Saudi Arabia has agreed to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as a "dialogue partner", state media reported on Wednesday, the latest indication of closer political ties with China.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization was established in 2001 as a political, economic and security organization to rival Western institutions.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday rebuffed President Joe Biden's suggestion that the premier "walks away" from a contentious plan to overhaul the legal system, saying the country makes its own decisions.

The exchange was a rare bout of public disagreement between the two close allies and signals building friction between Israel and the U.S. over Netanyahu's judicial changes, which he postponed after massive protests.

A leading international rights group on Tuesday decried what it said were double standards by Western countries that have rallied behind a "robust response" to Russia's invasion of Ukraine but remain "lukewarm" on issues of human rights violations in the Middle East.

According to Amnesty International, such double standards only fuel further repression for millions in the region.

US President Joe Biden has no fears that Israel will devolve into civil war after weeks of unrest over a controversial judicial overhaul, the White House said Monday.

"The president believes that one of the great things about Israel is its strong history of democracy," White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

At least 20 people were killed when a packed bus hit a bridge, overturned and burst into flames in southwestern Saudi Arabia on Monday, Saudi state media reported.

Al-Ekhbariya TV said 29 other people were injured in the crash and aired footage showing the charred remains of the bus. It said the crash occurred when the vehicle's brakes failed in southwestern Asir province bordering Yemen.

Chinese President Xi Jinping lauded what he called the easing of tensions in the Middle East during a call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday, state media reported.

Beijing brokered an agreement between Tehran and Riyadh on March 10 to restore diplomatic ties following a seven-year freeze.

Israel's political factions opposed to embattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began setting up negotiating teams Tuesday after he paused a controversial judicial overhaul plan that had triggered unprecedented street protests and a spiraling domestic crisis.

But compromise seemed elusive and Netanyahu's legacy was on the line in a standoff over the fundamental issue of what kind of country Israel shoule be — and positions only appear to have hardened. Three months of demonstrations against the overhaul plan intensified this week and Israel's main trade union declared a general strike, leading to chaos that shut down much of the country and threatened to paralyze the economy.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposed judicial overhaul has unleashed the most intense social unrest in Israel in decades.

Tens of thousands of people have repeatedly taken to the streets against the plan — including spontaneous mass demonstrations that erupted across the country late Sunday after he fired his defense minister for questioning the overhaul.

Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow was sitting in Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's conference room at the Pentagon, listening to him make the case that Saddam Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction.

At some point in the presentation — one of many lawmaker briefings by President George W. Bush's administration ahead of the October 2002 votes to authorize force in Iraq — military leaders showed an image of trucks in the country that they believed could be carrying weapons materials. But the case sounded thin, and Stabenow, then just a freshman senator, noticed the date on the photo was months old.

Iraqi lawmakers passed early Monday controversial amendments to the country's election law that could undermine the chances for smaller parties and independent candidates to win seats in future polls.

The amendments increase the size of electoral districts, a move widely backed by the Coordination Framework, a coalition of Iran-backed parties. The coalition forms the majority bloc in the current parliament, which brought Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani to power last year.