Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has fled the North African state he ruled for 23 years and has gone into exile. Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi has taken charge as the interim leader. A recently released June 2009 cable referred to the president and his siblings as 'The Family', likening them to a Mafia elite who ran Tunisia's economy.

Controversial Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was under fire again as it emerged on Friday he is being investigated for extortion and underage prostitution. The probe on Mr. Berlusconi, 74, centres on his relationship with a belly dancer called Karima el Mahroug, then 17, who was a guest at a party he hosted at his home last year.