President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia has left the country amid growing chaos in the streets, French diplomats say, and the prime minister went on state television Friday night to say he is in charge.
A French Foreign Ministry official said authorities did not know where the president had gone, and representatives of the president were not immediately available to confirm the report….
In his speech to the country, Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi said that "as the president of the republic is unable to exercise his functions for the time being, I have assumed, starting now, the powers of the president."
