Tunisian journalists' union warns against dangerous rhetoric surrounding migrants
via Business News5 min read
The National Union of Tunisian Journalists SNJT issued a statement on Monday, April 20, 2026, expressing concern over the rise of hate speech in media coverage of irregular migration, particularly targeting migrants from sub-Saharan Africa. The union highlighted a dangerous shift in both media content and journalists' social media posts, where discriminatory remarks and generalizations are becoming more frequent. The SNJT condemned coordinated online attacks against several media outlets, including Nawaat, Roots TV, Rachma, and Legal Agenda, and their journalists, who faced insults and accusations after covering a national march against racism and migration issues. The union announced it has mobilized its monitoring unit to document abuses and plans legal and union actions to protect affected professionals. The SNJT believes these attacks are part of a broader pressure campaign to intimidate media and discourage coverage of sensitive human rights topics, potentially leading to self-censorship. The union also criticized internal professional shortcomings, such as sensationalism, reliance on unqualified commentators, and the spread of unverified social media content, which undermine journalistic credibility. It also raised concerns about the involvement of political figures, including Members of Parliament, in discriminatory discourse, which exacerbates tensions and diverts attention from substantive solutions. The SNJT urged journalists to uphold professional ethics, reject ra
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During a series of site visits, President Ka茂s Sa茂ed addressed various administrative dysfunctions, particularly concerning water and electricity services. Visiting the Ghdir El Golla hydraulic complex and the Oued Medjerda flood protection project, the President acknowledged the efforts of technical teams but strongly criticized persistent failures. He stated that the situation, marked by repeated power outages and water distribution issues, cannot continue, emphasizing the need for officials to take responsibility and accelerate reforms. Sa茂ed stressed that each region should have its own maintenance workshops and spare parts to reduce intervention times for repairs. He also highlighted the importance of a national water management strategy to better utilize resources and called for the preservation of national heritage, inspecting the restoration of the historic Qantara Bizerte bridge. The President's visits, following a period of absence, underscored his commitment to reforming state services and improving public administration responsiveness.
Tunisian Olympic champion Ahmed Ayoub Hafnaoui secured two gold medals at the Florida Summer Championships in the United States. On the night of Saturday, July 18 to Sunday, July 19, 2026, he won the 400-meter freestyle with a time of 3 minutes 50.45 seconds. This victory followed his earlier win in the 200-meter freestyle, where he finished in 1 minute 50.76 seconds. These performances indicate a strong return to form for the 23-year-old swimmer, who is aiming to be in peak condition for upcoming international events, including the Mediterranean Games in Taranto, Italy, scheduled from August 21 to September 3. Hafnaoui rose to prominence with his 400m freestyle Olympic title at the Tokyo 2021 Games. He further solidified his status at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, winning two world titles in the 800m and 1,500m freestyle, and a silver medal in the 400m. He also earned a world silver medal in the 1,500m short course in Abu Dhabi in 2021. His recent double gold in Florida sends a positive signal about his readiness to compete among the world's top swimmers.
On Sunday, July 19, 2026, users worldwide experienced a major outage affecting the web versions of Facebook and Instagram. Attempts to log in from computers resulted in error messages. Facebook displayed "Account temporarily unavailable. Your account is currently unavailable due to a site issue. We hope to resolve this quickly. Please try again in a few minutes." Instagram's web version showed "Sorry, something went wrong. We're working on it and we'll get it fixed as soon as we can." Mobile applications for both social networks appeared to be functioning normally, suggesting the outage primarily impacted browser-based services. The specialized website DownDetector reported a significant increase in user complaints early in the morning, confirming the widespread nature of the incident. Many users also reported their difficulties on other accessible social media platforms. As of now, Meta has not released a statement regarding the cause of the outage or an estimated time for full restoration of services. Users are advised to wait or use the mobile applications, which seem unaffected.