Tunisia: Protester killed as police open fire

A protester was fatally shot and an American journalist was hit in the leg by police gunfire yesterday as rioting youths clashed with authorities in Tunisia's capital for the second day, witnesses said.

The violence in the heart of Tunis sharply escalated a conflict between protesters angry over unemployment and repression and an authoritarian government that appears more and more willing to use force to put down its greatest challenge in decades. At least 23 people have now been killed.