Tunisia news stories on Newser

Tunisians March at Birthplace of Arab Spring

Neal Colgrass — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 16:25:08 CST

One year ago, a fruit vendor set himself ablaze outside a town hall in Tunisia. Today the country's newly elected leaders and thousands of others are honoring the man who triggered a revolution and sparked a wave of political change across the Arab world, the AP reports. People are marching...

In Tunisia, Islamist Victory Scores Big for Democracy

Matt Cantor — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 13:35:31 CDT

At first glance, it might seem that Islamists’ success in Tunisia’s election is a blow for democracy because the revolution that led to the election was secular. But the truth is that “the first leaders of a revolution are rarely a perfect sample of the broader population that gets behind...

Tunisia Election Protests Turn Violent

Mark Russell — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 05:07:18 CDT

A moderate Islamist party has been declared the official winner of the Arab Spring's first election. The Ennahda Party did even better in Tunisia's first elections for decades than predicted as polls closed , winning than 41% of the vote and 90 seats in the new 217-seat parliament. But in the...

Islamists Claim Victory in Tunisia Vote

Evann Gastaldo — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 18:43:39 CDT

A moderate Islamist party has claimed victory in Tunisian elections today with at least 30% of the vote, the AP reports. If they win, the Ennahda party will guide the nation's 217-seat constituent assembly in choosing a new government and writing a new constitution. More than 90% of registered voters...

An Arab Spring First: Tunisia Votes

Mark Russell — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 07:53:04 CDT

With Tunisians voting today in the Middle East's first elections since the dawn of the Arab Spring, analysts and citizens alike are looking to the vote for a sense of where Tunisia and democracy in the region might be heading, reports the AP . Tunisia's 7.5 million voters face an...

Tunisia Fires Tear Gas at Protestors

Tim Karan — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 16:08:45 CDT

Cops in Tunisia today fired tear gas and used truncheons to break up an assembly of protestors outside Interior Ministry headquarters in Tunis. The mob called for a shutdown of the caretaker government and vigorous prosecution of supporters of ex-president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, who was forced out of...

Libyan Interior Minister Appears to Have Defected

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 09:57:27 CDT

Libya's interior minister and nine of his family members flew into Cairo today on their private plane in what appeared to be the highest level defection from Moammar Gadhafi's regime in months. Egyptian airport officials said Nassr al-Mabrouk Abdullah entered on a tourist visa. No Libyan embassy officials greeted him...

Tunisia Ex-Prez Gets Another 15 Years

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 14:40:05 CDT

Two weeks ago, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his wife were sentenced in absentia to 35 years in prison and ordered to pay a $65.5 million fine. Today, a court convicted the former Tunisian president of smuggling drugs, guns, and archaeological artifacts and sentenced him to 15.5...

Suu Kyi: In Arab Spring, Burma's Revolution

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 09:41:33 CDT

Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has delivered a prestigious annual BBC radio lecture, telling an international audience that her compatriots are envious of people in Tunisia and Egypt, where long-serving dictators have been toppled. On recordings smuggled out of Myanmar, also known as Burma, and broadcast today, Suu...