With a giant evergreen tree, colourful balloons in the streets and selfies in the Church of the Nativity, Christmas tourism has returned to Bethlehem after two years of Covid-related restrictions.

Revered in Christian tradition as the birthplace of Christ, the town of Bethlehem welcomes thousands of pilgrims and tourists for Christmas every year, a windfall that dried up over the past two years due to the coronavirus pandemic and travel restrictions.

A French man suspected of killing three people in a "racist" attack at a Kurdish cultural centre in Paris has been transferred to a psychiatric unit, prosecutors said, as police and demonstrators clashed in the French capital.

Prosecutors said the 69-year-old white suspect had been removed from custody for health reasons on Saturday and taken to a police psychiatric facility.

The shots at the cultural centre and a nearby hairdressing salon on Friday sparked panic in the city's bustling 10th district, home to several shops and restaurants and a large Kurdish population.

Furious Kurdish demonstrators clashed with police in central Paris on Friday after a deadly attack on a community centre which has revived the trauma of three unresolved murders in 2013 that many blame on Turkey.

Police deployed outside the cultural centre used teargas to disperse the protesters who tried to break through a police cordon protecting Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, AFP reporters said.

Some could be seen throwing objects at police and setting rubbish bins on fire, while several cars were damaged during the disturbances.

Kurdish demonstrators clashed with police in central Paris on Friday after a 69-year-old gunman opened fire at a Kurdish cultural centre and a hairdressing salon, killing three people and injuring three others.

Police deployed outside the cultural centre used teargas to disperse the protesters who tried to break through a police cordon protecting Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin who had arrived at the scene, AFP reporters said.

Demonstrators threw objects at police in response, set rubbish bins on fire and erected barricades, they said.

Israeli officers on Friday shot dead an Arab-Israeli after he attempted to fired at them and then rammed them with his car near Tel Aviv, the police said.

The incident occurred in Kafr Qassem, an Arab-Israeli city on the edge of Tel Aviv and just outside the occupied West Bank. Violence has surged in the West Bank since March when Israel began near daily raids following a series of deadly attacks targeting Israelis.

In a statement, police said the suspect had called police on the pretext of "a violent incident", which brought them to Kafr Qassem.

If the UK government has its way, the tens of thousands of migrants arriving on England's southeastern shores each year, after crossing the Channel in small boats, will face swift deportation to Rwanda.

Although the controversial plan is on hold amid legal challenges, some of those who have completed the perilous journey said they are spooked by the prospect.

"It's really terrifying," Abdulhakim, a 24-year-old Ethiopian who arrived in April, told AFP outside a London hotel where he has since been staying.

Israeli authorities have dropped all criminal charges against Beny Steinmetz, a French-Israeli billionaire suspected of money laundering, and instead agreed to a financial settlement, according to court documents seen by AFP on Friday.

The co-founder of mining firm Beny Steinmetz Group Resources was detained in August 2017 and then released as part of an investigation into alleged money laundering.

A 69-year-old gunman opened fire at a Kurdish cultural centre and a hairdressing salon in Paris on Friday, killing three people and injuring three others, witnesses and prosecutors said.

The shots shortly before midday (1100 GMT) caused panic in rue d'Enghien in the trendy 10th district of the French capital, a bustling area of shops and restaurants that is home to a large Kurdish population.

The head of Turkey's main medical union went on trial Friday on "terror" charges linked to her calls for a probe into the army's alleged use of chemical weapons against Kurdish fighters in Iraq.

Sebnem Korur Fincanci was detained on October 26 after becoming one of the most prominent public figures to draw attention to reports that first surfaced in media outlets close to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The militia said 17 of its fighters had died in Turkish chemical weapons attacks in the mountains and caves of northern Iraq.

Iraq's prime minister appealed to visiting Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni on Friday for closer economic ties with his oil-rich country suffering from power cuts and decaying infrastructure.

Meloni, who leads the eurozone's third-largest economy, is on her first bilateral trip outside Europe. She is on a pre-Christmas visit to Italian troops posted in Iraq in support of an anti-jihadist mission.