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Tunisian Parties in Crisis Talks on Delayed Constitution

Tunisian political parties met on Tuesday for crisis talks on the contents and calendar for adopting a new constitution, which were attended by the Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali and President Moncef Marzouki.

The meeting, called by Tunisia's main trade union, the UGTT, gathered more than 40 political groups in a bid to resolve the impasse over drafting the text by the National Constituent Assembly, but was boycotted by two key parties.

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Tunisia Sets June 23 for Presidential, Legislative Poll

Tunisia will hold presidential and legislative elections on June 23, 2013 the ruling Islamist Ennahda party said early on Sunday.

A second round in the presidential ballot will take place on July 7, it said in a statement that was also signed by the other two parties in the current coalition, the leftist Ettakatol and the secular center-left Congress for the Republic (CPR).

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U.S. Tunisia Envoy Wants Embassy Attackers Tried

The U.S. envoy to Tunisia is calling for the trial of those behind a September attack on the American embassy during riots over a U.S.-made film mocking Islam.

Ambassador Jacob Walles, in a letter to appear in the Tunisian press on Sunday, said the "government has an obligation to provide security for its citizens and its guests."

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Tunisia Speaker Says No Blasphemy Clause in New Constitution

A key proposal by Tunisia's ruling Islamist party to outlaw blasphemy in the new constitution, which stoked fears of creeping Islamization, is to be dropped from the final text, Assembly speaker Mustapha Ben Jaafar told Agence France Presse.

The agreement to drop the clause follows negotiations between the three parties in the ruling coalition and must still be approved by the committees drafting the constitution, which Jaafar said would be debated by parliament next month.

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Trial of Tunisian Anti-Islamist Blogger Adjourned

The trial of a Tunisian blogger who has voiced fears of creeping Islamization and is charged with drunkenness and indecency during Ramadan was adjourned on Tuesday, Agence France Presse reported.

At the hearing in Menzel Temime, 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of Tunis, the prosecution announced that Sofiane Shurabi and his journalist friend Mehdi Jelassi would be tried for drunkenness and indecency.

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49 Police Hurt in Djerba Clashes

Forty-nine policemen were injured in clashes with demonstrators protesting against the reopening of a rubbish dump on the tourist island of Djerba on Saturday, an interior ministry spokesman told Agence France Pressse.

"A large number of protesters in the center of Gallala attacked a police post with rocks and petrol bombs," Khaled Tarrouche said. "There were 49 police injured, with fractures and other injuries caused by rocks and petrol bombs."

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Tunisia Islamists March in Sidi Bouzid to Back Ruling Party

Hundreds of supporters of Tunisia's ruling Islamist party marched on Saturday in the town of Sidi Bouzid, a day after police dispersed anti-government protesters using tear gas, an Agence France Presse journalist reported.

Some 250 people marched through the center of the town, birthplace of the uprising that toppled former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali last year, shouting their support for the Ennahda party and for the regional governor Mohamed Nejib Mansouri.

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Maghreb-European Summit to Set Up Task Force on Immigration

North African and European leaders will set up an immigration task force following the Arab Spring uprisings, which have seen a sharp rise in people making risky boat crossings to seek a new life in Europe.

The decision was announced at a summit in Malta which brought together the leaders of five European countries (France, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain) and five Maghreb states (Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Tunisia).

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Tunisia Police Use Rubber Bullets on Sidi Bouzid Demo

Tunisian police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters in Sidi Bouzid who were demanding the governor's resignation, Agence France Presse reported.

Around 1,000 people gathered in the central Tunisian town, the birthplace of the uprising that toppled former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali last year, accusing the governor of "incompetence" and calling for him to go.

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U.S. Cruise Ship Operators Cancel Tunis Port Calls

Fourteen U.S. tour operators have canceled cruise ship calls to Tunisia after people furious at a U.S.-made film mocking Islam attacked the American embassy earlier this month, port officials said on Friday.

Operators including Holland American, Royal Caribbean and Disney Cruise scrapped plans to make port calls at La Goulette-Tunis, which had been planned from now until the end of December.

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