama, for meetings with his Bahraini counterpart and to inaugurate Israel's embassy. It will be the first official visit by an Israeli Cabinet member.

This fall, the academic year in Lebanon is gripped by the same chaos that has overwhelmed everything else in the country in its financial and economic meltdown.

Thousands of teachers are on strike, demanding salary adjustments to cope with hyperinflation and the currency's free-fall. A month's pay is now barely enough to fill a vehicle's gas tank twice.

North Korea leader Kim Jong Un expressed his willingness to restore stalled communication lines with South Korea in coming days while shrugging off U.S. offers for dialogue as "cunning ways" to conceal its hostility against the North, state media reported Thursday.

Kim's statement is an apparent effort to drive a wedge between Seoul and Washington as he wants South Korea to help him win relief from crippling U.S.-led economic sanctions and other concessions. Pyongyang this month has offered conditional talks with Seoul alongside its first missile firings in six months and stepped-up criticism of the United States.

Ecuador's president has declared a state of emergency in the prison system following a battle among gang members in a coastal lockup that killed at least 116 people and injured 80 in what authorities say was the worst prison bloodbath ever in the country.

Officials said at least five of the dead were found to have been beheaded.

Three Palestinians were killed Thursday by Israeli fire, including a woman who tried to stab officers in Jerusalem, a militant shot during West Bank clashes and a Gazan who approached the border fence.   

The violence comes days after an Israeli raid on militants in the occupied West Bank left five Palestinians dead.

A French foreign ministry spokesperson on Wednesday said Paris "regrets the suspension" of the probe into the Beirut port blast, urging the Lebanese judiciary to work "in total transparency, and without any political interference" so that investigations could proceed.

"It is up to the Lebanese authorities to allow the probe to continue with all the necessary financial and human resources so it can shed light on what happened on Aug. 4 and meet the legitimate expectations of the Lebanese people," French Foreign Ministry spokesperson Anne-Claire Legendre told reporters in Paris.

The new government held its first meeting Wednesday since it won a vote of confidence last week.

The president and prime minister authorized a committee to resume bailout talks with the International Monetary Fund over Lebanon's worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history. Talks with the IMF were suspended last year.

Luis Suárez converted a stoppage-time penalty after Antoine Griezmann scored his first goal since returning to Atlético Madrid as the Spanish team fought back to beat 10-man AC Milan 2-1 in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Griezmann leveled six minutes from time and Atlético was awarded a penalty that Suárez struck confidently down the middle in the seventh minute of stoppage with the last of the visitor's 22 shots.