Afaf al-Najar had found a way out of Gaza.

The 19-year-old won a scholarship to study communications in Turkey, secured all the necessary travel documents and even paid $500 to skip the long lines at the Rafah crossing with Egypt.

Hundreds of supporters of pro-Iran groups clashed with security forces in Iraq's capital Friday, expressing their fury over last month's election result, AFP journalists and a security source said.

Demonstrators from groups loyal to the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary network threw projectiles and "blocked... access to the (high-security) Green Zone" on three sides, before they were pushed back by police who fired in the air, a security source said, requesting anonymity. 

For a few brief hours on Friday, the skyscraper-lined superhighway that cuts through the center of Dubai emptied of the cars always clogging it to give way to tens of thousands of bicyclists.

The annual Dubai Ride saw bikes race down Sheikh Zayed Road, a 10-lane asphalt jungle that gives drivers a view of the world's tallest building and other sites.

Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews gathered at the Western Wall in Jerusalem to protest against a Jewish women's group that holds monthly prayers there in a long-running campaign for gender equality at the site.

For decades the "Women of the Wall" group has campaigned for equality of worship at the wall, one of Judaism's holiest sites. Israel's religious institutions are dominated by the ultra-Orthodox, who are opposed to any changes at the site, where men and women pray in separate areas.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu watched from the sidelines as the government that toppled him after 12 years in power passed a national budget, dealing a major blow to his hopes of a swift return to the country's top office.

The man whose shadow loomed so large for so long over Israel, whose rule sparked both mass protests and cult-like devotion, has been relegated to the backbenches as opposition leader, far from the levers of power and exposed to serious corruption charges.

Emirates is to start daily flights between Dubai and Tel Aviv on Saturday, the airline announced, in the latest sign of deepening relations since the UAE and Israel normalized ties in September last year.

The Dubai-based carrier, one of the largest in the world, said the new service would also link Israel seamlessly with its global route network.

Egypt's president on Wednesday ordered his administration to start moving its offices next month to a sprawling new administrative capital in the desert outside Cairo, a spokesman said.

President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi has directed the government to begin a six-month trial period of working from the new complex starting Dec. 1, according to his spokesman, Bassam Radi.

U.S. authorities on Wednesday put the Israeli maker of the Pegasus spyware on a list of restricted companies, taking aim at software central to a scandal over surveillance of journalists and officials.

Turkish-backed groups in northern Syria have weaponized water by building dams on a river that serves as a lifeline for communities living downstream in Kurdish-dominated areas, a report alleged Wednesday said.

Israel said Wednesday it has begun testing a massive inflatable missile detection system designed to hover at high altitudes and detect long-range threats.

Israel already boasts an array of sophisticated missile defenses, which were used successfully during the 11-day Gaza war this year.