TUNISIA
March targets extremism
More than 8,000 Tunisians marched Saturday through the capital denouncing violence committed by ultraconservative Islamist groups in recent months. Since the fall of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s secular dictatorship in a popular uprising a year ago, small groups of ultraconservative Muslims known as Salafists have risen in Tunisia calling for greater piety, attacking unveiled women and secular intellectuals and occupying universities. Organized by two leftist opposition parties, the demonstration was one of the largest marches in the country since a moderate Islamist party swept elections last year. Not far away, several hundred Islamists held a counter-protest.
IRAN
U.N. nuclear team visits
A U.N. nuclear team arrived in Tehran early today for a mission expected to focus on Iran’s alleged attempt to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran has refused to discuss the alleged weapons experiments for three years, saying they are based on “fabricated documents” provided by a “few arrogant countries” — a phrase authorities in Iran often use to refer to the United States and its allies.
PERU
Rehab center fire kills 26
A fire swept through a two-story private rehabilitation center for addicts in a poor part of Lima on Saturday, killing 26 people and critically injuring six as firefighters punched holes through walls to rescue residents locked inside. The “Christ is Love” center for drug and alcohol addicts was unlicensed and overcrowded and its residents were apparently kept inside “like prisoners,” Health Minister Alberto Tejada said.
BAHAMAS
Cruise passenger dies
A 26-year-old U.S. tourist has died aboard a Carnival cruise ship and the cruise has been delayed pending the investigation, authorities said. Bahamas police said in a statement Saturday that a man from South Carolina apparently jumped from one floor to another aboard the Carnival Fantasy ship that had docked in Nassau late Friday. He was declared dead at the scene.
Compiled from wire reports.
