Tunisia News · Sunday, 6 September 2026

Tunisia

Tunisian journalist Mohamed Yousfi has emergency appendix surgery in police custody, unions demand release

Journalist Mohamed Yousfi was detained on September 4 outside Express FM as he arrived to appear on a programme about water policy, and underwent emergency appendix surgery overnight while in custody, the SNJT journalists' union said. A judicial source said he faces investigation for illicit enrichment and money laundering linked to his professional role; the SNJT and the International Federation of Journalists say the case targets his journalism and are demanding his immediate release.

Source: La Presse de Tunisie · Saturday, 5 September 2026

Tunisia hosts 400 military personnel and observers from 13 countries for Phoenix Express naval exercise

Tunisia's defence ministry opened the Phoenix Express 26 naval exercise on September 6, running to September 18 with US Africa Command, bringing about 400 military personnel and observers and five warships from Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Egypt, Türkiye, Malta, Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, Georgia and the United States. Organisers say the drills aim to build shared capacity against smuggling and human trafficking and to strengthen Mediterranean maritime security.

Source: La Presse de Tunisie · Friday, 4 September 2026

Tunisia's foreign minister holds Cairo talks a day before Tunisia takes over the Arab League presidency

Foreign Minister Mohamed Ali Nafti met Egypt's Badr Abdel Aty in Cairo on Sunday and signed a technical cooperation protocol between the two countries. He also met Arab League Secretary General Nabil Fahmy before Tunisia takes over the Council's presidency on Monday for a six-month term, naming Arab unity and support for Palestinian statehood among its priorities.

Source: La Presse de Tunisie · Sunday, 6 September 2026

Geopolitics

US destroys one Iranian oil tanker and disables two others after Iran fires on US warships

US Central Command said it disabled two Iranian oil tankers and destroyed a third, near Kharg Island and in the Gulf of Oman, after Iran's Revolutionary Guard fired ballistic missiles at two US Navy warships on September 5; no American personnel were hurt. CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper said the tankers were part of a network funding the Guard and its regional proxies: “If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost.” Iran called the strikes “illegal and aggressive” and warned of a “significant response”; the war, now in its seventh month, has killed 18 US service members.

Source: Al Jazeera · Saturday, 5 September 2026

UN General Assembly adopts Equal Earth map showing Africa's true size, US the lone vote against

The UN General Assembly voted 164 to 1 on September 4 to endorse the Equal Earth map projection, which shows Africa at roughly 14 times the size of Greenland rather than the near-equal sizes the standard Mercator map suggests. Togo sponsored the resolution on behalf of the African Union; the United States cast the only vote against, while Serbia, Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova and Ukraine abstained. The nonbinding text encourages governments and schools to use the more accurate projection but does not ban the Mercator map.

Source: UN News · Friday, 4 September 2026

Netanyahu says Israel bombed Qatar and defends Gaza aid funds transferred via Doha

In an interview with Israel's i24NEWS aired September 6, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “I attacked Qatar, I also bombed it” during the war, days before the anniversary of Israel's September 2025 strike on Doha that killed five Hamas members and a Qatari security officer. He also defended Qatari funds channelled into Gaza, saying they made up “2 percent of all the money that entered the Strip” and were transferred on Israeli security agencies' advice; Qatar has previously called the Doha strike “cowardly” and denies funding Hamas.

Source: Al Jazeera · Sunday, 6 September 2026

Europe

Putin orders 72-hour pause in strikes on Kyiv as Witkoff and Kushner head from Moscow to Kyiv

Vladimir Putin ordered a 72-hour halt to strikes on Kyiv from midnight on September 5, after US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met him at the Kremlin for over three hours. The two travel to Kyiv on Sunday for their first visit to Ukraine's capital in the peace process; Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine will hold off hitting Moscow through Monday in return.

Source: NBC News · Saturday, 5 September 2026

Denmark, Germany, Austria, Netherlands and Greece agree common model for migrant 'return hubs' outside the EU

The five countries agreed on shared rules for financing and running centres to hold rejected asylum seekers outside the bloc, aiming to send the first migrants there in 2027; Uganda and Rwanda are seen as likely hosts, though no partner country has been named. Rights group Picum called the plan a way of “uprooting children, adults and families” into prolonged detention abroad.

Source: Euronews · Friday, 4 September 2026

Serbia buries war criminal Mladić without state honours after EU warning

A commemoration for Ratko Mladić, convicted of genocide over the 1995 Srebrenica massacre and dead in The Hague on August 27, opened in Belgrade on September 5, with burial set for Monday without state or military honours, artillery salutes or serving officials present. Justice Minister Nenad Vujić had earlier said Mladić would get “all military and state honours”; EU enlargement commissioner Marta Kos, who cancelled a planned visit, called any glorification “incompatible” with EU values, and President Vučić dismissed her warning as “stupid.”

Source: Euronews · Saturday, 5 September 2026