Israel's parliament on Tuesday passed controversial legislation paving the way for the return of veteran hawk Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister.

Following his November 1 election win, Netanyahu secured a mandate to form a government backed by ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties and an extreme-right bloc.

Netanyahu will present what analysts have said will be the most right-wing government in Israel's history to parliament on Thursday.

Tunisia's finance minister unveiled a budget Monday aiming to use new tax revenues to claw the deficit back to near five percent of GDP, as the cash-strapped country awaits an international bailout.

The 2023 budget comes as the North African country grapples with eye-watering public debt, shortages of goods from sugar to petrol and inflation at nearly 10 percent.

The latest plans aim to cut the budget deficit from 7.7 percent of gross domestic product to 5.2 percent, Finance Minister Sihem Boughdiri told journalists.

Iranian football legend Ali Daei, who has backed protests following Mahsa Amini's death, said Monday an airplane from Tehran to Dubai had been rerouted and his family ordered off.

Protests have gripped Iran since the September 16 death of Iranian-Kurdish Amini, 22, after her arrest in Tehran for an alleged breach of the country's strict dress code for women. Tehran generally calls the protests "riots".

Veteran Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu will present his new government to parliament this week, the Knesset speaker said on Monday.

Following his November 1 election win, Netanyahu secured a mandate to form a government backed by ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties and an extreme-right bloc, with the 73-year-old set to resume his old post as prime minister.

"The vote for the formation of the government will take place at 11:00 am (0900 GMT) Thursday in a special session of the Knesset," parliament speaker Yariv Levin said in a statement.

France charged a suspected gunman on Monday with last week's killing of three Kurds in Paris, as hundreds of people marched in the French capital to pay tribute to the victims.

The 69-year-old suspect had confessed to a "pathological" hatred for foreigners and spent nearly a day in a psychiatric facility before being returned to police custody on Sunday, authorities said.

The judge charged the man with murder, attempted murder because of race, ethnicity, nationality or religion as well as for the unauthorised procurement and possession of a weapon, a judicial source said.

Iran's top general has said that Western claims its drones are being used by Russia against Ukraine show the 'effectiveness' of Tehran's unmanned aerial vehicles, Iranian media reported Sunday.

Kyiv and its Western allies have accused Russia of using Iranian-made drones to carry out attacks against Ukraine in the months-long conflict, causing significant damage to civilian and energy infrastructure.

A Tunisian rights group condemned Sunday a "repressive and inhumane" government decision to deport a group of migrants who had been evacuated from a defunct refugee camp.

The 25 men from Egypt, Niger, Nigeria and Sudan had sought asylum in Tunisia after fleeing violence in neighbouring Libya in 2011, but their requests were denied, said Romdhane Ben Amor of the Tunisian Forum for Social and Economic Rights (FTDES).

He said their repatriation would "put their lives at risk".

Thousands of people are set to gather Sunday in St Peter's Square to hear Pope Francis deliver his Christmas Day message, where he is expected to offer prayers for war-torn Ukraine.

The head of the Catholic Church will address the faithful from the central balcony of St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, before delivering the "Urbi et Orbi" blessing ("to the city and the world").

The 86-year-old is expected to focus on the brutal conflict in Ukraine in his speech, which is broadcast on television and radio around the world.

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.