Tunisia
A coalition of sixteen Tunisian organisations, alongside EuroMed Rights and international press unions, is calling for the release of Al-Katiba editor Mohamed Yousfi, arrested on 4 September as he headed to a radio interview on water policy and formally placed in pretrial detention on 8 September on suspicion of illicit enrichment and money laundering. His lawyers say the case file contained “no documents, no evidence, not even a preliminary one.” EuroMed Rights says the case fits a pattern of pressure on independent voices, naming journalists Mourad Zeghidi, Borhen Bsaïss and Zied El Héni as facing similar proceedings.
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Kapitalis · Wednesday, 9 September 2026
The EU's deputy ambassador to the UN in Geneva said on 8 September that Brussels “continues to follow with concern the shrinking of civic space in Tunisia and the wider erosion of respect for human rights and the rule of law.” The EU says it will keep raising the issue with Tunisian authorities and plans to convene the EU-Tunisia Association Council “at the appropriate time.”
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Kapitalis · Wednesday, 9 September 2026
The UGTT's national administrative body met on 9 September to examine confirming the general strike principle adopted at its Monastir congress, deputy secretary general Othman Jellouli said, while calling for union mobilisation to be readied. UGTT, the bar association and the Tunisian Human Rights League already launched a joint 'Tunisia first' framework on 3 September; a meeting on 10 September considers widening that coalition further and drawing up an action plan. No strike date has been set.
Hannibal Mejbri, on loan at Burnley from Manchester United, will miss three to four months after hamstring surgery, manager Nicky Hayen said, a blow to a player Tunisians have followed closely since his breakout at the 2022 World Cup. The Tunisian Football Federation says it is standing by him.
Heavy rain flooded parts of Grand Tunis on Thursday, trapping commuters at the Bab Alioua transport hub, according to video circulated by residents and reported by Webdo. Tunisia's civil protection agency raised its alert to the highest level for Grand Tunis, Zaghouan and Béja, deputy operations director Khalil Mechri said. Interior Minister Khaled Nouri ordered maintenance of wadis and drainage channels to be sped up. Forecasters expect 40 to 60mm more rain in Grand Tunis, Kef, Jendouba and Siliana, and up to 80mm in Béja and Zaghouan, through Friday. The ministry repeated its standing warning never to cross a swollen wadi, the cause of most deaths in past floods.
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La Presse · Thursday, 10 September 2026
Europe
The European Commission unveiled what officials are already calling a 'Buy European' law: a single Public Procurement Act to replace three directives dating to 2014, letting public buyers in energy, water, rail, ports and postal services favour EU firms and reject bids with less than half European content. The proposal responds to a roughly one-billion-euro daily trade deficit with China and would also weight tenders more heavily toward quality over price. It still needs approval from EU governments and the European Parliament.
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Euronews · Wednesday, 9 September 2026
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said a drone almost struck Volodymyr Zelensky's plane as it prepared to take off from Moldova on Tuesday, forcing a temporary airspace closure. A source in Zelensky's office called the Norwegian account exaggerated, saying the alert was triggered by a Russian drone that had strayed into Moldovan and Romanian airspace and later came down on Moldovan territory. Zelensky reached Oslo safely and joined other leaders on Wednesday for King Harald V's funeral.
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CNN · Wednesday, 9 September 2026
Spain's National Intelligence Centre sent Moroccan counterparts and its own Ceuta delegation warnings on 29 July about social media calls for a mass crossing the next day, according to newly declassified documents. Two Facebook and WhatsApp groups with about 180,000 followers were pushing people to scale or swim around the border fence to coincide with a Moroccan holiday. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez says the warning gave no indication of the scale of what followed, when more than 72,000 people crossed on 30 and 31 July.
