Saudi sports authorities shut down a female fitness centre in Riyadh Friday over a contentious promotional video that appeared to show a woman in figure-hugging workout attire.

Hundreds of neo-Nazis were expected to congregate Friday, which marks Adolf Hitler's birthday, for a two-day festival in a small eastern German town where anti-fascist groups have vowed counter-protests.

Iran on Thursday arrested a senior official after a video posted online showed young boys and girls dancing in public in the northeastern holy city of Mashhad, the judiciary said.

Saudi Arabia is to hold a private screening on Wednesday of the Hollywood blockbuster "Black Panther" to herald the launch of movie theaters in the kingdom that are expected to open to the public as early as next month.

Authorities are planning an invitation-only screening of the movie in a concert hall converted into a cinema complex in the capital, Riyadh. The screening, to be attended by both men and women, will be followed by a rush to build movie theaters in major cities.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from across the Arab world, including a Lebanese rock star, released a video on Monday to tell their peers they are "not alone."

Lebanese singer Hamed Sinno, who is openly gay, is one of several people from Morocco to Iraq to recount their struggle with their identity in the video made by two human rights groups.

A 13-year-old boy and an amateur archaeologist have unearthed a "significant" treasure trove in Germany which may have belonged to the legendary Danish king Harald Bluetooth who brought Christianity to Denmark.

A decade after Spain's property bubble burst, dozens of vacant apartments in Madrid and Barcelona city centers have turned into "drug flats", to the dismay of local residents who complain of abandoned syringes and frequent brawls.

"You don't live anymore. You are more afraid at home than outside," said Begona Sebastian, a 51-year-old accountant whose building was one of the first in Lavapies, a district in the center of Madrid, to have a "narcopiso", or drug flat, where people come to buy and consume drugs.

Israelis came to a halt throughout the country Thursday to observe two minutes of solemn silence as a siren blared, marking the annual remembrance of the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust.

Masazo Nonaka from Japan was recognised Tuesday as the world's oldest man at the ripe old age of 112, as his family revealed his secret: sweets and hot baths.

Pulling down statues of political leaders, such as that of Saddam Hussein in the Iraqi capital 15 years ago, is a symbolic act with many precedents around the world.

When the giant effigy of Saddam was wrenched off its plinth on April 9, 2003 with the help of US Marines, it was confirmation for the jubilant onlookers thar his nearly 24-year rule had also come crashing down.