France and Indonesia called Wednesday for progress on "mutual recognition" between Israel and the Palestinians at a key meeting next month as Emmanuel Macron visited Jakarta, bringing the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation into his diplomatic efforts.

It came as Paris and Jakarta signed a series of cooperation agreements, with Macron seeking to deepen trade and defence ties with Southeast Asia's largest economy on a three-country tour promoting France as a balancing power between the United States and China.

An Iranian director is breathing new life into William Shakespeare's "King Lear" with a bold staging in Tehran infused with rock music and a dazzling light show to attract younger audiences.

In Iran, artists, writers, filmmakers, musicians and playwrights must walk a tightrope to avoid censorship of content the authorities deem inappropriate.

But despite political tensions between Tehran and the West, many international works still make it to the Iranian stage.

After decades of poverty and isolation under the Assad dynasty, imported fruits like pineapples, kiwis and mangoes are available again in Syria's bustling markets, making mouths water and eyes twinkle.

Fruits that were once designated luxury items, meaning they were accessible only to Syria's wealthiest, are now as common as potatoes or onions, cooking staples for many of the country's population.

"We used to smuggle them in," said 46-year-old fruit vendor Marwan Abu Hayla with a big smile as he displayed his produce at Damascus's Shaalan market.

In a vibrant Baghdad district, labourers are working tirelessly to repair the centuries-old shrine of a revered rabbi in an effort to revive the long-faded heritage of Iraq's Jewish community.

A few months ago, the tomb of Rabbi Isaac Gaon was filled with rubbish. Its door was rusted, the windows shattered and the walls stained black from decades of neglect.

Today, marble tiling covers the once-small grave, and at its centre stands a large tombstone inscribed with a verse, the rabbi's name and the year he died: 688. A silver menorah hangs on the wall behind it.

Thousands of Palestinians rushed into a new aid distribution centre run by a US-backed group in southern Gaza on Tuesday, AFP journalists reported, leading to chaotic scenes as Israel implemented a new distribution system.

The incident in Rafah came days after the partial easing of a total aid blockade on the territory that Israel imposed on March 2, leading to severe shortages of food and medicine.

An alleged former Syrian prison guard has been arrested in Germany on suspicion of committing crimes against humanity under former president Bashar al-Assad, prosecutors said Tuesday.

The man, identified only as Fahad A., is accused of "acts of killing, torture and deprivation of liberty" while he worked in a Damascus facility run by Syrian intelligence in 2011 and 2012, during the Arab Spring protests.

Palestinian traders in Jerusalem's Old City returned to their shops on Tuesday to clean up a day after a march by Israeli nationalists that saw scuffles, insults and acts of vandalism.

Some had to use crowbars, hammers and wirecutters to regain access to their own shops after many were vandalised during the Jerusalem Day march the day before.

Jerusalem Day commemorates Israeli forces taking east Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

A paramilitary drone strike hit a fuel depot and a military base in war-torn Sudan's south Tuesday, a military source said, as the capital Khartoum battles a deadly cholera outbreak.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), targeted the city of Kosti in White Nile State, after weeks of a long-range drone campaign that has hit vital infrastructure across the country.

The RSF and regular army have been locked in a devastating war since April 2023.

Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah was admitted to a hospital in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday due to fatigue, though his office insisted the world's longest-serving monarch was in "good health".

The sultan is in Kuala Lumpur with other Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders, who on Tuesday met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and dignitaries from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

A Malaysian government source told AFP the sultan "was hospitalised in between the ASEAN-GCC and ASEAN-GCC-China summit" for fatigue.

Questions swirled over Cristiano Ronaldo's future in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, hours after the superstar indicated he might be leaving Al Nassr in a social media post, just hours following the end of the Saudi Pro League season.

The 40-year-old Portuguese forward joined Al Nassr in 2022 from Manchester United and his contract with the Saudi club ends this summer.

A special transfer window runs from June 1-10 to allow the 32 clubs involved in the Club World Cup to sign players.

Al-Nassr are not at the Club World Cup unlike fellow Saudi side Al Hilal.