Middle East & North Africa

TUNIS, April 10 (Reuters) - Tunisians on Sunday protested against President Kais Saied, accusing him of imposing one-man rule in the North African country after he dissolved parliament last month.

A political crisis in the country intensified last month when more than half of the members of parliament held an online session to revoke Saied's decrees.

"We are facing a failed dictatorship that is leading the country to an economic disaster.. We will continue to protest in the streets until a coup is forced to reverse its decisions," Chaima Issa, an activist, said.

DUBAI, April 10 (Reuters) - Iranian lawmakers have set conditions for the revival of a 2015 nuclear pact, including legal guarantees approved by the U.S. Congress that Washington would not quit it, Iranian state media reported on Sunday.

Iran and the United States have engaged in indirect talks in Vienna over the past year to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement between Tehran and world powers which then-U.S. President Donald Trump left in 2018 and Iran subsequently violated by ramping up its nuclear programme.

IDLIB, Syria/BEIRUT, April 10 (Reuters) - Abdel Hamid al-Youssef said 25 members of his family, including his wife and infant twins, were killed when poison gas was dropped on their town in Syria in 2017, in an attack a U.N.-backed inquiry concluded was launched by the Syrian state.

"In seconds, everything was erased. Life was completely erased," Youssef, 33, said of the sarin attack that struck the town of Khan Sheikhoun, one of scores of times chemical weapons have reportedly been used in the country's 11-year-old war.

JERUSALEM, April 10 (Reuters) - Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian woman in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, after a string of deadly Arab and Palestinian attacks in Israel.

The Israeli military said the woman had run towards soldiers at a position near Bethlehem and did not heed their calls or warning shots to stop.

JERUSALEM, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Global credit rating agency Moody's Investors Service has changed the outlook on the Israeli government from stable to positive and maintained its sovereign credit rating at "A1," said Israel's Ministry of Finance on Saturday.

The key drivers for the upgrade in outlook were the government reform agenda and expectation of a further reduction in its debt ratio, helped by continuing strong economic growth, Moody's said.

TEHRAN, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said on Sunday that nuclear negotiations in Vienna must lead to guaranteed economic benefits for Iran, according to a statement posted on the parliament's website.

Iran's nuclear progress is a strong support for the Iranian people's economic benefits, and nuclear negotiations should lead to "guaranteed, sustainable and tangible economic benefits" for Iranian people, the statement quoted Qalibaf as saying during the parliament's open session.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Palestinians set fire to a West Bank shrine revered by Jews as Israeli forces operated in the occupied territory following a spate of recent Palestinian attacks in Israel, the Israeli military said Sunday.

The developments come as tensions between Israelis and Palestinians have escalated during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which this year converges with major Jewish and Christian holidays. Protests and tensions around the holiday last year boiled over into the 11-day Gaza war.

9 April 2022; MEMO: The European Union (EU) has said that its continued support for Tunisia is dependent on it returning to the democratic course and constitutional institutions. Meanwhile, the opposition expressed its rejection of the system of voting for individuals during the parliamentary elections.

9 April 2022; MEMO: A number of Israeli officials are being targeted in a catfishing campaign by a hacker group allegedly affiliated with the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, in what is reported to be the latest politically-motivated cyber espionage operation used against prominent targets in Israel.

10 April 2022; MEMO: Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi said Saturday his county has not left the Vienna talks and will not end its participation, asserting that his government seeks to secure the rights of the Iranian people through the deal, Anadolu Agency reported.

Speaking at an event to mark Iran's Nuclear Technology Day, Raisi said his government follows the strategy outlined by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the nuclear program.