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Tunisia: President Kais Saied shows his real self, backs use of death-by-hanging in murder cases
Tunisia's President Kais Saied has said he backs capital punishment, after public outrage over a woman's murder sparked calls for executions to restart following a three-decade-long pause. "Anyone who kills a person for no reason deserves the death penalty," Saied...
Tunisia intercepts hundreds of would-be-migrants
Tunisia said Monday that naval patrols had intercepted 19 boats carrying a total of 246 people seeking to cross from the North African nation to Europe overnight Saturday to Sunday alone. The vast majority of those stopped were Tunisians, the interior ministry said,...
Tunisia battered by heavy rains and floods, six killed
Six people, including three children, have been killed in six days of heavy rains across Tunisia, a spokesman for the civil protection agency told AFP on Friday. The severe weather has in the last week hit numerous regions from Jendouba, an agricultural area in the...
Tunisia: Knife attack kills policeman in Sousse, Islamic State claims responsibility
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility on Monday for a knife attack in Tunisia which killed one National Guard officer and wounded another, as security forces rounded up more suspects. The attack on Sunday morning in a tourist district of the coastal city of...
Tunisia: Epidemic shows extent of weakness of Tunisia’s health sector
El Hamma, Tunisia, Sept 2, 2020 - The coronavirus pandemic has put the spotlight on struggling health services in southeast Tunisia, with residents and doctors in a Covid-19 hotspot deploring a lack of equipment and medics. The North African country had managed to...
Tunisia: Despite an economy in tatters, Tunisia shows promising political outlook
Tunis, Sept 2, 2020 - Tunisia's parliament has approved a new technocratic government tasked with tackling deep social and economic woes in the North African country, ending weeks of uncertainty in the young democracy. Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi was confirmed by...
Tunisia: New PM submits list of cabinet members to parliament
Tunis, Aug 25, 2020 - Tunisia's prime minister-designate on Tuesday unveiled the country's second government in six months, which must now seek approval from lawmakers incensed by how the administration was formed. Hichem Mechichi had previously declared his intention...
Italy: Overwhelmed by new influx of migrants, Italy calls on Tunisia to help
Tunis, Aug 17, 2020 - Italy has no more room for illegal migrants, its foreign minister Luigi Di Maio said Monday on a visit to Tunisia, from where many of them cross the Mediterranean Sea. After a meeting with the Tunisian President Kais Saied, Italy's top diplomat...
Growing tension between Rome and Tunis over illegal immigration
On Monday, 10 August, special flights will be organized to bring back home Tunisian migrants who landed in Italy over the past weeks. The flights have been made possible after uproar in Italy resulted in the calling by the Italian foreign ministry of the Tunisian...
Immigration: Influx of migrants gives new momentum to Italy’s far-right movement
Lampedusa, Italy - [Photo: Giorgia Meloni] - 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". The...
Immigration: Dozens of migrants escape quarantine in Sicily
Dozens of migrants escaped quarantine in Sicily Monday, a day after nearly 200 others fled a separate holding facility as Italy prepared a navy ship to house arriving migrants. Hundreds continue to arrive daily in southern Italy, especially on the islands of Lampedusa...
More than 143,000 cumulative Covid-19 infections in North Africa, at least 6,000 deaths so far, Egypt worst hit
The cumulative confirmed infections of Covid-19 in the North African countries of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt reached 143,258 over the weekend ending 26 July 2020. The combined death toll since the outbreak of the pandemic reached 6,144. Egypt, which...
Tunisia: Hichem Mechini tasked to form new government
Hichem Mechichi, who until now has served as Tunisia's interior minister, has been appointed to form the next government, the president's office said Saturday. The 46-year-old lawyer succeeds Elyes Fakhfakh, who resigned earlier this month -- but Mechichi was not one...
Tunisia: Protesters block key pipeline in Tataouine
Tunis, July 17, 2020 - Protesters demanding jobs in Tunisia's marginalised south have blocked a key pipeline carrying half the country's oil production after hundreds stormed a crude production site, the energy ministry said Friday. On Thursday demonstrators pushed...
Tunisia: As government faces political crisis, protesters in the south force entry to oil production site
El-Kamour, Tunisie, July 16, 2020 - Hundreds of protesters on Thursday forced their way into an oil production site in southern Tunisia, in the latest demonstration to demand jobs and development in the marginalised region. Demonstrators pushed their way past military...
Tunisia’s political crisis: Prime Minister Fakhfakh quits
Tunisia's prime minister quit Wednesday after less than five months in office, threatening fresh political deadlock as the North African nation battles the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. Elyes Fakhfakh's resignation came as a political row deepened...
Tunisia: Conservative court sends Emna Charki to prison for parody linking the Koran and Covid-19
Tunis, July 14, 2020 - A young Tunisian woman was sentenced to six months in jail by a Tunis court on Tuesday over a parody posted on Facebook linking the Koran and COVID-19. Emna Charki, 27, was found guilty of offending religion and "incitement to hatred" in a May 4...
Tunisia: Government of PM Elyes Fakhfakh under pressure as country slides into political and economic chaos
Tunis, July 13, 2020 - Tunisia's Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party, the largest in parliament, called Monday for consultations to appoint a new prime minister, a move opposed by President Kais Saied. Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfakh was sworn in in February after winning...
Tunisia: More unrest in Southern Tunisia over economic despair
Hundreds of Tunisians demonstrated in the south of the country on Saturday against unemployment and the death of a young man they say was killed by soldiers earlier this week. Protesters in the town of Remada demanded that President Kais Saied visit their region to...
New influx of migrants raises concern in Italy
The recent arrivals have sparked protests by locals in some areas, after a few dozen migrants tested positive for the coronavirus after disembarking. Italy is facing a surge in migrants, with arrivals almost one-third higher so far this year than last, interior...
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