Tunisia News

Tunisia arrests over 600, deploys troops after riots

By AFP

Tunis - Tunisian authorities said Monday they had arrested more than 600 people and deployed troops after a third consecutive night of riots, mostly by young people in working class districts of several cities.

Locked-down Tunisia marks decade since dictator's fall

By AFP

Tunis - Tunisia marked 10 years Thursday since its street revolution sent autocratic ruler Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fleeing into exile, but few are celebrating amid a lockdown as Covid-19 cases spiral.

Glum mood 10 years after Tunisia protest ousted president

By AFP

Tunis - Tunisia, where the Arab Spring started, has also been its relative success story -- but celebrations will be muted when it marks on Thursday one decade since protesters ousted its autocratic leader.

Hopes lie crushed as Tunisians mark a decade since revolution

By AFP

Sidi Bouzid - Ten years since the intoxicating early days of Tunisia's revolution, dreams for a better future lie crushed, and in the rural town where it began, the mood on Thursday was one of anger rather than hope.

Cartoon cat helps keep Tunisia's revolutionary flame alight

By AFP

Tunis - When Tunisia's embattled dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali delivered a last-ditch speech promising new freedoms to a country in revolt, Nadia Khiari sketched her cat delivering the same address to a group of mice.

Despite democracy, Tunisia's revolution remains unfinished

By AFP

Tunis - Tunisians may have overthrown dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali a decade ago but, with few reforms to the country's security forces and an economy rife with nepotism, its revolution is far from achieving its goals.

In birthplace of Tunisia's revolution, few jobs and little hope

By AFP

Sidi Bouzid - Khouloud Rhimi sits sipping a latte with friends in Sidi Bouzid, ground zero of the Tunisian uprising, and laments 10 years of disappointment and economic woes.

Libya talks end without naming govt but UN vows to continue

By AFP

Gammarth - UN-led talks aimed at appointing an executive to help lead Libya out of a decade of conflict ended Sunday without discussing names, the world body said.

Libyans agree preliminary plan for elections: UN

By AFP

Gammarth - Libyans agreed in UN-led talks on Wednesday a plan to hold elections within 18 months, as diplomatic efforts grow to end a decade of violence in the North African country.

Libyans hold UN-led talks to prepare for elections

By AFP

Gammarth - The UN launched talks among Libyans on Monday aimed at creating a unity government and preparing for elections to bring peace after a decade of violence in the North African country.

Tunisian startup 3D prints solar-powered bionic hands

By AFP

Sousse - A Tunisian startup is developing a 3D-printed bionic hand, hoping the affordable and solar-powered prosthetic will help amputees and other disabled people across Africa.

More arrests as French Catholics pray in shadow of attack in Nice

By AFP

Nice - French Catholics on Sunday celebrated the All Saints religious festival under heavy security, as police made two new arrests over an attack on a church in the southern city of Nice blamed on an Islamist knifeman.

France makes new arrests over Nice church attack

By AFP

Paris - French police have made two new arrests in the probe into an attack on a church in the southern city of Nice that left three dead, as authorities seek to understand the profile of the suspected killer, judicial sources said on Sunday.

Tunisian family of alleged Nice knifeman in disbelief over attack

By AFP

Sfax - The family of a man detained for killing three church-goers in France weeks after leaving his home in Tunisia has told AFP they are struggling to believe he carried out the attack.

Divers discover French WWI submarine off Tunisia

By AFP

La Marsa - Tunisian divers have discovered a French submarine wreck from World War I, the Ariane, which was sunk by a German submarine in 1917.

Tunisian officer stabbed to death, 3 'terrorists' killed in firefight

By AFP

Sousse - Attackers with knives killed a Tunisian National Guard officer and wounded another Sunday before three assailants were shot dead in a firefight, the security force said, labelling it a "terrorist" act.

Tunisia lawmakers approve new government

By AFP

Tunis - Tunisia's parliament approved the country's third government in less than a year on Wednesday, overcoming discontent among lawmakers incensed by how the administration was formed and averting the threat of disruptive early elections.

Italy's Lampedusa new target of far-right anger over migrants

By AFP

Lampedusa - Out in the Mediterranean, under a baking sun, fisherman Ezio Billeci comes across a boat of vulnerable migrants and calls for help, but for hours the only response he gets from Italian authorities is to "stand by".

Passion for purple revives ancient dye in Tunisia

By AFP

Tunis - A Tunisian man has pieced together bits of a local secret linked to ancient emperors: how to make a prized purple dye using the guts of a sea snail.

Tunisia interior minister named new PM

By AFP

Tunis - Tunisia's interior minister Hichem Mechichi has been appointed to form the next government, the president's office said, amid political tensions among major parties in the North African country.

Identifying migrants who died at sea meticulous work for Tunisia

By AFP

Sfax - The identity of dozens of migrants who drowned off Tunisia last month might have been lost without a trace, like thousands of others who have disappeared on the treacherous sea route to Europe.

Political stagnation and virus galvanise Maghreb migrants

By AFP

Alger - "Here, I don't exist -- I die little by little," said Hamid, a young Algerian, his gaze fixed on Mediterranean waters he sees as his route to a better future."My only hope is to leave for Europe.

Morocco artisans fear 'knockout punch' from virus

By AFP

Rabat - Pottery, basketwork and wrought-iron furniture pile up in the deserted stalls of the Oulja arts and crafts complex in Sale near the Moroccan capital Rabat.Artisans have been starved of income for almost three months because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A World Redrawn: Re-think gender roles, says Tunisian feminist Bochra Belhaj Hmida

By AFP

Tunis - During Tunisia's coronavirus lockdown, feminist activist and former lawmaker Bochra Belhaj Hmida has been worrying about family violence, rethinking gender roles -- and crocheting.

Young Tunisians eat in secret despite Ramadan and lockdown

By AFP

Nicosia - Hiding snacks under their beds or behind piles of clothes, young Tunisians are finding ways to subvert the Ramadan fast -- despite being locked down with their Muslim conservative parents.

Coronavirus crisis punctures Tunisia tourism rebound

By AFP

Tunis - As the novel coronavirus pandemic wipes out a recovery from jihadist attacks in 2015, Tunisia's vital tourism sector is trying to find ways to avoid going under."Normally, the season starts now.

Tunisia hopes novel methods will aid virus fight

By AFP

Tunis - The feared impact of coronavirus on Tunisia's fragile public health system has provoked a flurry of innovation from robotics to digitalisation efforts to bolster the North African country's pandemic response.

Pandemic worsens plight of Middle East prisoners

By AFP

Apo - As governments in the Middle East isolate their populations to prevent the spread of coronavirus, attention is turning to the region's jails, where detainees face a more punishing form of lockdown.

Tunisian handed ten years for ricin bomb plot in Germany

By AFP

Berlin - A German court sentenced a 31-year-old Tunisian to ten years in prison Thursday for planning a foiled biological bomb attack with the deadly poison ricin.Islamic State sympathiser Sief Allah H.

Suicide attackers hit outside US embassy in Tunis

By AFP

Tunis - Suicide attackers struck outside the US embassy in the Tunisian capital on Friday, killing a police officer, wounding six other people and once again shaking a city repeatedly hit by jihadist violence.