In brief: Tunisians hold first vote since uprising

TUNIS, Tunisia – Tunisians voted Sunday for their first five-year parliament since they overthrew their dictator in the 2011 revolution that kicked off the Arab Spring, with the main secular party declaring an early victory over the once-dominant Islamists.

Although official results would not be ready before Wednesday, Nida Tunis (Tunisia’s Call) claimed that pollsters and its own research showed it came in first place. But the powerful Islamist Ennahda Party cautioned against jumping to conclusions and expressed optimism for its own future.

The official election commission put the participation rate at a robust 60 percent of the 5.2 million registered voters.

Tunisia is widely seen as the country that has the best chance for democracy in the Arab world, but the past three and a half years have been marked by political turmoil, terrorist attacks and a faltering economy which has brought disillusionment to many over the democratic process.

Rivlin visits site of Arab massacre

JERUSALEM – Israel’s new ceremonial president visited the site of a 1956 massacre Sunday, the first Israeli head of state to do so, as part of his outreach campaign to the country’s Arab minority.

Reuven Rivlin became president in July, and has since made improving relations between Jews and Arabs a top focus of his administration. By visiting Kfar Kassem, Rivlin became the first president to attend a memorial ceremony for the 47 Arab civilians shot by Israeli border policemen on the first day of the Israel-Egypt war in 1956.

Rivlin said the massacre was a “sorrowful chapter” in Israeli history, calling it a crime for which Israel has rightfully apologized.

In 1956, Israel imposed a nighttime curfew on its Arab citizens because of growing tensions with Egypt. A group of laborers unaware of the curfew returned to Kfar Kassem after a day’s work and were shot to death by Israeli border policemen. The troops were later convicted of murder but many were released from prison early.

23 activists jailed for protesting

CAIRO – An Egyptian court on Sunday convicted 23 activists of staging an illegal demonstration, sentencing them each to three years in jail in the latest crackdown by authorities on the secular pro-democracy movement behind the 2011 uprising against longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak.

The Cairo court also fined the defendants, who include at least seven women, 10,000 pounds (about $1,400) each and ordered that they be placed under police surveillance after they serve their sentence.

The case is rooted in a peaceful demonstration the defendants had allegedly participated in last June near the presidential palace in Cairo’s Heliopolis suburb. The demonstration was called to protest a law adopted late last year severely restricting the right to stage street protests.

The defendants have also faced other charges, including damaging public property and assaulting policemen.

U.K. ends Helmand combat operations

LONDON – Britain has ended combat operations in the Helmand province in Afghanistan, defense officials said Sunday.

Camp Bastion has been the center of U.K. operations in Afghanistan since 2006. The handover of the base to Afghan control ends an important chapter in the 13-year Afghan campaign, which started after the terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001.

U.K. Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said in a statement that Britain’s commitment to support Afghanistan will continue “through institutional development, the Afghan National Army Officer Academy, and development aid.”

Britain plans to withdraw its final combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year.