Hasan Hadi, the first filmmaker from Iraq to be selected for the prestigious Cannes Festival, on Saturday won a top prize for his childhood adventure under economic sanctions in "The President's Cake".

His first feature-length film follows nine-year-old Lamia after her school teacher picks her to bake the class a cake for President Saddam Hussein's birthday or risk being denounced for disloyalty.

It is the early 1990s, the country is under crippling UN sanctions, and she and her grandmother can barely afford to eat.

Iranian dissident director Jafar Panahi won the Palme d'Or top prize at the Cannes film festival on Saturday, using his acceptance speech to urge his country to unite for "freedom".

The latest film from the 64-year-old, "It Was Just an Accident", tells the tale of five ordinary Iranians confronting a man they believed tortured them in jail.

The core of the provocative and wry drama examines the moral dilemma faced by people if they are given an opportunity to take revenge on their oppressors.

Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who won the top prize at the Cannes film festival on Saturday, is a twice-jailed arthouse cinema veteran whose films are banned in his homeland.

The 64-year-old is a symbol of artistic defiance who repeatedly challenges his country's strict censorship laws to produce movies about Iran's social and cultural struggles.

His latest production "It Was Just an Accident" tells the story of five formerly imprisoned Iranians who are confronted with a man they believe to have been their torturer in jail.

The United Arab Emirates breached its May temperature record for the second day in a row, hitting 51.6 degrees Celsius on Saturday, within touching distance of the highest ever temperature recorded in the country.

"The highest temperature recorded over the country today is 51.6C in Sweihan (Al Ain) at 13:45 UAE local time (0945 GMT)," the National Center of Meteorology said in a post on X, just 0.4C off the overall heat record in the Gulf country.

Syrian authorities on Saturday announced an interior ministry restructuring that includes fighting cross-border drug and people smuggling as they seek to improve ties with Western nations that have lifted sanctions.

Keen to reboot and rebuild nearly 14 years after a devastating civil war broke out, the new authorities in Damascus have hailed Washington's lifting of US sanctions.

The move was formalised Friday after being announced by President Donald Trump on a Gulf tour this month during which he shook hands with Syria's jihadist-turned-interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Gaza's civil defence agency said Saturday that an Israeli strike in the southern city of Khan Yunis killed nine children of a pair of married doctors, with the Israeli army saying it was reviewing the reports.

Israel has stepped up its campaign in Gaza in recent days, drawing international criticism as well as calls to allow in more supplies after it partially eased a total blockade on aid imposed on March 2.

The United Nations chief said Friday that Palestinians were enduring "the cruelest phase" of the war in Gaza, where more than a dozen food trucks were looted following the partial easing of a lengthy Israeli blockade.

Aid was just beginning to trickle back into the war-torn territory after Israel announced it would allow limited shipments to resume as it pressed a newly expanded offensive aimed at destroying Hamas.

The United Arab Emirates registered a sizzling 50.4 degrees Celsius on Friday, the highest on record for May, following weeks of sweltering temperatures in the desert nation acutely vulnerable to climate change.

Worshippers at Friday prayers reported feeling faint and some residents appeared unsteady on their feet, even in a country that is accustomed to extreme temperatures.

The highest temperature was recorded in an area of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the oil-rich Gulf state that lies in one of the world's hottest regions.

Police beefed up security at schools and religious buildings across Washington Friday as the US capital reeled from the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum.

The 31-year-old Chicago man accused of Wednesday's attack shouted "Free Palestine" as he was taken away by police -- exacerbating fears over rising anti-Semitism since Israel's invasion of Gaza following the unprecedented October 2023 Hamas attack.

The leaders of pro-Iran Palestinian factions close to former ruler Bashar al-Assad have left Syria under pressure from the new authorities, Palestinian sources said Friday, a key US demand for lifting sanctions.

A pro-Iran Palestinian faction leader who left Syria after Assad's December overthrow said on condition of anonymity that "most of the Palestinian factional leadership that received support from Tehran has left Damascus" to countries including Lebanon, while another still based there confirmed the development.