Tunisia
Tunisia mothers decry wave of 'arbitrary' arrests after unrest
At least 1,000 people, including many minors, have been arrested, human rights and other non-government groups told a news conference on Thursday.
In past years, demonstrators have rallied to recall the momentous events that kicked off the wider Arab Spring revolts and to push for further change, but not this year as the world is battling the pandemic.
The sector, a major employer that accounts for 14% of the nation's GDP, was hit hard by restrictions imposed to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
The number of unemployed people in Tunisia will increase by 275,000, according a government study in partnership with the United Nations, investment minister Slim Azzabi said.
President Kais Saied has cut the curfew hours to 11 pm to 5 am instead of 8 pm to 6 am, state news agency TAP reported, 10 days after the start of a gradual reopening of the bureaucracy and economy.
Tunisia has confirmed 60 cases of the disease, which is expected to hit its tourism sector, which accounts for about 10% of gross domestic product.
In the heart of the old city, Tunisians continue flocking to the Souk el-Blat and its herbalist stalls, where flasks, powders and dried herbs are stacked high.
The proposed government must be approved by the deeply fragmented parliament in two weeks or there will be a new election.
People get angry far more often than they rebel. And rebellions rarely become revolutions. An expert on the French Revolution explains why today's protest movements are different.
Saied garnered 2.7 million votes against one million received by his rival business tycoon Nabil Karoui in Sunday's runoff, the commission said.
In a contest which reflected Tunisia's shifting post-revolution political landscape, Saied, an independent, scooped almost 77% of the vote, Wataniya television said.
On Friday night, Karoui and law professor Kais Saied went head-to-head in a rare television debate, a last bid to woo voters.
Though Ennahda came first, it has 17 fewer seats than it won in the last parliamentary election in 2014,.
By 11:30 am, turnout across the country was only 6.85%, the electoral commission said, compared to 7.3% at the same stage of last month’s first-round presidential election, in which only 45% of registered voters cast ballots.
Polling stations for the seven-million electorate were set to remain open until 6 pm, with preliminary official results scheduled for Wednesday.
Jean-Jacques Cornish says Tunisia’s hopes of reviving its tourism sector will be hindered by the collapse of travel firm Thomas Cook.
"We had confirmation of his death 30 minutes ago," the ministry said, without giving further details. Ben Ali was 83
With no overwhelming frontrunner among the 26 candidates whose names appear on the ballot, the difference between losing and making a second-round run-off between the two with most votes could prove narrow.
Twenty-six candidates are in the race, including the incumbent prime minister and a media magnate who was arrested just weeks before the polls, as well as a presidential hopeful put forth by an Islamist-inspired party.