Day: December 10, 2016

Tunisian parliament approves budget for 2017

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The House of People’s Representatives (HPR) passed at a plenary session Saturday evening the Finance Bill 2017 in its entirety. 122 MPs voted for the bill, 48 voted against it and 2 abstained. Prime Minister Youssef Chahed said the Finance Law 2017 will signal the start of economic recovery and mark the beginning of reform, since it will reduce the budget deficit and the volume of payroll in relation to GDP. In his remarks at the closing of the 2017 budget debates at the House of Peoples Representatives on Saturday…

Twin bombing outside Istanbul soccer stadium kills 29, wounds 166

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Two bombs exploded less than a minute apart, killing 29 people and wounding 166 outside a soccer stadium in Istanbul on Saturday night, in a co-ordinated attack on police shortly after a match between two of Turkey’s top teams. First a car bomb exploded outside the Vodafone Arena, home to Istanbul’s Besiktas soccer team, leaving flaming wreckage on the street. Forty-five seconds later, a suspect wearing explosives detonated them while surrounded by police in an adjacent park, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told a news conference. President Tayyip Erdogan described…

French-Tunisian Auteur Raja Amari on Sensual Drama ‘Foreign Body’

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In a certain sense, French-Tunisian director-writer Raja Amari creates feminist thrillers, even if she may not choose to describe them that way. In her debut feature “Red Satin” (2002), a respectable widow spies on her daugher and then defies convention to become a belly dancer. The dark fairy tale “Buried Secrets” (2009) investigates the effects of seclusion on the development of a woman’s sense of self. And her latest, “Foreign Body,” sends an immigration story into unexpected byways as it explores a relationship triangle. “All my movies are focused on…

ISIS jihadi who masterminded the Charlie Hebdo and Tunisia terror attacks obliterated by US drone strike in Syria

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Boubaker El Hakim, 33, was blasted while driving a car in Syrian capital Raqqa A HIGH-ranking ISIS chief who masterminded the Charlie Hebdo attack has reportedly been killed in Syria by a US drone strike. Boubaker El Hakim, 33, who is also said to have inspired the Tunisian beach massacre, died while driving a car in Raqqa. The 33-year-old was reportedly wiped out in late-November although his death has yet to confirmed by the US or the depraved death cult. The killing was first reported by the credible Being Slaughtered…

Euronews journalists, technicians clash with management

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Euronews journalists passed a no-confidence vote in the broadcasters’ management and adopted a statement saying that their media could no longer be seen as an independent and balanced voice. An internet poll conducted on 6-7 December shows that out of 291 journalists and technicians at Euronews, 205 (70.4%) said they don’t trust the company’s management, and only 34 (11.7%) said they did. 52 expressed no opinion (17.9%). The trade union Force Ouvrière adopted a statement saying that at the moment, Euronews is no longer an organisation with a European approach…

EU to Donate Tunisia €300 million in 2017

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The European Union (EU) announced it would grant Tunisia a new assistance package worth €300 million next year but in the form of donation aside from regular financial assistance also doubled to reach €300 million. The EU has established itself as a strategic partner of the nascent Arab democracy. The 28-member bloc will double its annual €170 million financial assistance to Tunisia to €300 million after Federica Mogherini, Chief of the group’s foreign policy, made the demand in October. EU’s ambassador to Tunis, Patrice Bergamini announced the new donation on…