Day: September 26, 2017

Libya groups start talks in Tunisia to launch new UN plan

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The opposing sides of a conflict in Libya have begun a series of negotiations in neighboring Tunisia to officially launch a new plan by the United Nations to end the six-year-old turmoil in the country. Reports said the meeting, which got closed to the press, began on Tuesday in Tunis after a speech by UN envoy Ghassan Salame, who urged the two sides to set aside their differences and complete their work in a timely fashion. “All Libyans are fed up. They are going from transition to transition with no…

Nostalgia for the present in Tunis’s belle-époque downtown

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Dusty light filters through dirt-smeared windows in a hammam apparently frozen in time. Upstairs are the apartments of the family who owned it, redolent in faded, turn-of-the-century drapings. Carved, wooden, art nouveau doors open up onto rooms knee-deep in discarded items, some of them treasures: elaborately handwritten 19thcentury manuscripts containing instructions on how to cast spells; a vintage mid-20th century Peugeot car, one inquisitive headlight peeking from a half-open garage door; a canvas by a famous Tunisian painter well-appreciated in his time; and black-and-white portraits of immaculately-presented men and women topped…

The Raft goes deeper than refugee crisis headlines, actor says

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Despite three of its cast members being denied visas in early September, The Raft is on the bill of this year’s Impact theatre festival. The play tells the story of Arab and African refugees escaping North Africa on a raft, travelling across the Mediterranean toward Italy. Actors scheduled to perform at IMPACT 17 in Kitchener denied visas “People embarking on these boats, they’re just told one day before that they need to be prepared. So, it worked somehow in my imagination,” said Zied Touati of Montreal, who is filling in for one of…

Cost of holidays to Spain ‘could go up by 10%’, warns Thomas Cook

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Spanish holidays could become more expensive as the value of sterling remains weak, travel operator Thomas Cook warns. Thomas Cook has said it expects the price of holidays to Spain to go up by around 5% to 10% due to the fall in the value of the pound following the Brexit vote. The travel company told Sky News this was also in part due to intense competition and higher hotel costs at popular Spanish island resorts as they take advantage of a buoyant market. Holidaymakers have been flocking to the…

UNHCR praises UAE’s role in humanitarian work worldwide

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TUNIS: The Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Tunisia, Mazin Abu Shanab, hailed the role played by the UAE in the humanitarian aid field and its support for refugees around the globe. While meeting with GCC journalists as part of UNHCR’s tour in North of Africa, Abu Shanab praised the significant role being played by the UAE to support refugees, especially its humanitarian efforts in Yemen. Nasir Abel Fernandes, UNHCR’s Senior Emergency Coordinator in Libya, said that the number of people in need of aid in…

Libyan delegations to join dialogue over deal amendment

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A delegation from Libya’s Higher Council of State and representatives of the House of Representatives on Monday have left for neighboring Tunisia to participate in a UN-sponsored political dialogue meeting. The meeting, backed by the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), will be held on Tuesday. Ghassan Salame, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Head of the UNSMIL, said the meeting aimed to introduce amendments to the current political agreement. Amendment of the political agreement is the first stage of a roadmap proposed by Salame on Wednesday at the…