Searching For The Next Designer Muse in Tunisia

Unlike model powerhouses Brazil, Russia and the Netherlands – countries capable of launching the careers of “the next big thing in modelling” season after season – Tunisia still has some catching up to do. There was Afef Jnifen, who broke the glass ceiling in the Eighties and early Nineties as a muse of couturier (and fellow Tunisian) Azzedine Alaïa. On top of that, the former model and current Project Runway Middle East judge, has worked for the likes of Giorgio Armani, Fendi and Roberto Cavalli alongside Naomi Campbell. Jnifen was…

The Impact Of Telecomunication in Arab Countries

Telecommunication has had an impact on many cultures and lifestyle including the Arab culture. The advance technological innovation has led to the introduction of new as media approaches which have been impactful to the Arab culture. The use of mobile phone, the internet, and other sophisticated telecommunication devices have brought radical changes in the Arab world. The most vivid example of the impacts of telecommunication is during the recent Arab uprising that swept across Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Syria. During these past upheavals, mobile phones, the internet and the…

The Tunisian Women’s Rights Movement : From Nascent Activism to Influential Power-broking

Tunisian women have received significant attention for their active participation in preserving and extending women’s rights since 2011. However, their activism and latest achievements should be considered not a recent phenomenon but rather part and parcel of a distinctive local history that has included women as agents of change. This book examines Tunisian women’s lived experiences, as individuals and as a group, within a sociohistorical framework that uncovers the enduring feminine footprint over centuries and eventually underpins and defines their most recent fight for gender equality in postrevolutionary Tunisia. The…

Francophone immigrants face greater challenges outside Quebec

Ottawa and Ontario are way behind their targets for this demographic of workers. Cheikh Diagne thought he would have an advantage in Canada’s job market by having one of Canada’s official languages as his mother tongue. Instead, the francophone newcomer from Senegal was disappointed few Canadian employers recognize his skills and expertise as a banker and economist, and most see him only fit for jobs in call centres and customer service. “French is not a real official language in Canada, definitely not outside of Quebec. Although it is my first…

Scholarships Prepare New Leaders in Tunisia

The success of Tunisia’s new constitutional democracy depends on the involvement of young people. In 2016, 38 percent of the Tunisian population was under the age of 25. But young people have not yet begun to take an active part in their country’s development in this new era. How can we encourage them to do so? Youth unemployment in Tunisia is at 30 percent, reaching 55 percent in some regions, and 60 percent among youth with higher education degrees, according to the OECD. Meanwhile, Tunisian youth are reluctant to engage…

Meet the Tunisian who will be Macron’s official baker

A French-Tunisian baker will soon find himself face-to-face with French President-elect Emmanuel Macron. The French president’s new team to prepare for his transition into the Elysee Palace is set to meet sometime next week with Sami Bouattour, a French baker of Tunisian origin who owns a shop in Paris’ 13th arrondissement. The reason for the meeting on how to implement a new contract with the Elysee, which hopes all their bread would be provided by Bouattour’s bakery. It comes as no surprise Macron’s team, among them famed French chef Guillaume…

Youth in Tunisia find a way out of violence with tech

For young people, the power to choose a path away from violence can come from digital tech Students from deprived suburb in Tunisia use mapping tool to influence planning decisions Peace tech must be driven by young people and be embedded in their local realities Mapping project shows the most effective peace tech is driven by young people themselves, says Harriet Lamb. “Here we have drug problems, we have terrorism, but we want young people to change their minds — and to change people’s lives.” This is what an enthusiastic…

Family of Irish citizen criticise Government after he was shot in Libya

Abduraheem Duibi, an English teacher in Libya, was in a car with work colleagues when it was fired upon by local militia on Saturday, March 4th. Mr Duibi is an Irish citizen who grew up in Dublin but moved with his family to Tripoli five years ago. After the driver was shot, Mr Duibi ran away but was shot in both legs. Mr Duibi bled profusely on the ground for about 30 minutes before being brought to a local hospital for treatment. Libyan hospitals are bereft of drugs and treatment…

Tunisian student tackles power and energy in Durango

Exchange student hopes to apply her studies in electricity at home Rihab Ammar saw snow for the first time this winter. She took a 63-hour bus ride from Durango to the East Coast. And she went camping with friends in Utah. The Fort Lewis College exchange student is doing a lot of things for the first time, including learning electrical engineering with plans of applying her knowledge in her hometown of Gassa, Tunisia, a relatively small country at the northern tip of Africa. “I want to try and transfer the…

‘I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE’ says Kathleen Khalili

Brit holidaymaker, 46, with a brain tumour marries Tunisian toyboy 18 years her junior – but she’s now got the all-clear and they couldn’t be happier. A BRITISH woman wed a Tunisian toyboy 18 years her junior after a holiday romance because she thought she was dying of a brain tumour. Kathleen Khalili, 46, met Amir, 28, on a winter break in 2013 after being diagnosed with a tumour in her pituitary gland. She said she only agreed to a date because she believed she would die and she wanted…