Ayatollah dies

Lebanon's Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, one of Shiite Islam's highest religious authorities, died last night at the age of 74, a medical source at a Beirut Hospital said.

Fadlallah had a wide following among Lebanese Shiites and was a supporter of Iran's Islamic Revolution.

He was the spiritual leader and mentor of the Shiite militant group Hizbollah in the first years after it was formed in 1982.