Qatar's World Cup will be the first on Arab soil but despite excitement in the Middle East, the fervour is not universal in a region usually united by its passion for football.

Although the November 20-December 18 tournament is geographically close for many Arab fans, high costs are a problem as a cocktail of crises and economic woes plague much of the Middle East and North Africa.

Home to gleaming skyscrapers and upmarket shopping malls, World Cup host Qatar is also a conservative Muslim country deeply attached to its customs and traditions.

Here are some of the cultural conventions football fans should know when visiting the gas-rich Gulf emirate, which, like other Arab nations, prides itself on its hospitality.

- Greetings and handshakes -

In public places, it is customary to stand up when greeting others, particularly the elderly, as a sign of respect.

Some 30 quad bikes, motorcycles and four-wheel drives are rallying in Libya's desert -- a welcome but rare taste of normality for a nation lashed by the shifting sands of conflict.

At the launch in 2013, organisers of the Al-Hamada rally had envisioned an annual event, yet this year's episode is only the third to get beyond the starting line.

Competitors from Libya and Tunisia have taken to the drivers' seats, one of them a woman for the first time in a Libyan rally.

One week from kickoff, the World Cup trophy returned to Qatar on Sunday, teams and fans started arriving and safety barriers went up across Doha ahead of one of the most controversial football tournaments ever.

The trophy which will be presented to the winning team on December 18 returned from a world tour in time for next Sunday's opening game when hosts Qatar take on Ecuador.

Seeking to speed up global efforts against climate change, Vanuatu is leading efforts to get the International Court of Justice involved, a move praised by activists at UN talks.

The COP27 climate summit in Egypt has been dominated by calls for nations to redouble their efforts to cut emissions and for rich polluters to finally provide the money that developing nations need to cope with global warming.

Threatened by rising sea levels, the small Pacific island of Vanuatu signalled last year that it would seek a non-binding "advisory opinion" from the Hague-based ICJ.

Iranian authorities on Sunday transferred to hospital a prominent dissident arrested in September as protests swept the country and who is now on hunger strike, his brother said, warning his life is in danger.

Hossein Ronaghi, an outspoken freedom of speech campaigner, is one of dozens of prominent rights activists, journalists and lawyers who have been arrested in the crackdown on protests that erupted after the death of Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested by the morality police.

Israel's veteran ex-premier Benjamin Netanyahu secured a mandate Sunday to form a new government, paving the way for his comeback at the helm of what is expected to be the most right-wing administration in the country's history.

After a period of unprecedented political gridlock tested the electorate with five votes in less than four years, the November 1 election gave Netanyahu and his far-right allies a clear majority in the 120-seat parliament.

Leona Blankenstein couldn't believe what she was hearing when the Libyan coastguard threatened to blast her small plane out of the sky.

The German doctor was in a spotter aircraft for the rescue charity Sea-Watch when she encountered the Fezzan patrol boat as it picked up migrants in Maltese waters on October 25.

"Get away from Libyan territorial (waters), otherwise we'll shoot you by SAM (surface-to-air) missiles," warned the vessel, one of several Italy gave to Libya under a controversial EU-backed deal to stop migrants reaching Europe.

Iranian women dissidents who met President Emmanuel Macron praised the talks on Saturday as a historic move from Paris, while urging France to lead concrete action against the Islamic republic.

Macron had on Friday held a previously unpublicised meeting with four prominent women campaigners as anti-regime protests sweep Iran over the death of Mahsa Amini who had been arrested by the morality police.

The four included US-based activist Masih Alinejad who for years has led a campaign encouraging Iranian women to remove their obligatory headscarves.

Brazil will protect the Amazon "with its own efforts" without waiting for international funding, the former environment minister of incoming President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Saturday at UN climate talks.

Credited with curbing deforestation in the 2000s, Marina Silva outlined key environmental priorities for the new president, who will visit the climate talks next week in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Silva is tipped to reprise her role in Lula's new government.