The Lebanese parliament met Thursday to elect a new president, with no consensus on a successor to outgoing head of state Michel Aoun despite an unpredecedented financial crisis.

Deep divisions among MPs have raised fears Lebanon could be left without a president for months after Aoun's mandate runs out at the end of October, further undermining creditor confidence.

The incumbent's own election in 2016 came after a 29-month vacancy at the presidential palace as lawmakers made 45 failed attempts to reach consensus on a candidate.

By forcing the world to wake up to the daily sexual abuse suffered by women, the #MeToo movement became a social revolution of historic importance. Its legacy is still being determined.

It began with a tweet: on October 15, 2017, US actor Alyssa Milano invited women to share their experiences of sexual harassment under the words "Me too".

Within a year, the hashtag had been used more than 19 million times, according to Pew Research Center -- pushing the issue of sexual assault to the top of the global agenda.

Dozens of feminist activists demonstrated Wednesday in Morocco's capital, calling for legalised abortions after a teenage girl died following a clandestine procedure, AFP reporters said.

Protesters gathered outside the parliament, some holding placards denouncing the law which punishes abortion.

"Having a child must be a choice," activist Sarah Benmoussa told AFP.

"We're here today because our voices matter," said Khaoula, 23, a journalism student who joined the crowd. "Every human being should be able to control their own body."

Three rockets were fired Wednesday at Baghdad's Green Zone, wounding seven security force personnel, as parliament was holding its first session in two months, Iraq's security forces said.

The attack came before police fired tear gas and stun grenades to push back several hundred supporters of firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr who were seeking to reach the fortified area, an AFP correspondent said.

Iran launched cross-border missile and drone strikes that killed 13 people in Iraq's Kurdistan region Wednesday after accusing Kurdish armed groups based there of stoking a wave of unrest that has rocked the Islamic republic.

The September 16 death of Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, 22, while in the custody of Iran's morality police has sparked a major wave of protests and a crackdown that has left dozens of demonstrators dead.

Iran was accused of killing seven people and wounding 28 in cross-border strikes Wednesday against Kurdish factions in Iraq that have deplored an ongoing protest crackdown in the Islamic republic.

Strikes blamed on Iran have hit districts of autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan repeatedly in recent days as Tehran has ramped up its domestic crackdown against protests over the death of Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in the custody of morality police.

Saudi Arabia's Mohammed bin Salman, who was named prime minister late on Tuesday, has shaken up the ultraconservative oil titan with economic, social and religious reforms since his meteoric rise to power.

The 37-year-old de facto ruler has overseen the most fundamental transformation in the modern history of the Gulf nation and sidelined all rivals after he became crown prince in June 2017.

The protests that have erupted in Iran are shadowing the national football team's bid for a breakthrough to the World Cup, with rumours of a split in the squad, social media posts that mysteriously disappear and former legends weighing in to support the demonstrations.

Team Melli are preparing to battle in a competitive and also politically loaded Group B in Qatar, where they will face he United States, England and Wales in a bid to reach the knockout rounds for the first time.

Pope Francis will in November visit Bahrain, home to the biggest Catholic church in the Arabian peninsula, the Vatican said Wednesday.

Francis, 85, will be the first pope ever to visit the majority-Muslim Gulf country, according to Vatican News.

Pope Francis has been under doctor's orders to slow down, after suffering from a painful knee that has forced him to use a wheelchair and cancel some events.

An Israeli raid targeting alleged militants in a West Bank flashpoint killed four Palestinians on Wednesday, the Palestinian health ministry said, including the brother of a man blamed for a deadly attack in Tel Aviv.

The violence was the latest to hit Jenin, in the north of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, an area that has seen near daily clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen since an escalation that began in March.