Venice hosted an unprecedented collaboration between Israeli and Iranian filmmakers, who say there are similarities between their governments and hope they can set an example for greater unity between their people.

"Tatami", shown in the "Orizzonti" ("Horizons") section of the Venice Film Festival, recounts the story of an Iranian judo star who rejects her government's rules about never facing an Israeli athlete in an international competition.

Hamed Haddadi, the only Iranian to play in the National Basketball Association, retired from international play at the age of 38 after his team was eliminated from the World Cup, state media reported.

The 7ft 2ins (2.18 metre) centre made the announcement late Saturday after Iran lost 81-73 to Lebanon in Jakarta to exit the World Cup after five consecutive losses, dashing hopes of qualifying for the 2024 Olympics.

"I have loved the national team and basketball, but one day you have to go and today is that day," state news agency IRNA quoted Haddadi as saying.

Five civilians were killed by bombs that "fell on their homes" in Khartoum, a Sudanese medical source told AFP, a day after an air strike in the city's south killed at least 20 civilians.

Residents of the war-torn capital reported the city was again pummelled by artillery and rocket fire Sunday, in the fifth month of war between the army and paramilitary fighters.

A curfew was lifted in the multi-ethnic Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Sunday after protests turned violent and led to the deaths of four people.

Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani imposed the curfew on Saturday evening after rival protests -- between Kurdish residents on one side and Turkmen and Arabs on the other -- descended into deadly unrest despite a security presence.

Young Saudis wander through a museum of video game history stretching from the original Pac-Man to PlayStation 5, a project intended to inspire them to create their own blockbuster titles.

The display of consoles and arcade machines from the past half-century is part of Gamers8, an eight-week festival of eSports tournaments in the capital Riyadh, with a prize pool totalling $45 million.

It's midnight just before the weekend. Traffic snarls the corniche in Tripoli, where improved electricity service has brought renewed energy to Libya's capital after years of conflict and power cuts.

Chronic electricity shortages had shaped the daily lives of Libyans since the fall of Moamer Kadhafi in a NATO-backed 2011 uprising.

A decade of stop-start fighting between rival armed groups followed, adding combat damage and looting to an already dilapidated grid in the North African country.

At least three Kurds were killed and 16 people wounded Saturday during protests in the multi-ethnic Iraqi city of Kirkuk, as authorities imposed a curfew after days of tensions.

Two people were shot in the chest and a third in the head, Ziad Khalaf, director of the local health authority, told AFP.

The victims were a 21-year-old man and two people aged 37, he added.

Those wounded, including Kurds, Arabs and three members of the security forces, were hit by gunfire, stones or glass, said Khalaf.

Iraq's prime minister on Saturday inaugurated construction work on what is slated to become the first railway line connecting the country to neighbouring Iran, a major political and economic partner.

The "Basra-Chalamja connection project" will link the major port city of Basra in southern Iraq to Iran's vast railway network through the Chalamja border crossing, an transport ministry official told AFP.

It is estimated that the project will take "between 18 and 24 months".

Few things were beyond the reach of billionaire Egyptian tycoon Mohamed Al-Fayed who has died at the age of 94.

Hotels, yachts and a football club were bought with ease but he never acquired the recognition he craved.

His son Dodi's fateful relationship with princess Diana might have been the moment Fayed finally gained acceptance by the British "Establishment" elite.

Iran's foreign minister on Friday rejected accusations from France over Tehran's interference in Lebanon, urging President Emmanuel Macron to focus instead on his own country.

Macron had told a conference of French ambassadors earlier this week that a "key element" to resolve Lebanon's political crisis was "the clarification of regional interference, including that of Iran".

"I advise Mr Macron to focus on the situation inside France instead of paying attention to questions of interference in other countries," Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said during a visit to Beirut.