Tunisia's and France's foreign ministers discussed bilateral economic ties by phone on Wednesday, with France's Jean-Noël Barrot confirming Paris's support for Tunisia's bid to revise its association agreement with the European Union into what he called a "balanced and fair partnership." Tunisia's foreign minister, Mohamed Ali Nafti, stressed the role of Tunisian professionals living in France in the two countries' economic ties.
Tunisia's Organisation of Young Doctors announced a strike for November 20 at six hospitals, including Mongi Slim in La Marsa, Sahloul and Farhat Hached in Sousse, Fattouma Bourguiba in Monastir and Ibn El Jazzar in Kairouan, demanding payment of on-call allowances some doctors say they have waited over nine months for, despite a July 2025 deal promising payment within a month. Emergency and on-call care will continue during the walkout.
Basma Charfeddine wrote to President Kaïs Saïed asking him to pardon her brother Ridha Charfeddine, the Unimed pharmaceutical founder and former MP who is serving sentences for undeclared foreign assets, money laundering tied to customs violations, and a since-reduced "conspiracy against state security" charge. Her letter cites his founding of a drugmaker that supplies the domestic market and exports medicine, asking the president for "a new chance."
Tunisia's National Institute of Statistics put annual inflation at 5.6 percent in October, unchanged from September, in data released Thursday. The rate has now held for a second straight month, after climbing from 5.4 percent in August. Food and drink prices rose 8.5 percent over the year, against 8.4 percent in September, led by fresh fruit, up 20 percent, along with lamb, poultry and beef. Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, eased to 4.8 percent from 4.9 percent, and consumer prices overall rose 0.7 percent from September to October.
Opposition leader Yair Golan accused Netanyahu of trying to illegally cling to power after the 27 October election left both blocs short of the 61 seats needed for a majority in the 120-seat Knesset: Netanyahu's camp took 53 seats, the opposition 48, and Arab-led parties a record 19. Opposition parties have asked Gadi Eisenkot, a former armed forces chief, to form a "national emergency government" by bringing in the Arab parties, a coalition Eisenkot had previously ruled out; Netanyahu's own camp has no such path to 61. Israel's election commission said allegations of fraud, which Netanyahu has repeated without evidence, would not affect the result's validity.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Wednesday that at least four oil tankers caught fire after striking naval mines while trying to pass through a stretch of the Strait of Hormuz that Tehran has declared off-limits, and that two more vessels were halted; the Guards also said they shot down a drone over the strait. Iran has controlled traffic through the strait since a US-Israeli strike touched off the war with Iran in February, and indirect talks on reopening it to normal shipping have made only halting progress.
Ukraine's president made an unannounced trip to Madrid on Wednesday for talks with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and King Felipe VI on the sidelines of the Ibero-American Summit, where he also met UN chief António Guterres and EU Council President António Costa. Zelenskyy said strengthening Ukraine's air defences and expanding defence production remain his top priorities, as he looks to shore up support from a Latin American bloc split over the war.
Ukrainian officials said Wednesday that at least 33 people are now confirmed dead after Monday's Russian strike on a former school distributing aid in Komyshuvakha, in the Zaporizhzhia region, up from the 26 dead and 27 missing first reported; more than 50 people may still be trapped under the rubble, a count officials have not reconciled with Monday's smaller missing figure, with five rescued so far. President Zelenskyy called it "one of the largest Russian massacres of this war," and the strike came hours after a local ceasefire in the nearby Kherson region lapsed.
The European Parliament's environment committee voted Wednesday to cut the bloc's 2035 car emissions target from a full ban on new petrol and diesel sales to an 87.5% emissions cut, letting plug-in hybrids and conventional-fuel cars stay on the market beyond that date. The centre-right, centre-left and liberal groups who struck the deal cited a struggling European car industry facing Chinese competition; Green lawmakers called it a breach of the EU's 2023 Green Deal consensus.
The EU's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said Wednesday that "at the moment, everything is on the table," as Brussels prepares a "deep dive" in January on further steps against Georgia's government over its democratic backsliding, after the EU already suspended visa-free travel for Georgian diplomatic passport holders in March. Georgia's government has pushed back EU accession talks to beyond 2028 and offered no plan to repair relations with Brussels.