Tunisia holds the second round of elections for a toothless parliament on Sunday, with voters preoccupied by economic woes and turnout seen as crucial in the politically divided nation.. Analysts predict low turnout again among Tunisia's 7.8 million eligible voters for the second round as major parties including Saied's arch-rivals, the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha, hold a boycott.
Driver Tharaa Ali takes her seat at the helm of a high-speed train ferrying pilgrims to Mecca, a beneficiary of conservative Saudi Arabia's bid to employ its booming female workforce.. But last year she joined some 28,000 applicants vying for just 32 slots for women drivers on the Haramain High Speed Railway, which plies the 450-kilometre (280-mile) route between the holy cities of Mecca and Medina at speeds of up to 300 kilometres (186 miles) per hour.
The Israeli security cabinet has announced measures to revoke certain rights of "terrorist families" after two attacks in east Jerusalem, one of which killed seven people near a synagogue.. Afterwards the security cabinet announced measures to revoke the rights to social security of "the families of terrorists that support terrorism".
North Korea on Sunday denied providing arms to Moscow after the United States said the nuclear-armed state supplied rockets and missiles to Russia's private military group Wagner.. Kim Jong Un declared North Korea an "irreversible" nuclear state in September, and the country conducted sanctions-busting weapons tests nearly every month last year -- including firing its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile. sh/dhc
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due Sunday in Egypt at the start of a Middle East trip on which he will look to use US influence to notch down Israeli-Palestinian tensions after an eruption of violence.. Blinken is expected on his trip to reiterate US support for a Palestinian state, a prospect that few expect to advance under the new Israeli government.
At least 24 people died Saturday when a bus carrying 60 passengers, including an unknown number of Haitians, plunged over a cliff in northwestern Peru, police said. . The number of Haitian migrants in Peru has been increasing, though the situation of those on the bus remains unclear.
Thousands of demonstrators rallied in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou Saturday in support of the ruling junta, days after France confirmed its special forces there would withdraw, an AFP journalist saw.. Former colonial power France has special forces based in Ouagadougou, but its presence has come under intense scrutiny as anti-French sentiment in the region grows.
Authorities in Chile on Saturday raised the alert level and limited access to the area around the Lascar volcano, after an increase in seismic activity raised fears of a possible eruption.. Following "an increase in seismicity," the National Geology and Mining Service has raised the alert level for Lascar from yellow to orange.
Families of the French citizens jailed in Iran held a rally Saturday to urge their release, warning that their loved ones were enduring a sometimes years-long "inhuman" psychological and physical ordeal.. The rally in Trocadero Square, central Paris, the first such to be organised in France, was attended by families and supporters of four of the French citizens held.
Italian energy giant Eni signed an $8 billion gas deal with Libya's state-run National Oil Corporation Saturday as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited Tripoli.. Meloni also visited Algeria this week seeking supply deals from Africa's top gas exporter.
