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Tunisian PM Cancels Italy Trip after Minister Gets Virus

Tunisian Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi. (AP)
Tunisian Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi. (AP)
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Tunisian PM Cancels Italy Trip after Minister Gets Virus

Tunisian Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi. (AP)
Tunisian Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi. (AP)

Tunisian Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi canceled a planned visit Tuesday to Italy at the last minute, after one of his ministers accompanying him on a visit to France tested positive for the coronavirus.

Mechichi had been on a three-day trip to France, where he met French Prime Minister Jean Castex, as well as the presidents of the Senate and the National Assembly.

Castex's office said French officials who attended the meeting have been informed. Since sanitary protocols were respected, Castex is not considered as having been in close contact with an infected person, his office said.

Senior French political officials have repeatedly said that they adhere to strict sanitary rules during the pandemic.

According to the official TAP news agency, Minister of Economy and Finance Ali Kooli was found positive for Covid-19 during tests carried out in Paris before the planned trip to Rome. TAP reported that the other members of the delegation tested negative for the virus.

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Syrian Christians Celebrate Christmas in Damascus Amid Tight Security

An aerial picture shows a view of a crowd around a Christmas tree in Damascus on December 25, 2024. (Photo by Bakr ALKASEM / AFP)
An aerial picture shows a view of a crowd around a Christmas tree in Damascus on December 25, 2024. (Photo by Bakr ALKASEM / AFP)
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Syrian Christians Celebrate Christmas in Damascus Amid Tight Security

An aerial picture shows a view of a crowd around a Christmas tree in Damascus on December 25, 2024. (Photo by Bakr ALKASEM / AFP)
An aerial picture shows a view of a crowd around a Christmas tree in Damascus on December 25, 2024. (Photo by Bakr ALKASEM / AFP)

Syrian Christians gathered at churches in the country's capital Damascus on Wednesday amid tight security measures to celebrate their first Christmas after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

"Today there is a large deployment of security to protect the churches, fearing sabotage, but things are normal," Nicola Yazgi told dpa, while attending a mass in eastern Damascus.

Security forces affiliated with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is now leading Syria's interim government, were deployed outside churches and in the streets in Christian-majority neighborhoods in the capital, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

According to the UK-based war monitor, churches across Syria - including in the southern city of al-Sweida, and in the northern cities of Aleppo and Idlib - opened their doors for Christmas celebrations.

Yazgi said he was celebrating two things this year: "Christmas and the victory of the revolution and the fall of the tyrant. We hope that today will be the day of salvation from the era of al-Assad family injustices."

Suad al-Zein, an engineer, also joined the mass in Damascus. She expressed her joy despite the lack of decorations in the streets: "For us, joy is in our hearts."

Civil war broke out in Syria in 2011 following pro-democracy protests against al-Assad's regime.

In late November, HTS and other opposition groups launched a rapid offensive, making major territorial gains before capturing Damascus earlier this month. Al-Assad fled to Russia with his family.

Since then, HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa has tried to reassure minorities in Syria, promising moderation and respect for all religious sects.

A group of people burnt a Christmas tree in Hama province on Monday evening, prompting hundreds of protesters to take to the streets in several cities.