World Tour: Tunisians protest over economic pressures

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: WORLD Tour with Onize Ohikere, our reporter in Nigeria

AUDIO: [Protesters singing]

ONIZE OHIKERE: Tunisia Protests — We start today’s roundup in Tunisia, with protesters chanting against price increases and restrictions on union rights.

Protesters filled the Kasbah Square in Tunisia’s capital of Tunis, on Saturday. The Tunisian General Labour Union organized the demonstration to call for better social dialogue.

Tunisian President Kais Saied has ruled the North African country by decree since a power grab in July 2021. The Tunisian economy is now at a standstill as authorities struggle to also service the country’s foreign debt.

Noureddine Taboubi is the secretary general for the labor union.

TABOUBI: [Speaking Arabic]

He says here that people are suffering the effects with residents lining up for hours to get food.

Civil society groups are also decrying a government-backed draft law that will require state authorities to approve all foreign funding for nonprofits.

Bassem Trifi is president of the Tunisian League for the Defense of Human Rights.

TRIFI: [Speaking Arabic]

He says here that the tightened funding sources would cut about 30,000 direct jobs for university graduates.

India rape case — In India, authorities have arrested seven men after a foreign tourist said she was gang raped and her husband assaulted.

The Brazilian-Spanish couple were on a motorbike trip touring South Asia. They usually document their travel experiences online. They stopped to camp outdoors in India’s eastern region after they couldn’t find a hotel nearby.

They said the men took turns assaulting the woman and repeatedly hit her husband.

Police officers on patrol said they found the couple by the roadside looking beaten.

Pitamber Singh Kherwar is the district’s police superintendent.

KHERWAR: [Speaking Hindi]

He says here that authorities have formed a special investigation team to look into the case.

On Monday, authorities handed over a compensation of about $12,000 to the couple.

WOMAN: Thank you to the government of Jharkhand and the police for very fast investigation.

The woman’s husband thanked the police and authorities for the fast investigation.

India recorded an average of nearly 90 rapes a day, according to the country’s National Crime Records Bureau.

AUDIO: [Street]

Haiti violence — Over in Haiti, authorities have imposed a nighttime curfew after a wave of violence began last week.

Gangs launched coordinated attacks on state institutions, including the international airport and national soccer stadium.

Late on Saturday, gang members targeted the National Penitentiary. Nearly all of the prison’s 4,000 inmates escaped.

Carlos Guerrero—a Colombian prisoner—was one of the few who stayed in the prison.

GUERRERO: [Speaking Spanish]

He says here that they sheltered in their cells as gunfire raged around them.

The gangs also overran another prison in Port-au-Prince with about 1,400 inmates.

Haiti’s National Police has about 9,000 police officers to protect more than 11 million people.

Gang leader Jimmy Cherizier had called on criminal groups to band together to overthrow Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who is currently out of the country.

Henry is seeking support for a United Nations-backed security force. On Friday, he signed a security agreement with Kenya to contribute troops to the force.

AUDIO: [Chanting]

Honduras-Cuba medical mission — And in Honduras, residents welcomed nearly a hundred Cuban health workers at the international airport in the city of Comayagua.

Their arrival is part of a two-year agreement that will see the specialist doctors help reduce surgical backlogs at some public hospitals and rural areas. The doctors include cardiologists, oncologists, and neurosurgeons, among others.

Honduran Health Minister Carla Paredes said the specialists will work alongside Honduran general healthcare practitioners.

PAREDES: [Speaking Spanish]

She says here that the doctors will enhance the country’s existing resources.

That’s it for today’s WORLD Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

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