TUNIS

Mohamed Amine Htiouich began honing his metal engraving skills as a teenager. Now the 37-year-old Tunisian is training the next generation in the ancient art, recently recognized by UNESCO.

Htiouich first worked on copper, then silver and finally gold at the family's workshop in the old medina of Tunis.

Hundreds of Tunisians marched Saturday after opponents of President Kais Saied called for protests over a worsening economic crisis.    

"The people want what you don't want. Down with Saied," chanted the activists, including supporters of the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party.    

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Tunisian government have reached a tentative agreement to unblock a $1.9 billion loan as the North African country faces grave economic and political challenges.

Children's cries echo through the alleyways as they hunt for hidden treasure -- part of growing efforts to bring life back to the Old City of Tunis.

Actress Claudia Cardinale may have been a sixties legend of Italian and French cinema, but in Tunisia, in the portside district where she grew up, she says she feels "at home."

"I left very young, but I spent my whole childhood here, my adolescence," said Cardinale, now 84. "My origins are here."

A Tunisian court has imposed a travel ban on the speaker of the country's now-dissolved parliament, a court spokeswoman said.

The interdiction against Rached Ghannouchi is part of an inquiry into alleged obstruction of justice in connection with the assassination in 2013 of two left-wing figures, the court spokesman said on Friday.

Najet unravels an old pair of jeans, raw material for a designer carpet: traditional, eco-friendly crafts are being adapted for new markets thanks to a project born in the Tunisian desert.

"I learned to weave at a young age, from my mother," said the 52-year-old from the oasis town of Nefta, 500 kilometers south of Tunis.

Tunisia has withdrawn from cinemas a new Agatha Christie adaptation starring Israeli actress Gal Gadot, following protests over "normalization" with the Jewish state, officials said on Feb. 23.

Tunisia's prestigious Carthage Film Festival has opened with a screening of "Lingui" -a movie from Chad about a teenage girl who seeks an abortion.

The festival showcases 57 diverse films from 45 Arab and African countries, with screenings not only in cinemas, but in prisons and military barracks too.

Since Tunisia's President Kais Saied plunged the country into political uncertainty in a power grab, an armoured vehicle has guarded the gates of the now suspended parliament.

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