Tunisia swears in new government

The new government of Tunisia, led by Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa, took the oath of office before caretaker President Moncef Marzouki here on Wednesday. "The new government will assume its responsibility and will certainly succeed," Marzouki said during the swearing-in ceremony. "We are not expecting immediate results from this government," he said, specifying that its action will be a gain that will be added to those of the governments of Jebali and Larayedh. Late on Tuesday, the National Constituent Assembly had, on Tuesday, granted confidence to Jomaa's government, with a majority of 149 in favor, 20 against and 24 abstentions. Only a few hours after assuming her responsibility as Tourism Minister Amel Karboul presented her resignation over circulated reports about her visit to Israel. "I presented my resignation to Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa. It is up to him to accept or reject it." Karboul denied having visited Israel. "I did not visit Israel because of the pressure I had undergone for more than 4 hours in the border post, because I am Arab and Muslim," she said. Prime Minister Jomaa admitted Tuesday that Karboul had visited Israel in 2006 to take part in a United Nations training programme for Palestinian youths, but she refused to continue the training because of the six-hour interrogation she had faced in Tel-Aviv airport, for being Arab and Muslim."