Tunisia's biggest union UGTT starts nation wide strike over wages

Tunisia's biggest union UGTT started a nationwide strike on Thursday affecting the country's airports, schools and state media to protest against the government's refusal to raise the salaries of 670,000 public servants. Tunisia is under pressure from the International Monetary Fund to freeze public sector wages as part of reforms to help reduce the country's budget deficit. International lenders have threatened to stop financing the economy, which has been in crisis since the toppling of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011. 

(With inputs from agencies.)