TUNIS, May 23, 2013 (AFP) A young Tunisian women's rights activist, who was arrested at the weekend while protesting against hardline Islamists, has been charged with possessing pepper spray, her lawyer said on Thursday. The 18-year-old, known by the pseudonym Amina Tyler, who sparked controversy in March by posting topless pictures of herself online, has been summoned to appear in court next Thursday, lawy ...

TUNIS, May 16, 2013 (AFP) President Moncef Marzouki called on leaders of Tunisia's radical Salafist movement on Thursday to reject armed violence, saying during a meeting of "national dialogue" that the nation faced a terrorist threat. "I am waiting for a clear condemnation of terrorism from the Salafist sheikhs in Tunisia," he said, adding that the state was "determined to act against the dangers and to us ...

TUNIS, May 08, 2013 (AFP) Prime Minister Ali Larayedh insisted on Wednesday that Tunisia's security situation was improving and that fugitive jihadist groups with links to Al-Qaeda would be defeated. "The establishment of security in the country is progressing... But there are some small groups that continue to aggravate the situation," Larayedh told the national assembly. "We will pursue our confrontation ...

 TUNIS, April 18, 2013 (AFP) Tunisia ordered a drastic reduction in the price of some consumer goods on Thursday to cool inflation in the face of simmering social tensions, which economists warned could lead to shortages. The commerce ministry unveiled price cuts that include 43 percent on potatoes, 10 percent on eggs, six to nine percent on red meat, 15 percent on vegetable oil and five to 13 percent on mi ...

TUNIS, March 30, 2013 (AFP) Tunisia must find a new economic model to raise the roughly 20 percent of its people living in poverty from their quagmire, President Moncef Marzouki said on Saturday. “The objective is liberate from poverty two million Tunisians over the course of the next five years,” Marzouki told a meeting of the World Social Forum, an  anti-globalisation group that wrapped its first-ever mee ...

TUNIS, March 27, 2013 Tunisia announced on Wednesday it was setting up crisis cells to combat "terrorist activity," after the United States warned that Al-Qaeda was seeking to establish a base in the country.  "We have launched the creation of crisis cells to monitor terrorist activities on the border (with Libya and Algeria) and in the interior, faced with the rise of the radical Salafist movement and the ...

 TUNIS, March 21, 2013 (AFP) An Islamist activist on Thursday hacked the Facebook page of feminist group Femen's Tunisian branch and posted religious messages after images of two members of the group posing topless were published on the Internet. "Thanks to God we have hacked this immoral page and the best is yet to come," read one message signed by "Al-Angour". "The page has been hacked and God willing, th ...

TUNIS, March 15, 2013 (AFP)  The head of Tunisia's ruling Islamist party Ennahda insisted Friday that his group was opposed to female circumcision, after one of its MPs caused a storm by reportedly saying the operation was "aesthetic." "We do not approve of female circumcision, a practice supported neither by Ennahda nor by religion, and which is not a part of our culture," Rached Ghannouchi told a news con ...

 Souk Jemaa, Tunisia, March 14, 2013 (AFP) Several hundred people attended the funeral on Thursday of a street vendor who burnt himself to death in central Tunis, with the event turning into a protest against the ruling Islamists. Adel Khazri, 27, was laid to rest in Souk Jemaa in northwestern Tunisia, hours before the new government headed by Islamist premier Ali Larayedh was to be sworn in to confront the ...

By Antoine Lambroschini TUNIS, March 14, 2013 (AFP) Tunisia's outgoing premier was to hand power on Thursday to fellow Islamist Ali Larayedh, who takes on the mammoth task of bringing to an end the political and economic crisis gripping the country. Larayedh was to formally assume the post from Hamadi Jebali at 1500 GMT, a day after winning parliament's approval for his new government, with Thursday's funer ...

TUNIS, March 12, 2013 (AFP) Parliament was preparing on Tuesday to vote on a new government to pull Tunisia out of its long-running political crisis, after an impoverished street vendor set himself alight in desperation over his plight. Premier-designate Ali Larayedh assured MPs his new team was up to the job, as minds were focused on the immolation of the young man, reminiscent of an incident that sparked ...

TUNIS, March 8, 2013 (AFP) Premier-designate Ali Larayedh unveiled on Friday a new government for Tunisia, with independents given key posts in a clear concession by his Islamist Ennahda party. The following is the line-up of the new cabinet, which must still be ratified by parliament. Prime Minister: Ali Larayedh (Ennahda) Government Minister for Political Affairs: Noureddine Bhiri (Ennahda) Government Min ...