Tunisia
Badr Eddine Gharsellaoui, secretary general of the pro-Saied Al Massar party, accused UGTT leader Slaheddine Selmi and opposition groups on Wednesday of exploiting unemployed graduates' and young doctors' grievances 'under foreign influence' to destabilize the country, ahead of a national march nine organisations first called on September 29, since joined by opposition parties and a women's coalition, for Saturday under the slogan 'Tunisia first, the people above all else'. He called the graduates' and doctors' demands legitimate and urged the government to act on them, while defending President Saied's record since 25 July 2021. The march's own stated demands center on jobs, wages, purchasing power and public services.
A Tunis court postponed by a week, to October 21, its verdict in the trial of thirteen Gabès activists, among them Stop Pollution member Kheireddine Dbia, prosecuted over a 2020 sit-in outside the Groupe chimique tunisien's offices; prosecutors invoke 'obstructing freedom of work'. Stop Pollution says new gas leaks and workplace accidents, including one death, have continued at the ageing chemical complex a year after a general strike demanded its polluting units be dismantled. The group is calling for the charges to be dropped and the units shut.
The head of Tunisia's supermarket federation, Hédi Baccour, said on Mosaïque FM on Wednesday that temporary stockouts of sugar, flour and rice are a recurring effect of rising demand ahead of the Mouled holiday, when households buy more to make assida and pastries, compounded by rice's longer warehouse-to-shelf chain. He said a coordination meeting with the commerce ministry is planned to smooth supply. The ministry has not commented publicly on the shortages.
The Free Destourian Party's planned 'Congress of Loyalty', meant to confirm Abir Moussi's leadership, was shelved for good this week after a Tunis court suspended the October 3-4 event; the party is appealing. Political bureau member Samira Saïhi, who brought the legal challenge, argues party statutes cap Moussi at two consecutive terms counted from 2021 and disputes the quorum of the bureau meeting that dropped the congress; she says she remains in her post and opposes the archiving of the congress file.
A draft of Tunisia's 2027 budget law, obtained by the state news agency TAP and reported by several outlets on Thursday, plans state spending of 68.895 billion dinars, up 8.37 percent on this year, against revenue of 54.280 billion dinars, for a deficit of 14.615 billion dinars. The government plans to borrow 19.845 billion dinars at home and 6.877 billion abroad to help cover that gap. The draft also raises the exit tax paid by travelers leaving the country from 60 to 80 dinars, and the tax on games and contests from 40 to 60 percent. The text has not been made public officially; parliament's finance committee this week reviewed only the budget's broad orientations, without giving figures of its own.
A bus carrying factory workers overturned on Kairouan's western ring road on Thursday, on its way from Chebika to a factory in the Regada area. At least 31 people were injured and taken to the Ibn El Jazzar university hospital; regional health director Jamal Mrabet said their condition was stable, with three or four still undergoing scans to decide whether they need to be admitted. No deaths were reported. Kairouan governor Dhaker Barqaoui visited the hospital with local officials and factory representatives.
Europe
EU leaders gather in Brussels on Thursday and Friday for a summit expected to pit frugal states, which want deeper cuts to a proposed 141-billion-euro reduction in the bloc's next long-term budget, against 17 cohesion countries saying the cuts already go too far; Council president António Costa wants a deal by year-end. On energy, Italy and Greece are pushing for fiscal flexibility to cushion prices as gas trades near its highest since 2022, while six states' call for a windfall tax on energy firms has failed to gain support ahead of the summit. Draft conclusions seen before the summit add a line regretting Washington's decision to let Russian diesel sales resume until April 2027.
Source:
Euronews · Wednesday, 14 October 2026
Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni told parliament on Wednesday that Washington's decision to let Russia resume diesel exports is 'a very risky choice' that legitimises Moscow while its bombs still fall on Ukraine, before traveling to the EU summit in Brussels. She called for the EU's 27 states to name one envoy to negotiate with Washington and Moscow rather than leaving it to France, Germany and Britain alone; Zelenskyy thanked her on X for 'naming the aggressor'. Her own deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, said Italy cannot keep sending Ukraine money as gifts.
Source:
Euronews · Wednesday, 14 October 2026
A Hamburg court opened the trial of former Ukrainian special-forces officer Serhiy Kuznietsov on Wednesday, the first person tried over the September 2022 bombing of the Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea. Prosecutors say he led divers who planted explosives from a rented yacht; he faces charges including a war crime and will not testify, while his lawyers may argue the pipelines, which were not carrying gas at the time, were a legitimate military target. Kyiv has consistently denied ordering the sabotage, and a second suspect's extradition from Croatia is still contested.
Source:
Euronews · Wednesday, 14 October 2026
