Middle East & North Africa

RABAT, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- Moroccan King Mohammed VI and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari vowed on Thursday to strengthen partnership, the Moroccan official MAP news agency reported.

The pledge was made during a telephone conversation between the two leaders following Buhari's re-election as Nigeria's president.

"The conversation was an opportunity to recall the willingness to strengthen the bilateral partnership on strategic projects conducted under the impetus of the two leaders," the report said.

JERUSALEM, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- Israel's Attorney General announced on Thursday that he decided to indict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for corruption.

The announcement came weeks before Israelis head to a general election in which Netanyahu is running for re-election.

According to the decision of Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, the Israeli prime minister will be entitled to a hearing before the final decision.

GENEVA (AP) — U.N.-backed investigators say Israeli soldiers intentionally fired on civilians and could have committed crimes against humanity during crackdowns against Palestinian demonstrations in Gaza last year that left 189 people dead.

The independent Commission of Inquiry mandated by the Human Rights Council said more than 6,000 people were shot by military snipers using live ammunition to repel protesters near the separation fence.

TEL AVIV, February 27. /TASS/. Russia and Israel will set up a working group with several other countries to consider the issue of removing all foreign forces from Syria, a high-ranking source in the Israeli government told reporters on Wednesday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Moscow.

CAIRO, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- At least 20 people were killed and dozens injured when a train crashed and caught fire at Cairo's main train station on Wednesday, resulting in the resignation of Transport Minister Hesham Arafat.

The train engine slammed into the buffers at the end of the track at high speed at the main railway station in downtown Cairo on Wednesday before a fire broke out.

A security source told state-run Ahram news website that the crash caused explosion of the fuel tank which triggered the fire.

GAZA, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- Israeli war jets attacked on Wednesday night, with air-to-ground missiles, military posts belong to the Islamic Hamas movement's military wing east of the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis, security sources said.

The sources said that several missiles were fired at Hamas military facility, adding that several explosions were heard in the area and the facility was destroyed, but no injuries were reported.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- The White House said on Wednesday that Jared Kushner, a son-in-law and senior advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump, has met with the Saudi king and the crown prince on Tuesday as part of his visit to Middle East countries.

BASRA, Iraq, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- China's Petroleum Engineering and Construction Corporation (CPECC) and Iraq's Basra Gas Company (BGC) signed Wednesday a contract for constructing a natural gas liquids (NGL) plant in Iraq's southern province of Basra.

During the signing ceremony, CPECC President Liu Haijun said "we are delighted to have been selected by BGC to be part of this strategically important gas project. Winning this important contract represents a new recognition of our proven capacity in project execution in Iraq."

DAMASCUS, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- A Syrian-Russian joint coordination committee demanded in a statement Wednesday the U.S. forces to withdraw from Syria, according to Syrian state news agency SANA.

The Joint Coordination Committee for Return of Syrian Refugees said in a statement that the U.S. must withdraw its forces, which are illegally present on Syrian soil.

TEHRAN, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday officially refused to accept the resignation of Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, official IRNA news agency reported.

"Your appeal for resignation is against the country's expediency," Rouhani said in response to an earlier resignation letter by Zarif.

"Therefore, I do not accept it," he added.