A man died at a Cité Ettadhamen hospital on Thursday after his health deteriorated during a police drug raid; security sources told Mosaïque FM he swallowed narcotics he was carrying, while his father says he was "violently assaulted" during the raid and plans legal action. Residents blocked a road and burned tires in the Ariana governorate suburb as an investigation opened into the circumstances of the death.
Rahma Dziri, a student at Sfax's Institut supérieur des études technologiques, died during the night of 21 October after a sudden medical episode at the Sidi Mansour university residence; classmates say the ambulance took roughly 90 minutes to arrive, a claim not yet officially confirmed. The student union UGET called a general strike on 22 October across all Sfax faculties and institutes for 23 October, demanding permanent, staffed medical units in university residences.
The Court of Cassation rejected on Wednesday every appeal filed against the February verdicts in the "conspiracy against state security 2" case, upholding sentences from three to 35 years, according to Webdo. Rached Ghannouchi, Ennahdha's president, never himself sought cassation review of his 20-year sentence, saying he considered the trial politically motivated, while his co-defendant Kamel Bedoui, who received the same term, was among those whose appeal was turned down.
Defence Minister Khaled Sehili met US Defense Threat Reduction Agency director Laura Gross in Tunis on Thursday, with US Ambassador Bill Bazzi also present, to discuss widening military cooperation on border surveillance, counterterrorism and neutralising drone threats. Sehili said Tunisia sits "at the crossroads of North Africa, the Mediterranean and the Sahel-Sahara region" and sought technology transfer and training, while Gross reaffirmed Washington's commitment to the partnership.
The Tunis Court of Appeal's specialized financial corruption chamber confirmed the first-instance convictions of former Transport Minister Abdelkrim Harouni and businessman Mohamed Frikha, upholding Harouni's two-year sentence and Frikha's seven-year sentence over dealings between Frikha's Syphax Airlines and the state oil company AGIL. Two former oil-company executives, Moncef Matoussi and Habib Mallouh, each had a six-year sentence confirmed in the same case. Harouni, detained since September 2023, was released on Friday because he had already served more time than his confirmed term.
The US has deployed a third aircraft carrier to the Gulf, its largest naval and air presence there since the 2003 Iraq invasion, and Iran has warned that any strikes after November's US midterm elections would draw a response it called "100 percent certain." Seven oil tankers were damaged or caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, and French President Macron urged "extreme caution" during a Gulf tour meant to calm the tension.
Parliament President Roberta Metsola said the award recognises the International Criminal Court's work upholding international law, two weeks after President Trump sanctioned the court and vowed to dismantle it "brick by brick" over its 2024 arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the court "must be free to pursue its mission, independently, and without pressure or intimidation."
Russian forces fired three Iskander-M missiles carrying cluster warheads at central Kyiv overnight Wednesday into Thursday, part of a barrage of 21 ballistic missiles and 210 drones that killed at least two people and wounded 34, including five children, and damaged the historic Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery. President Zelensky said "the choice of weapon was deliberate," and the strike came hours after US envoy Steve Witkoff met Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg.
Interior ministers Matteo Piantedosi and Fernando Grande-Marlaska agreed to phase out the spot checks Italy imposed on travellers from Spain on 1 August, after more than 70,000 people crossed into Ceuta from Morocco in late July, a measure Spain called "a disgrace" and matched with reciprocal checks of its own. Both governments said they would instead rely on increased information-sharing within the Schengen area.
President Macron will chair a defence council on 23 October and has ordered a 20 percent increase in police deployment, backed by Sentinelle soldiers, elite police and gendarmerie units, ahead of nationwide demonstrations on 24 October; only union-organised marches will be authorised, with prefects empowered to ban others. The move follows the 17 October protests, when the interior ministry counted 550,000 participants and the CGT union 800,000, against the cost of living, far above the 200,000 authorities had expected, and clashes and looting broke out that Macron called "criminal acts."