Tucked amid shell-pocked buildings and roadside tributes to fallen fighters, a less obvious byproduct of wartime is spreading across Yemen's capital: speciality coffee houses serving steaming cups of top-rated pour-over.

The Arabian Peninsula's most impoverished country, locked in an eight-year conflict between Iran-backed Huthi rebels and forces supporting the internationally recognised government, has deep ties to coffee.

Legend has it that Sufi mystics on Yemen's western coast were the first people to brew coffee beans back in the 15th century.

African migrants pleaded to be saved from a desert zone between Libya and Tunisia on Wednesday, weeks after Tunisian authorities allegedly dumped dozens of them there with nothing.

"We are dying. We are dying by the minute," a Nigerian who wanted to be identified only by his first name, George, told AFP.

"Please, I'm begging you. Take us from here now," said George, 43. "Come and rescue us from this place."

On Tuesday Libya's interior ministry said the bodies of five African migrants had been found near Tunisia's border.

Sara Khadem, the Iranian chess player who fled to Spain after competing in an international tournament without wearing a mandatory hijab, was on Wednesday granted Spanish nationality, a government minister announced.

"In response to the exceptional circumstances concerning Mrs Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, I have just granted her Spanish nationality," said Justice Minister Pilar Llop, quoted in the country's Official Journal of the State (BOE), and using Khadem's full name.

Spain's scandal-tinted former king Juan Carlos arrived in Spain on Wednesday for his third visit home since moving to Abu Dhabi in 2020 amid fraud investigations.

The 85-year-old slowly descended the stairs of the private jet which took him to the northwestern city of Vigo, holding on to the railing with both hands, images broadcast on Spanish television showed.

Wearing a navy blue jacket, he then headed by car to the seaside town of Sanxenxo where he also stayed during his two previous visits.

Turkey's leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday spoke in Ankara with the Palestinian president and the head of Hamas in the run-up to a crucial meeting of Palestinian factions set for the weekend.

Erdogan, who has good ties with Mahmud Abbas of the Fatah party and Hamas's political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh, has said his government will do its best to push for intra-Palestinian reconciliation.

Mass protests and strikes rocked Israel this week in the face of the hard-right government's decision to push through a controversial legal reform weakening the powers of the Supreme Court.

As opponents of the legislation vow to rally again, here's a recap of the latest events and a look ahead to what comes next:

- What happened this week?

Israeli troops killed a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank Wednesday, the Palestinian health ministry said, as the army confirmed it had conducted a "counter-terrorism" operation in a Nablus refugee camp.

"A young man died of his wounds as the occupation forces stormed the city of Nablus at noon (0900 GMT)," the ministry said, referring to the Israeli army.

"The martyr, Mohammed Abd al-Hakim Nada, was shot in the chest."

An Israeli army spokesman told AFP that troops had conducted a "counter-terrorism activity in Al-Ain camp" in Nablus.

Kuwait recorded its first surplus in nine years for the 2022-2023 fiscal year which ended in March, the finance ministry said on Wednesday, crediting last year's surge in oil prices.

The Gulf emirate, whose revenues rely heavily on hydrocarbons, closed its fiscal balance with a surplus of $21 billion, the ministry said.

"The final account of the state's financial administration records an actual surplus for the first time in nine years," the ministry said in a statement on its website.

French chef Renaud Dutel never thought his career would take him to the United Arab Emirates' glam hub of Dubai, but has found there a culinary capital in the making.

Five years since he was offered a spot at a fancy restaurant in the Gulf financial and tourism hub -- better known for its skyscrapers than its food scene -- Dutel is delighted to have "taken the risk".

William Noun and Maria Fares were united by loss after a devastating blast ripped through Lebanon's capital three years ago. Now engaged, the couple pledge to keep fighting for justice.

As they prepare to take their wedding vows, Noun and Fares, both 28, sit at his family's house in the hills northeast of Beirut, surrounded by photographs of Noun's brother who perished in the tragedy.

"Ours won't be a normal wedding," said Noun, who is set to marry Fares in September.