Tunisia
Security forces detained at least 13 people overnight on Saturday into Sunday, according to a legal defence committee, and more than 15, including a minor, according to the UGET student union and the Communist Youth Union, after Saturday's march in Tunis demanding the release of four jailed organisers of the Soumoud flotilla. The UGTT labour federation, the Onat bar association and the Tunisian Human Rights League jointly called for their immediate release; UGET named two former student leaders, Rachid Othmani and Kais Bouzouzia, among those held. The four flotilla organisers have been held in pretrial detention at Mornaguia prison since March on suspicion of money laundering tied to a Gaza fundraising campaign; Wael Naouar has refused food since 16 August, now day 38, three co-detainees since 10 September, day 13, and lawyer Ayachi Hammami in solidarity since 18 September, day 5.
The General Federation of Oil and Chemical Products, part of the UGTT labour federation, is standing firm on a two-day strike on 23-24 September among fuel transport workers, demanding employers pay overdue social security contributions to the CNSS fund and a bonus promised under a May 2019 agreement. Employers' body UTICA says it has received no formal strike notice and is mobilising to secure fuel supply; a reconciliation meeting is expected at the social affairs ministry before the strike begins. The same sector has threatened strikes and backed down twice before, in April 2024 after a settlement and in November-December 2024 when it was postponed to a later date.
Karim Teraa, a leading figure in the Union of Unemployed Graduates, was detained on Saturday evening in Bizerte and placed in custody, according to the union's Monday statement, and is being prosecuted under Decree-Law 2022-54 on information and communication offences. Teraa has in recent weeks taken part in several protests demanding jobs for long-term unemployed graduates, including demonstrations held in 17 governorates on 17 September. The union is demanding his immediate release.
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Réalités · Monday, 21 September 2026
Tunis's specialised financial corruption court sentenced Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's daughter Nesrine Ben Ali and her former husband Sakher El Materi to six years in prison each on Tuesday, ruling in their absence. An accountant charged alongside them received five years. The court found all three guilty of financial corruption, harm to the public administration and misuse of public funds.
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Webdo · Tuesday, 22 September 2026
Fethi Zouari, head of the National Chamber for Transport of Dangerous Materials, said on Tuesday that 70 to 80 percent of heavy-truck drivers were ready to work through the two-day fuel transport strike unions have called for 23-24 September, and that employers received no legal strike notice. UGTT's Salwan Al-Sumeiri, who covers the private sector, maintained the strike still stands and that notice was filed nearly a month ago, ahead of a reconciliation meeting due at the social affairs ministry the same Tuesday.
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Réalités · Tuesday, 22 September 2026
Europe
EU ambassadors failed to agree on Monday to renew sanctions on nearly 3,000 Russia-linked people and entities, and will reconvene at 8am on Tuesday, hours before the measures expire at midnight. France, backed by Slovakia, is demanding oligarchs Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman be delisted in exchange for a 36-month extension for everyone else; diplomats tell Reuters that Paris is acting under pressure from Azerbaijan, which holds at least two French nationals in detention. By Monday evening every government but Latvia had accepted that compromise; Latvia alone is refusing it, demanding the sanctions be strengthened rather than eased.
In Sunday's state elections the Left party (Die Linke) more than doubled its vote share to 25.7 percent and finished first in Berlin for the first time, while Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democrats fell to 18.8 percent. In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern the AfD topped the poll and the CDU was wiped out of the state parliament after its worst result there since the war; Merz called the outcome a "disaster" and told reporters "reforms have to come". It is the AfD's third state win, and its second within a single month.
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Euronews · Monday, 21 September 2026
At an informal finance ministers' meeting in Dublin on 18 September, EU Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said the Commission will not propose a bloc-wide tax on energy firms' windfall profits, leaving the decision to individual member states: "member states can go ahead and take their own decisions on taxing of windfall profits." German finance minister Lars Klingbeil demanded the Commission "present proposals now," by October, accusing oil companies of "exploiting the situation" since crude prices climbed above $100 a barrel after the attack on Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline. Six countries, including Germany, Spain and Italy, had jointly pushed for an EU-wide levy.
