TUNIS: Around 300 protesters rallied in Tunis Tuesday to mark the second anniversary of President Kais Saied’s adoption of sweeping powers, and to demand the release of about 20 detained opposition figures.
“Down with the coup, freedom for all the prisoners,” the protesters chanted.
Addressing the crowd that gathered in the heart of the capital, braving temperatures that topped 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit), veteran politician Ahmed Nejib Chebbi denounced a “total failure” of Saied in managing the state.

ALGIERS: Algerian firefighters were on Tuesday battling blazes that have killed 34 people across the tinder-dry north, destroyed homes and coastal resorts and turned vast forest areas into blackened wastelands.

Witnesses described fleeing walls of flames that raged “like a blowtorch” as TV footage showed charred cars, burnt-out shops and smoldering fields and scrubland.

Severe fires have raged through the mountain forests of the Kabylia region on the Mediterranean coast, fanned by winds amid blistering summer heat that peaked at 48 degrees Celsius on Monday.

WAD MADANI, Sudan: Airstrikes and artillery barrages from Sudan’s warring generals killed at least 16 people in a Khartoum neighborhood on Tuesday, a neighborhood group reported.

After more than 100 days of war, the latest bombardments added to a toll of at least 3,900 killed nationwide.

“Sixteen citizens died today in this senseless war” when shells hit civilian homes in the Ombada area of Khartoum’s northwest, the neighborhood group said.

CAIRO: Egyptian police have arrested and charged five people for animal cruelty, the Interior Ministry said.
In the first incidence, two people were held in Alexandria, northern Egypt, after a photo appeared on Facebook showing one of them holding a dog over the edge of a balcony.
They confessed to having committed the crime and will face legal action, the ministry said.
In the second incidence, three people were arrested after they posted a video clip on social media showing them torturing a cat.

AL-MUKALLA: Authorities in the Yemeni city of Taiz and surrounding areas have stepped up security measures, including a ban on carrying weapons and the installation of security cameras, in an attempt to resolve long-standing security issues and protect international humanitarian workers.