The United States, Israel and four Arab countries agreed to closer cooperation and annual foreign ministers' meetings on Monday, two weeks before President Joe Biden's first visit to the Middle East.

Bahrain, host of the six-way talks, the United Arab Emirates and Morocco all opened ties with Israel under the US-brokered Abraham Accords in 2020, while Egypt made peace with the Jewish state in 1979.

A long-delayed UN conference on how to restore the faltering health of global oceans kicks off in Lisbon Monday, with thousands of policymakers, experts and advocates on the case.

Humanity needs healthy oceans. They generate 50 percent of the oxygen we breathe and provide essential protein and nutrients to billions of people every day.

Covering more than two-thirds of Earth's surface, the seven seas have also softened the impact of climate change for life on land.

But at a terrible cost.

Iraq's prime minister met with leaders in rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran on Sunday, discussing regional stability as part of Baghdad's efforts to mediate between the two Middle East heavyweights.

Mustafa al-Kadhemi visited Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Tehran, after earlier meeting with Saudi Arabia's de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Saudi city of Jeddah -- pushing forward a bid to reconcile the foes that have had no diplomatic ties since 2016.

Qatar warned the general public Sunday against the use of unauthorised vehicle license plates with the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 logo, after it auctioned off dozens of number plates for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"It is prohibited to copy and install the World Cup logo on the vehicle number plate," tweeted the interior ministry, warning that violators would face legal action.

Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett hosted what was almost certainly his final cabinet meeting Sunday, commending his government as "short-lived with great achievements", ahead of parliament's expected dissolution this week.

Bennett, who took charge of an ideologically-divided eight-party alliance in June 2021, conceded last week that his coalition was no longer tenable, a shock announcement that is likely sending Israel to its fifth election in four years.

Iraq's prime minister met with Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in the kingdom Sunday as part of Baghdad's efforts to mediate between Riyadh and Tehran.

Mustafa al-Kadhemi, who headed to Saudi Arabia on Saturday, is expected to then visit Iran, its regional rival with which Riyadh has had no diplomatic ties since 2016.

Prince Mohammed and Kadhemi addressed "bilateral relations and opportunities for joint cooperation", reported the official Saudi Press Agency.

While workers laboured on a large construction site in the Gaza Strip, a security guard noticed a strange piece of stone sticking out of the earth.

"I thought it was a tunnel," said Ahmad, the young guard, referring to secret passages dug by the Islamist group Hamas to help it battle Israel.

In the Gaza Strip, ruled by Hamas and repeatedly ravaged by war, people are more familiar with burying the dead than digging up their heritage.

Like millions of other migrant labourers in the Gulf, one of the world's hottest and driest regions, construction worker B. Sajay does not welcome summer.

"We work in very high temperatures, this is the nature of our work. And yes, we suffer from severe heat," the Indian national told AFP in Muscat, the capital of Oman.

Although summer has only just begun, temperatures have already topped 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) in parts of the desert region, which is bearing the brunt of climate change.

The United States has hinted that more Arab nations could take steps to improve ties with Israel, ahead of President Joe Biden's trip to the Middle East.

All eyes are on Saudi Arabia, which Biden will visit in mid-July after he once vowed to treat the kingdom as a "pariah" state over the 2018 murder and dismemberment of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

However, despite the recent signs of a US-Saudi rapprochement, analysts say it is improbable Riyadh will agree to diplomatic ties with Israel -- not during Biden's visit or while King Salman, 86, still reigns.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi is due to visit Saudi Arabia and Iran "in the next few hours", as part of efforts to mediate between the two countries, a cabinet source said Saturday.

Iraq has over the past year hosted five rounds of talks between the two regional rivals which have had no diplomatic ties since 2016.

After the last round of negotiations in April, Kadhemi said he believed that "reconciliation is near" between Riyadh and Tehran, a further reflection of shifting political alignments across the region.