More than three months of tensions culminating in a general strike prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pause controversial judicial reforms that had been a signature policy of his hard-right coalition.

Talks began on Tuesday between coalition and opposition representatives under the auspices of President Isaac Herzog, with experts sceptical they might bring a resolution acceptable to both sides.

Here are some of the key issues that have emerged.

- 'Thug militia' -

Undeterred by a crowded Gulf market, Saudi Arabia is going all in on an aggressive aviation expansion, with a massive jet order and the launch of a new national carrier.

The project aligns with a bid to remake the once closed-off kingdom as a business and tourism magnet, but analysts say that even with official backing, its path to success is complicated.

This month Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, unveiled Riyadh Air, the new airline which is intended to transform the capital into "a gateway to the world", according to state media.

With a multi-billion dollar economic revamp in full swing, tiny Bahrain is vying to keep pace with its Gulf neighbours after more than a decade beset by political unrest.

It's a difficult path for the island nation that is a neighbour to gas-rich Qatar and connected by a causeway to Saudi Arabia, a key ally and the world's biggest oil exporter.

The United Arab Emirates, another regional powerhouse with well-developed trade, tourism and financial industries alongside its large oil sector, is just a short flight away.

The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on two cousins of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over the trafficking of the stimulant drug captagon, a growing export for the state, which is quickly normalizing ties in the region.

An AFP investigation in November found that Syria has become a narco state with the $10 billion industry in captagon dwarfing all other exports and funding both Assad and many of his enemies.

An Afghan toddler who was bundled onto an evacuation flight from Kabul in 2021 after her parents died in a bomb blast has been reunited with relatives at a Qatar orphanage.

The little girl, now believed to be about 21 months old and given the name Maryam by the orphanage, saw her uncle Yaar Mohammad Niazi and her brother and two sisters again for the first time.

"I did not know if we would ever find her again, and now I am overcome" with emotion, said Niazi, aged about 40 and with four children of his own. "When I held her, I just told myself 'she is alive'."

Israeli politicians held a second day of talks Wednesday on controversial judicial reforms that sparked mass protests and a general strike in the country's most severe domestic crisis in years.

Scepticism remained high over the negotiations on the judicial overhaul, which foresee curtailing the authority of the Supreme Court and giving politicians greater powers over the selection of judges.

Chinese President Xi Jinping lauded what he called the easing of tensions in the Middle East during a call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday, state media reported.

Beijing brokered an agreement between Tehran and Riyadh on March 10 to restore diplomatic ties following a seven-year freeze.

Long bitter rivals, Iran and Saudi Arabia have engaged in a series of proxy conflicts in the region, such as the protracted fighting in Yemen.

In a time of dire economic trouble, Egyptians are holding fast to the Ramadan tradition of charity, with both donors and those in need pinning hopes on holiday generosity.

Families have buckled under the weight of inflation, which hit 32.9 percent in February as Egyptians tried to fill their shelves ahead of the Islamic holy month of daytime fasting and special evening meals, known as iftar.

Outrage over Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year has exposed the West's "double standards" towards human rights abuses throughout the world, Amnesty International said on Tuesday.

In its annual world report for 2022, Amnesty pointed to what it described as the West's silence on Saudi Arabia's rights record, repression in Egypt and Israel's treatment of the Palestinians.

Rwanda opposition figure Paul Rusesabagina, who inspired a Hollywood movie on the country's genocide, arrived in Qatar on Monday, three days after being released from prison, diplomats said.

The 68-year-old, whose 25-year jail term was commuted by President Paul Kagame, was to undergo medical checks and rest before flying to the United States on Wednesday, the diplomats told AFP.

"He needs care but will fly on to the US on Wednesday," said one Doha-based diplomat following the case.