Israel's parliament on Tuesday advanced a bill that would let lawmakers pass laws that the Supreme Court cannot overturn — a key piece of legislation in Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies' proposed judicial overhaul that has divided the country.
Netanyahu's governing coalition of ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox parties has pressed ahead with its legislative blitz despite calls for compromise and demonstrations that have drawn tens of thousands of Israelis to the streets over the past two months.

Even as they highlight the historic nature of a shock rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran, regional officials and analysts are injecting a note of caution into their assessments of what it all means.
The deal announced Friday, brokered by China, stands to end a seven-year rupture in diplomatic ties between the two heavyweights that has stoked unrest across the Middle East.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's political allies pressed ahead Monday with their plan to overhaul the judiciary, advancing a bill that would protect the long-serving leader from calls that he be removed from office over his corruption charges.
The steps were the latest in a series of legislation seen by critics as concentrating power in the ruling coalition's hands. The government has pledged to plow ahead with the legal changes despite widespread opposition.

Iran said Monday it would welcome restoring ties with Bahrain to end seven years of ruptured relations, following a recent China-brokered deal to heal rifts between Tehran and Riyadh.
"The resumption of political relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia shows the effectiveness and success of the diplomatic solution to resolve misunderstandings," said Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani.

The world failed to act quickly enough to rush life-saving aid to Syrians in desperate need following the devastating earthquake, United Nations investigators said Monday.
The quake response was characterized by failures by the government, other factions in the civil war, the international community and the U.N. itself, which hindered the delivery of urgent assistance to the quake-hit northwest, the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria said.

Israeli forces have shot and killed three Palestinian militants who opened fire on troops in the occupied West Bank, the military said, the latest bloodshed in a year-long wave of violence in the region.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an armed offshoot of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, claimed the men killed as members.

Iran's mission to the United Nations says a breakthrough agreement with Saudi Arabia restoring bilateral relations will help bring a political settlement to Yemen's yearslong war, Iranian state media reported.
Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed Friday to reestablish diplomatic relations and reopen their embassies after seven years of tensions that brought the two regional powerhouses to the brink of conflict and fueled tensions across the region.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the government would assess the effect of Silicon Valley Bank's collapse on Israeli companies and determine whether or not to assist them.
Israel is home to a vibrant high-tech industry, and local media said Sunday that hundreds of local firms could be exposed to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

A spying operation on behalf of World Cup host Qatar bugged a 2017 hotel meeting between FIFA president Gianni Infantino and Switzerland's then-attorney general during an investigation of soccer officials, Swiss daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung said.
The report said intelligence operatives linked to a former CIA officer wiretapped a meeting involving Infantino and Swiss federal prosecutor Michael Lauber at a Qatari-owned hotel in Bern, which also then housed the emirate's embassy.

Israeli airstrikes targeting a weapons depot in Syria on Sunday killed two pro-Iran fighters and wounded three soldiers, a war monitor said.
"Israeli strikes targeted a weapons depot belonging to pro-Iran forces located... between Tartus and Hama provinces," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
