Hizbullah has hailed late Cuban leader Fidel Castro, whose death was announced on Saturday, as a “historic symbol.”

Rekindling sectarian rivalries at a sensitive time, Iraq's parliament on Saturday voted to fully legalize state-sanctioned Shiite militias long accused of abuses against minority Sunnis, adopting a legislation that promoted them to a government force empowered to "deter" security and terror threats facing the country, like the Islamic State group.

The legislation, supported by 208 of the chamber's 327 members, was quickly rejected by Sunni Arab politicians and lawmakers as proof of the "dictatorship" of the country's Shiite majority and evidence of its failure to honor promises of inclusion.

Stores open their doors Friday for what is still one of the busiest days of the year, even as the start of the holiday season edges ever earlier.

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, used to launch the holiday season, but the competition to grab customers first is keen. Stores like Macy's, Walmart, Target and more were open Thursday evening in what they hope will be a new holiday tradition.

The last public beach on Beirut's heavily developed seaside could soon be squeezed out by yet another luxury resort, raising fears that residents could find themselves living in a coastal city without much of a coast.

The fight for Ramlet al-Baida beach has emerged as a new flashpoint between civil society activists and the entrenched political establishment over land management and public services in Lebanon's capital. It follows last year's trash crisis, in which mountains of garbage piled up for months, and a conflict over a local park that until recently was only open one day a week.

At least 31 people were killed in Iran on Friday when a passenger train rammed into the back of an intercity express which had broken down, the provincial governor said.

More than 70 people were admitted to hospital after the crash in the northern province of Semnan on the main line between the capital Tehran and second city Mashhad, Mohammad Reza Khabbaz told state television.

Foreign firefighting planes on Friday helped Israel tackle a wave of wildfires that have forced tens of thousands to flee their homes, as police announced a dozen related arrests.

Hundreds of Indonesians angered over the persecution of Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar have protested outside the Myanmar Embassy in the Indonesian capital.

Jakarta police spokesman Awi Setiyono said at least 200 people joined the demonstration Thursday. They marched in three groups to the embassy, which was guarded by dozens of police, and staged a noisy but peaceful protest.

An airport security official says Egyptian authorities have banned a prominent human rights activist, who heads a center investigating police abuses, from leaving the country.

Aida Seif el-Dawla, a psychiatrist and co-founder of the Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, was boarding a flight to Tunisia on Wednesday to attend a meeting of non-governmental organizations. Security authorities at Cairo international airport told her she couldn't leave the country because her name is on a travel-ban list, according to the security official.

Iran's top leader has warned that renewal of a decades-old sanction on his country will lead to reaction by Tehran.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's website quoted him as saying on Wednesday, "Definitely, the Islamic republic of Iran will show reaction" about the renewal. He didn't elaborate.

An airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition on Wednesday "disabled" the fourth bridge on the Tigris River in Mosul, leaving the northern Iraqi city with a single functioning bridge, according to the Iraqi military and the Islamic State's media arm.

The Aamaq news agency gave no details on the airstrike, the second to target a Mosul bridge this week and the fourth since shortly before the Oct. 17 start of the Iraqi government's campaign to retake the city from the extremist group.