As Iran reels from a woman's death after her arrest by its "morality police", the Sunday front page of financial newspaper Asia declared: "Dear Mahsa, your name will become a symbol."

The police unit -- responsible for enforcing Iran's strict dress code for women, notably the wearing of a headscarf in public -- had already faced growing criticism in recent months over its excessive use of force.

The death of Mahsa Amini, 22, has reignited calls to rein in its actions against women suspected of violating the dress code, in effect since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

A battered plaque in a rundown hospital and a crackly, black-and-white newsreel are all that remain of Queen Elizabeth II's 1954 visit to Aden, the war-torn Yemeni city whose troubles are a reminder of Britain's complicated legacy in the Middle East.

The plaque, scratched and dented and inscribed in English and Arabic, testifies that the queen, then 28, laid the foundation stone for the Al-Joumhouria hospital on April 27, 1954, less than a year after her coronation.

In a noisy, chaotic and fast-paced world, the Qatar-based sound artist Guillaume Rousere is on a mission: to get people to slow down and listen again.

Birdsong, insects chirping, the sound of wind brushing through tall grass or over sand dunes -- all these form part of what the 44-year-old Frenchman calls his "sound art".

"Sound art is a discipline where the principal medium is sound and where the aim is to listen," said Rousere, who lives in the Gulf state that will soon host the World Cup.

Security forces on Saturday fired tear gas to disperse protesters in northwest Iran after the death of a woman arrested in Tehran by the Islamic republic's "morality police", local media reported.

Mahsa Amini, 22, was on a visit with her family to the Iranian capital when she was detained on Tuesday by the police unit responsible for enforcing Iran's strict dress code for women, including the wearing of the headscarf in public.

She was declared dead on Friday by state television after having spent three days in a coma.

Dressed in black, 21 million pilgrims from around the world massed in the Iraqi city of Karbala on Saturday for the Arbaeen commemoration, against the backdrop of a political crisis.

Arbaeen marks the end of the 40-day mourning period for the 7th-century killing of Imam Hussein by the forces of the Caliph Yazid -- a formative event in Shiite Islam.

The annual festival sees men and women from across Iraq and beyond travel to Karbala, where Imam Hussein and his brother Abbas are buried, for one of the world's largest religious gatherings.

Twenty million pilgrims, swelled by a record influx of Iranians, have converged on the Iraqi shrine city of Karbala to mark Arbaeen, an annual Shiite festival that climaxes on Saturday.

It is one of the world's biggest religious gatherings, keenly observed in Iraq and neighbouring Iran, both Shiite majority countries.

The event marks the end of a 40-day mourning period for the killing of Imam Hussein -- a founding figure in Shiite Islam and grandson of the Prophet Mohammed -- by the forces of the caliph Yazid in 680 AD.

The choreographer leading a Lebanese dance troupe that shot to fame by winning the 'America's Got Talent' TV contest castigated Lebanese politicians and called for revolution upon landing back in Beirut Friday.

Dozens of relatives offered the Mayyas troupe flowers at Beirut airport while thousands of Lebanese were glued to their televisions to catch a glimpse of the performers who filled them with pride and joy in a country wrecked by nearly three years of economic crisis.

A young Iranian woman who fell into a coma after being arrested in Tehran by the notorious morality police died on Friday, state media and her family said, with activists urging those responsible for her "suspicious" death be brought to justice.

Mahsa Amini, 22, was on a visit with her family to the Iranian capital when she was detained on Tuesday by the police unit responsible for enforcing the Islamic republic's strict dress code for women, which include the compulsory wearing of the headscarf in public.

A young Iranian woman, who was in a coma after being arrested by the Islamic republic's morality police, died on Friday, state media reported.

"Unfortunately, she died and her body was transferred to the medical examiner's office," state television reported.

Mahsa Amini, 22, was on a visit to Tehran with her family when she was detained by the specialist police unit that enforces the strict dress code obligatory for women since shortly after the Islamic revolution of 1979.

Five Lebanese banks were stormed Friday by depositors seeking to unlock frozen savings, the latest in a string of such "heists" that have garnered wide public support in the crisis-hit country.

Lebanon has been mired in an economic crisis for more than two years, since the value of its currency began plummeting and banks started imposing draconian restrictions on withdrawals.

In the past week, seven bank branches have been targeted by "depositor heists", prompting lenders to announce a three-day closure starting Monday, according to the Association of Banks in Lebanon.