Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu has named former general Yoav Galant as defense minister in his upcoming cabinet, a spokesperson for his Likud party said Wednesday.

Kuwait, one of the hottest countries on Earth, has been hit by a rare hail storm that delighted children and their parents, with images of the winter white shared widely on social media Wednesday. 

Benjamin Netanyahu's incoming hard-line government put West Bank settlement expansion at the top of its list of priorities on Wednesday, a day before it's set to be sworn into office.

Netanyahu's Likud party released the new government's policy guidelines, the first of which is that it will "advance and develop settlement in all parts of the land of Israel — in the Galilee, Negev, Golan Heights, and Judea and Samaria" — the Biblical names for the West Bank.

A top aide to President Mahmoud Abbas has been heard in newly released recordings cursing the Palestinian leader and insulting other members of the Palestinian leadership.

The purported remarks by Hussein al-Sheikh, a senior official who is seen as a potential successor to the 87-year-old Abbas, gave a glimpse of the bitter infighting inside the Palestinian leadership as several hopefuls try to position themselves for the post-Abbas era.

Israeli authorities said Tuesday they had arrested a suspect in Jerusalem twin bombings that killed two people last month, charging that he identified with the Islamic State group.

Aslam Farouh, 26, an Arab with an Israeli residency card, lived between Kufr Akab, a neighborhood of Jerusalem, and Ramallah, said the Shin Bet domestic security agency and Israel Police in a joint statement.

Israel's largest medical center and healthcare workers from hospitals around the country have spoken out against remarks by allies of Benjamin Netanyahu calling for a law to allow discrimination against LGBTQ people in hospitals and businesses.

It was part of a broader blowback against remarks made this week by Religious Zionism politicians calling for legal discrimination against LGBTQ people.

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.

Syrian Kurdish-led forces boosted security Tuesday a day after foiling a deadly Islamic State group assault on a prison fearing that the extremists will strike again, a spokesman said.

Authorities on Monday declared a state of emergency in Raqa, the jihadists' former de facto capital in northern Syria, after gunmen launched an attack on a security complex near a prison holding fellow militants.

Over 1,000 senior Israeli air force veterans, including a former Israeli chief of staff, have urged the country's top legal officials to stand tough against the incoming government.

In a letter to the chief of Israel's Supreme Court and other top officials, they said the alliance of religious and ultranationalist parties threatens Israel's future. The letter was delivered days before the new government is to take office.

Everything from the signboard outside down to the napkins bears the official emblem of the top international coffee chain. But in Baghdad, looks are deceiving: The "Starbucks" in the Iraqi capital is unlicensed.

Real Starbucks merchandise is imported from neighboring countries to stock the three cafes in the city, but all are operating illegally. Starbucks filed a lawsuit in an attempt to shut down the trademark violation, but the case was halted after the owner allegedly threatened lawyers hired by the coffee house.