Evening Edition

“The army has launched an assault on the palace in Carthage, where elements of the presidential guard have taken refuge,” the senior source told AFP on condition of anonymity, as an eyewitness reported heavy gunfire in the area.

Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi meanwhile vowed there would be “zero tolerance” against anyone threatening the security of the country and said a new government for the North African state “may be” announced on Monday.

Officials said they had arrested the general in charge of Ben Ali’s security apparatus, Ali Seriati, for plotting against the new leadership amid fears of a backlash by supporters of the deposed president.

Ben Ali’s nephew, Kais Ben Ali, was meanwhile arrested earlier on Sunday along with 10 others in the central town of Msaken — the Ben Ali family’s ancestral home — overnight for “shooting at random” from police cars during the night.

In his first public pronouncement since the referendum wrapped up in the mainly Christian region on Saturday, president Salva Kiir joined thousands of faithful in giving thanks for the week-long independence vote and praying for their nation-in waiting.

Speaking from the pulpit of Saint Theresa Roman Catholic cathedral in the regional capital Juba, Kiir said: “For our deceased brothers and sisters, particularly those who have fallen during the time of struggle, may God bless them with eternal peace.

“Secession. Secession. Secession,” the returning officer intoned on Saturday night as he carefully unfolded each ballot paper cast at a polling station in a school in the southern capital of Juba before pronouncing the voter’s choice.

There was the odd vote for unity with the mainly Arab, Muslim north but they were dwarfed by the huge pile in favour of turning the mainly Christian, African south into the world’s newest nation and putting the seal on five decades of civil conflict.

Replying to questions from The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, Hu came out fighting on the currency issue that is so vital to the world economy, as well as to a Chinese leadership that feels it must sustain strong growth to survive.

While dubbing the international currency system a “product of the past,” Hu admitted it would be “a fairly long process” before China’s currency, the yuan, would be a global player.

European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso, who heads the European Union’s executive arm, has urged EU leaders to take a decision by their next summit in February but faces resistance from eurozone paymaster Germany.

“I expect top German politicians to respect the role of the commission. We in the commission have not only the right, but also the duty, to tell Europe’s citizens what we think is right,” Barroso told Germany’s Spiegel magazine.

Starring Colin Firth as the stuttering King George VI, the movie is nominated in seven categories at the Globes, seen as a key pointer to who will win prizes at the Academy Awards next month.

Facebook blockbuster “The Social Network” is also up for top honors at the show, which gathers the multi-billion-dollar industry’s A-listers for their first major gathering of the year in Beverly Hills.

One of the few Australians to emerge with his reputation intact after the Ashes disaster, Watson’s brilliant unbeaten 161 enabled the home side to chase down England’s imposing total of 294 from 49.4 overs with five balls to spare.

Fittingly, the right-hander hit the winning runs from the first ball of the last over, lofting Ajmal Shahzad over long-on for six to take Australia to 297-4.

Fighting erupted near the presidential palace in a Tunis suburb in the evening, the source told Reuters, following other gun battles in the capital two days after Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was ousted after more than 23 years as president.

However, Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi promised rapid action to fill the power vacuum. “Tomorrow we will announce the new government which will open a new page in the history of Tunisia,” Ghannouchi said in a brief statement.

Hu, who will visit Washington this week, struck an overall upbeat tone about ties with the United States in a rare written interview with two U.S. newspapers, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post.

“We should abandon the zero-sum Cold War mentality,” he declared, and “respect each other’s choice of development path.”