Far from Dubai's gleaming skyscrapers and renowned camel races, a bullfight is under way in the emirate of Fujairah, where the tradition continues unbeknown to most in the United Arab Emirates.

"Look at them fight!" a commentator shouts into a microphone as the first bovine battle of the day kicks off, sending up clouds of dust in the village of Al-Qurayyah.

Two bulls, each weighing in at hundreds of kilograms (pounds), charge at each other while assistants hold ropes attached to their necks or legs for safety.

Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will meet Bahrain's king on Tuesday after arriving for the first visit by an Israeli head of state to the Gulf country, 17 months after they defied decades of tensions to normalise diplomatic ties.

Bennett was welcomed by Bahrain's Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani at Manama airport, which was decorated with the flags of both countries, late on Monday. He will meet King Hamad and Crown Prince Salman, who is also prime minister, on Tuesday.

Dozens of refugees from Sudan and sub-Saharan African countries protested in Tunisia on Monday, complaining of "marginalisation" and demanding their evacuation from the country, an AFP correspondent said.

The refugees, many of whom were rescued during attempts to cross the Mediterranean, held a sit-in in front of the headquarters of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in the southern port town of Zarzis.

"We have refugee status but this organisation (UNHCR) does not care about us," one Sudanese protester told AFP.

"We are marginalised. Our conditions are inhumane," he added.

Thousands of Israelis streamed into Jerusalem from across the country Monday in a "freedom convoy" against coronavirus restrictions that mirrored similar traffic-blocking protests in Canada and around the world.

The demonstrators blared their car horns and waved Canadian and Israeli flags as they made their way towards the seat of Israel's government. Protesters held signs against wearing masks and other coronavirus restrictions. Other activists stopped traffic at junctions and bridges nationwide.

Sudanese security forces shot dead a protester Monday in a crackdown on the thousands marching against last year's military coup and the arrest of scores of pro-democracy activists, medics said.

Regular mass protests have rocked the troubled northeast African nation since an October 25 military takeover led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the death on Monday takes the number killed to at least 80.

The power grab derailed a fragile power-sharing agreement between the army and civilians negotiated after the 2019 ouster of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was set to fly to Bahrain on Monday for the first-ever official visit by an Israeli head of government to the Gulf state.

Bennett's visit is the latest following the US-brokered 2020 Abraham Accords, which defied decades of Arab consensus that ruled out ties in the absence of a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Germany must act immediately to prevent the hanging of a national detained in Iran who risks the death penalty on charges vehemently denied by his supporters, his family and activists said on Monday.

Anti-regime activist Jamshid Sharmahd, 66, appeared in court in Tehran earlier this month charged with "spreading corruption on earth" over accusations of involvement in a bombing at a mosque in 2008.

If convicted on this charge, which campaigners say is often used against opponents of the government, he could face execution.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was Monday due to visit the United Arab Emirates for the first time in nearly a decade, to revive relations that were long strained by regional disputes.

Turkey and the oil-rich Emirates have backed opposing sides in the Libyan civil war and in a Gulf diplomatic crisis, and they have sparred over issues such as gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean.

But those tensions eased after Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, the de facto ruler of the UAE, travelled to Ankara in November, the first high-level visit since 2012.

Iran on Monday said an agreement to restore the 2015 nuclear deal was "at hand", but insisted that sanctions be "truly lifted" amid ongoing talks in Vienna.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said during a meeting with visiting Irish foreign and defence minister Simon Coveney that "the rights of the Iranian people must be respected" in the ongoing negotiations.

Raisi also hailed Ireland's "independence from the United States and some European countries", adding that the two countries have "vast capabilities" to strengthen ties, according to state news agency IRNA.

Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian teenager in West Bank clashes, during what the army on Monday described as an operation to demolish the home of a suspected "terrorist".

The Palestinian health ministry identified the youth as Mohammed Abu Salah, 17, who was killed after Israeli forces entered the village of Silat al-Harithiya near the flashpoint town of Jenin in the occupied West Bank.

Soldiers and border police had entered the village "to demolish the floor of the residence in which the terrorist Muhammad Jaradat resided", the army said in a statement.