Even Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who leads an ideologically divided coalition perpetually facing collapse, has voiced doubts about the viability of his eight-party government.

"A year ago, I wasn't sure that it could be done," the religious-nationalist leader told AFP, 12 months after he ended the long reign of right-wing premier Benjamin Netanyahu.

Under the deal he struck with the coalition's architect, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, the two are meant to trade posts halfway through their four-year term.

Men in make-up and wigs twirl on stage in colourful robes to applause in Morocco, resurrecting the musical art of "Aita" and challenging gender stereotypes in the conservative Muslim-majority kingdom.

Members of the all-male "Kabareh Cheikhats" troupe, including singers, actors and dancers, hope their unique performances of an art once dominated by women can revive the tradition.

"This art, based on oral histories, traces its roots back to the 12th century and draws its poetic strength from daily life," said writer and poet Hassan Najmi.

Lebanon should block Israel from extracting gas from a disputed offshore field, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday, warning a hydrocarbon exploration company hired by Israel against proceeding with its activities.

"The immediate objective should be to prevent the enemy from extracting oil and gas from the Karish gas field," part of which is claimed by Lebanon, Nasrallah said in a televised speech.

Three rights groups on Thursday urged Facebook and Instagram owner Meta to overhaul its policies for Persian-language content on Iran, complaining restrictions had impeded the ability of Iranians to share information during ongoing protests.

London-based freedom of expression group Article 19, global digital rights group Access Now and the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said Meta had to change policies on potentially sensitive content as well as human and automated moderation.

Egypt's interior ministry said Thursday it has footage of jailed dissident Alaa Abdel Fattah that "disproves" a report from his family that he has been on hunger strike for 10 weeks.

The footage, recorded inside his cell, "was delivered to the public prosecution", the ministry said in a statement.

The 40-year-old activist and blogger, long-dubbed an icon of Egypt's 2011 revolution, is on "day 69 of hunger strike", his sister Mona Seif said Thursday.

A trainer walks a mare around a grassy pen under the gaze of potential buyers from across Libya, where passion for horses is undimmed despite years of violence.

The three-day auction in the Mediterranean city of Misrata found homes for 96 of some 150 horses on sale.

And despite years of conflict and division since the fall of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, breeders and buyers from across Libya were able to attend.

"There were horses from the west, the east and the south -- from every city in the country," said Hussein Shaka, one of the organisers.

Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett held talks with the leader of the United Arab Emirates on Thursday during a surprise visit, a day after a formal rebuke of Iran by the UN's nuclear watchdog.

Bennett's second trip to the UAE, which normalised relations with Israel in 2020, also comes after the two countries struck a free-trade deal last month and as his governing coalition faces a serious challenge from the right-wing opposition.

Months behind schedule and dogged by lawsuits, critics say a vast new migrant camp on the Greek island of Lesbos is a potential forest fire hazard that could wreak havoc on the environment.

Officials say it is desperately needed on an island at the forefront of Europe's migrant crisis, where hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers have arrived from countries such as Syria and Afghanistan since 2015.

Two former German soldiers went on trial on Thursday for trying to form a paramilitary group to fight in Yemen's civil war after being inspired by a psychic.

Achim Allweyer, 52, and Arend-Adolf Graess, 60, attempted to set up a "terrorist organisation" after receiving "messages from a fortune teller that they understood as binding instructions for action", according to prosecutors.

The UN atomic energy watchdog said Thursday that Iran was removing 27 surveillance cameras at its nuclear facilities, warning this could be a "fatal blow" to negotiations to revive a 2015 nuclear deal.

Talks began in April last year to bring the United States back into that landmark agreement, after then president Donald Trump withdrew in 2018 and left it hanging by a thread.

The negotiations also aim to lift sanctions against Iran and bring it back into compliance with nuclear commitments it made to world powers as part of the deal.