Tunisia: Arrest warrant issued for ex-president Ben Ali

Tunisia has issued an international arrest warrant for ousted President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and his family, the nation's justice minister has said.

Lazhar Karoui Chebbi said the interim government had asked members states to work via Interpol to detain Mr Ben Ali, who fled to Saudi Arabia on 14 January.
Mr Chebbi said Mr Ben Ali was accused of illegally acquiring property and assets and transferring funds abroad.
The minister was speaking as anti-government protests continued.
Police fired tear gas at hundreds of demonstrators after they reportedly tried to breach barricades around the prime minister's office in the capital, Tunis.
Some in crowd responded by throwing stones at the police.
They were demanding that members of the interim government who served under Mr Ben Ali - including Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi and the defence, interior, finance and foreign ministers - step down.

"We have only one demand: for the government to fall. They all have to go. Ghannouchi should go first," Bassem El Barouni was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

Hamid El Gribi, another protester, said: "We have to clean up the rest of the old government."
The prime minister has said he will quit "in the shortest possible timeframe" and promised to hold elections with six months.
He is reportedly preparing to announce replacements for the five opposition ministers who resigned because of the continued dominance of Mr Ben Ali's Democratic Constitutional Rally (RCD) party.

'This woman'
 
Earlier, Mr Chebbi, a former barrister who did not serve in the last administration, said he had issued an arrest warrant for Mr Ben Ali, his wife Leila Trabelsi, and other members of their extended family, for "illegal acquisition" of assets and "illicit transfers" of funds abroad.
"We are asking Interpol to find all those who fled, including the president and this woman, for trial in Tunisia," he told reporters. "No-one will be above the law."

The minister said seven family members were currently in Tunisian custody, and also that the head of the presidential guard and five other personnel would be put on trial for "conspiring against state security and inciting people against each other with weapons" after Mr Ben Ali's departure.
Before Mr Ben Ali was overthrown, many protesters expressed their anger at the power, wealth and influence of his wife's family. "No, no to the Trabelsis who looted the budget," was a popular slogan, while the president's relations were referred to simply as "the Mafia".
Later, Interpol confirmed that its bureau in Tunis had issued a global alert - known as an "Interpol diffusion" - requesting that member countries search for, locate and provisionally arrest Mr Ben Ali and six others. The Tunisian authorities would then formally request extradition, it said.
The BBC's Magdi Abdelhadi, in Tunis, says it is unlikely Saudi Arabia will hand them over but the warrants will restrict their ability to travel to other countries, especially in the West.
Earlier this week, the Canadian authorities refused entry to some of Mr Ben Ali's relatives. In France, prosecutors have opened a preliminary investigation into the former president's holdings, believed to range from apartments to racehorses.

US caution about Egypt braces for further day of protests

US caution about Egypt braces for further day of protests

The protest organisers have urged people to come out in force again after attending prayers in mosques and churches on Friday, stressing that the religion of protesters is not relevant.

More than 1000 people have been arrested in the government crackdown so far

"Egypt's Muslims and Christians will go out to fight against corruption, unemployment and oppression and absence of freedom," Reuters quoted one activist as saying.
The pro-democracy April 6 Movement said it wanted to "continue what we started on 25 January".
"We will take to the streets to demand the right to life, liberty, dignity and we call on everyone to take to the streets... and to keep going until the demands of the Egyptian people have been met," the group wrote on Facebook.
The Egyptian government, ruled by President Hosni Mubarak since 1981, tolerates little dissent and opposition demonstrations are routinely outlawed.

But on Wednesday, Mrs Clinton said it was facing "an important opportunity to implement political, economic and social reforms that respond to legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people".

"We support the universal right of the Egyptian people, including the right to freedom of expression, association and assembly," she told reporters at the state department, calling on all parties to show restraint.
Egypt is a key political and military ally of the US in the Middle East, so Washington has been cautious in its response, but it has urged the authorities "not to prevent peaceful protests nor block communications, including on social media sites".
Sites including Facebook and Twitter have been key tools in organising the protests, but are reported to have been blocked across the country at times.
The BBC's Paul Adams in Washington says the US is clearly watching events on the streets of its most populous Arab ally with growing concern, fearing the potential of violent unrest at the heart of the Arab world.
Washington has been reliant on Mr Mubarak's autocratic regime for decades, but the unrest could now mean the US has to tread very carefully as it seeks to influence events in the region, says our correspondent.