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Tunisia: Rough start of the year for commuters in Tunis, as tram and bus workers go on strike
Tram and bus workers in the Tunisian capital staged a strike over delays in salaries and the lack of an end-of-year bonus Monday, creating traffic jams across Tunis. The strike is the latest in a string of similar actions as Tunisia grapples with a grinding economic...
Tunisian president fights back against critics after disastrous election results
Tunisia's President Kais Saied on Wednesday played down massive abstention in this month's parliamentary elections and slammed critics who have accused him of dragging the country towards dictatorship. Just 11.2 percent of registered voters took part in the December...
Tunisian regime seeks to strip judges of immunity before charging them of terrorism
Tunisian prosecutors asked the top judicial body to strip 13 judges of immunity so they can be tried on terror charges, their lawyer said Wednesday, describing the case as "purely political". The move comes nearly seven months after President Kais Saied sacked 57...
Tunisia: While waiting for an international bailout, Tunisia looks to raise taxes to stay afloat
Tunisia's finance minister unveiled a budget Monday aiming to use new tax revenues to claw the deficit back to near five percent of GDP, as the cash-strapped country awaits an international bailout. The 2023 budget comes as the North African country grapples with...
Tunisia electoral board sues media outlets for “attacking dignity of voters”
Tunisian rights groups on Tuesday accused the electoral authority of "threatening" press freedom, after it sued bloggers and media outlets for alleged violations during a poll on a new constitution. Last week, the ISIE elections authority filed 24 legal complaints...
Tunisia deports migrants, rights group calls move “repressive and inhumane”
A Tunisian rights group condemned Sunday a "repressive and inhumane" government decision to deport a group of migrants who had been evacuated from a defunct refugee camp. The 25 men from Egypt, Niger, Nigeria and Sudan had sought asylum in Tunisia after fleeing...
Tunisia’s UGTT labor union urges action to end political stalemate
A powerful Tunisian trade union called Wednesday for a road map to "save" the country from a slide back to autocracy, after voters largely shunned last week's legislative elections. Just 11.2 percent of voters cast ballots Saturday for a new parliament stripped of...
Tunisia: President faces turmoil after election turnout fell below 9%
By Kaouther Larbi and Francoise Kadri: Tunisia plunged into political uncertainty Sunday as its main opposition alliance called on President Kais Saied to "leave immediately", a day after voters overwhelming snubbed elections for a neutered parliament. That comes with...
Tunisian migrants increasingly eyeing Germany as a destination
By Françoise Kadri: Germany is becoming a key destination for disillusioned young Tunisians despite a language barrier and the North African nation's long history of ties with France. Europe's biggest economy, with its low birth rate, is crying out for labour, and...
Tunisia: Harissa chili paste gets UNESCO heritage status
UNESCO on Thursday added Tunisia's spicy national condiment Harissa to its list of intangible cultural heritage, saying it was part of the North African country's identity. The United Nations' cultural agency is meeting in Morocco to examine proposals for its list of...
Podcast: Food shortages and rising cost of commodities in Tunisia: briefly explained
Arezki Daoud of MEA Risk and The North Africa Journal visited Tunisia this November and is bringing better understanding on the challenges facing the Tunisians in their day-to-day living. Listen to the audio podcast version: Download the MP3 file here...
Tunisia: Government accuses opposition party Ennahdha of sending fighters to Iraq and Syria
The speaker of Tunisia's dissolved parliament appeared on Monday before a judge investigating accusations his party helped Tunisian jihadists travel to fight in Iraq and Syria. Rached Ghannouchi, an arch-rival of President Kais Saied and also head of the...
UNESCO set to give Algerian Rai music and Tunisian Harissa heritage status
The French baguette, Algerian Rai music and Tunisia's harissa condiment are among this year's contenders for recognition as intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO, which started deliberations Monday in Morocco. The United Nations' cultural agency is examining 56...
Tunisia: Dozen policemen get only 2 years in prison in case involving death of young man
Twelve Tunisian policemen were jailed for two years Thursday for manslaughter in the case of a 19-year-old football fan who drowned in a stream while trying to escape them. The death of Omar Laabidi in March 2018 has been seen as a case representative of the excessive...
Human Rights: Saudi Arabia jails Tunisian midwife for a retweet
The sister of a Tunisian woman jailed by Saudi Arabia for retweeting a post about Lebanon's Hezbollah movement on Friday urged Tunis authorities to intervene on her behalf. Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia considers the Shiite group, which is backed by its archfoe Iran, a...
Tunisia: Company offering divorce service under attack for “undermining family values”
Tunisia's bar association claimed Monday a company offering a three-step pathway to divorce undermines family values, and launched legal proceedings against the firm. Billboards appeared last week across the capital Tunis advertising Talaq ("Divorce" in Arabic), "the...
Tunisia wants toddler migrant back after she reached Italy without parents
Tunisia said Wednesday it plans to repatriate a four-year-old girl who reached Italy aboard a boat with other irregular migrants, but without her family. The state "is taking care of the girl's interests and completing the necessary measures to ensure her return to...
Migration: Three-year old girl from Tunisia reaches Italy on migrant boat, without parents
A Tunisian toddler aged just three has reached Italy aboard a boat with other irregular migrants, but without her parents, who have been detained, authorities said Thursday. "The prosecution has opened an investigation and the girl's parents have been detained on...
Tunisia: Hundreds of migrants intercepted in Tunisia, others arrested for human smuggling
Tunisian authorities said on Friday they had intercepted more than 800 people making clandestine attempts to reach Italy by boat in a single night earlier this week. "A total of 813 migrants, including 473 from sub-Saharan Africa" were caught off the North African...
Tunisian bakers strike over unpaid subsidies
Thousands of Tunisian bakers staged a strike Wednesday to demand that the state pay up overdue subsidies, but suspended the action in the evening after reaching a deal with the government. The national bakery owners' union said some 3,200 of their businesses had...
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