Iran said Saturday it had executed a British-Iranian dual national sentenced to death for spying for the United Kingdom, drawing strong condemnation from Western governments and international rights groups.

Alireza Akbari, 61, was hanged after being convicted of "corruption on earth and harming the country's internal and external security by passing on intelligence", the judiciary's Mizan Online website said. It did not say when or where the execution took place.

A long-awaited biopic starring British actor Helen Mirren as Israel's only female prime minister, Golda Meir, will have its world premiere at the Berlin film festival next month, organisers said Friday.

The casting of Mirren, who is not Jewish, to play one of Israeli history's most iconic figures in "Golda" sparked keen interest but also controversy when it was announced.

Fellow British actor Maureen Lipman told the Jewish Chronicle last year that she doubted the choice because she considered Meir's religion to be "integral" to her character.

Morocco demanded Friday that a Madrid court rule it had nothing to do with the possible installation of Pegasus spyware on the phone of a Spanish journalist, who has blamed Rabat.

Its call came as the court heard Rabat's case against Ignacio Cembrero, an expert on Spain-Morocco relations, who works for El Confidencial news website.

"It is not possible to confirm that the Kingdom of Morocco has any responsibility whatsoever" in this spyware affair, Sergio Berenguer, one of Rabat's lawyers told the court.

Germany's lower house of parliament will next week recognise the 2014 massacre of Yazidis by Islamic State group jihadists in Iraq as a "genocide", lawmakers told AFP Friday.

Three parliamentary groups from Germany's ruling centre-left-led coalition and conservative MPs agreed to approve the motion in the Bundestag next Thursday, Social Democratic (SPD) deputy Derya Turk-Nachbaur said.

Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian expressed hope during a visit to Lebanon Friday that diplomatic ties between Tehran and Riyadh could be restored through dialogue between the two regional arch-rivals.

Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran in January 2016, after protesters attacked its embassy in Tehran and consulate in second city Mashhad following Riyadh's execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

Amir-Abdollahian told a news conference in Beirut "we are ready to restore ties," and such a move "would have positive repercussions on the entire region."

The sarcophagus of ancient Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II is to return to Paris in April for the first time in almost 50 years, in a rare loan of the relic outside Egypt.

The ornate coffin will be on show in the French capital from April 7 to September 6, the star attraction alongside an exhibition previously shown in San Francisco and which will conclude in Sydney -- minus the sarcophagus.

Sebastien Loeb streaked to victory in the 12th stage of the Dakar Rally on Friday, the French BRX driver's fifth stage win in a row and his sixth of this edition.

The victory saw the nine-time former World Rally champion move into second in the overall standings behind leader and defending champion Nasser Al-Attiyah.

Loeb, whose five consecutive stage wins equalled the record set by Ari Vatanen in 1989, finished 3min 19sec ahead of Sweden's Mattias Ekstrom, in the last of the three Audi hybrids left in the race.

Countries have yet to see the full impact of tightening financial conditions, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said Thursday, warning that central banks have some way to go in their inflation battle.

Global growth is expected to slow further this year, as central banks including the US Federal Reserve have raised interest rates to cool surging prices.

While sectors like housing have been reeling in the United States for example, the labor market remains strong with low joblessness.

Israel's top judge lashed out Thursday at the justice minister's controversial plans to overhaul the judicial system, calling it an "unbridled attack" in rare public criticism of the government.

Days after entering office as part of Israel's most right-wing government, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, Justice Minister Yariv Levin announced last week a series of moves to allow politicians to override the Supreme Court's decisions and change the way judges are appointed.

Israeli forces killed three Palestinians in two separate incidents in the occupied West Bank Thursday, the Palestinian health ministry said, as the army reported opening fire on fleeing suspects and troops being pelted with rocks during raids.

The uptick in West Bank violence continued the trend of 2022, which was the deadliest since UN records began in 2005.

Fears of a military escalation in the territory have been sparked by the inauguration in late December of the most right-wing government in Israel's history, led by Benjamin Netanyahu.