Tunisian Politics

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.

Human Rights Watch on Wednesday called on Tunisia to "urgently" repeal its criminal defamation law, which can lead to two years in jail and which it said has a "chilling effect" on freedom of speech.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle pledged Tuesday further investment and aid for Tunisia if it stays on track in turning its Arab Spring revolution into a democratic success story.

Several thousand people demonstrated on Saturday on the 40th day of mourning after the murder of opposition leader Chokri Belaid, a critic of the ruling Islamists whose death plunged Tunisia into turmoil.

Ali Larayedh became Tunisia's new Islamist premier on Thursday, taking over from his predecessor Hamadi Jebali and faced with the task of ending a political and economic crisis gripping the country.

New Islamist premier Ali Larayedh was to take office on Thursday faced with the task of ending the crisis gripping Tunisia, as the funeral of a street vendor who burned himself to death turned into an anti-Islamist protest.

President Moncef Marzouki on Wednesday swore in a new government to pull Tunisia out of its political and economic crisis, urging patience and saying there was no "magic wand" to solve the country's problems.

Lawmakers approved on Wednesday a new government formed to pull Tunisia out of its political and economic crises in a breakthrough eclipsed by the death of an impoverished vendor who had set himself alight.

An impoverished vendor who torched himself in a Tunis street has died, a medic said Wednesday, his act of desperation adding urgency to politicians' efforts to end Tunisia's political and economic woes.

A Tunisian cigarette vendor who set himself alight in a street of the capital Tunis has died from the severe burns he suffered, a medical official said on Wednesday.

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.

Tunisian authorities have arrested two people for insulting security forces in a rap video they uploaded to the Internet, the interior ministry said on Tuesday.

A street vendor in Tunis suffered severe burns Tuesday when he set himself alight in an act of desperation hours before a vote on a new government to pull Tunisia out of a long-running political crisis.

"My morale is as low as that of the man who set himself alight," on Tuesday, said Mohammed, 27, a young street vendor who earns a living by selling cigarettes and newspapers in the Tunisian capital.

A poverty-stricken cigarette vendor set himself on fire in the centre of Tunis on Tuesday, suffering extensive burns but not endangering his life, witnesses and medics said.

A vendor was in a "critical" state on Tuesday after torching himself in Tunis, hours before lawmakers were to vote on a new government to pull the country out of a deep political crisis and steer it to elections.

A man set himself on fire Tuesday in central Tunis, an AFP reporter witnessed, hours before the country's lawmakers were to vote on a new government tasked with pulling Tunisia out of a deep political crisis.

A man set himself on fire Tuesday in central Tunis, an AFP reporter witnessed, hours before the country's lawmakers were to vote on a new government tasked with pulling Tunisia out of a deep political crisis.

Tunisian opposition MPs on Monday rejected as "unrealistic" plans to hold a July vote on a long-delayed constitution and schedule new elections in October, with the debate on the calendar due to resume on Tuesday.

Hundreds of people protested in Tunis on Saturday against the Islamist-dominated regime, in a rally that was orginially planned in support of women's rights, witnesses said.