BBC World Service
At least four people have drowned off the coast of Tunisia as they attempted to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.
A Tunisian army spokesman said 21 others were rescued.
Tunisia is a major transit point for migrants trying to reach Europe.
According to the UN High Commission for Refugees more than 2,500 people died or went missing last year attempting to cross the Mediterranean.
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BBC World Service
A Tunisian military court has ordered the release of two detained opposition politicians.
Seifeddine Makhlouf, the leader of the conservative Karama Party, was arrested in September with a party colleague, Nidhal Saudi, on charges of assaulting policemen.
Lawyers say Mr Makhlouf is being freed under judicial supervision and is expected to leave prison shortly.
The Islamist politician is a fierce critic of Tunisia's president, Kais Saied, who suspended parliament and sacked the government last July, arresting several senior politicians.
Human rights groups have criticised the use of military courts to hear cases.
Many opposition figures have described the president's power grab as a coup, and it has prompted mass protests across the country.
Tunisian police have used water canons to disperse hundreds of protesters who have taken to the streets to demonstrate against the country's president, despite coronavirus restrictions.
The protesters are unhappy with some of President Kaïs Saïed's recent measures including the suspension of parliament in July, which he extended in December.
He has since ruled by decree.
At Friday's protests, some of the people chanted "down with the coup" according to the AFP news agency.
Despite fierce criticism other citizens have supported the president, saying he is tackling corruption.
The country is marking 11 years on since the downfall of its late leader, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, who fled the country in 2011 as his authority crumbled.
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By Emir Nader
BBC News Arabic
In exclusive, never heard before recordings believed to be of former Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, BBC News Arabic reveals the anxious telephone calls that helped sea
The Newsroom
BBC World Service
The UN is calling on the Tunisian authorities to either release or properly charge the country’s former justice minister.
Noureddine Bhiri has been detained after being taken away from his home on 31 December for suspected terrorism offences.
A second man was taken away and detained on the same day.
“We urge the authorities to either promptly release or properly charge these two men in accordance with due process standards for criminal proceedings,” said Liz Throssell, a spokesperson for the UN human rights office, OHCHR.
Tunisia’s President Kais Saied suspended parliament last July and began ruling by decree in a move opponents branded as a coup.
Mr Bhiri, who initially went on hunger strike, remains in hospital under guard.
The Newsroom
BBC World Service
Supporters of a former Tunisian justice minister say he’s fighting for his life after refusing food and medication since his arrest last week.
Noureddine Bhiri, deputy chairman of the Islamist Ennahdha party, is accused of possible terrorism offences. His supporters deny the allegations.
Mr Bhiri, who played a central role in Tunisian politics before President Kais Saied suspended parliament last July, is said to suffer from several serious pre-existing health problems.
His Ennahdha party colleague, Samir Dilou, said medical sources had described the former minister as being “between life and death”.
Tunisia's interior ministry has said a detained former justice minister is suspected of “terrorism”.
Noureddine Bhiri of the Ennahdha party was detained over the weekend.
He has refused food and medicine and was transferred to a hospital on Monday where he is reported to have continued with the hunger strike.
Interior Minister Taoufik Charfeddine said on Monday that there were reports of acts of terrorism prompting the authorities to act.
The Ennahdha party has been at crossroads with President Kais Saied after he sacked the prime minister and suspended parliament last year.
A party member and activists have said Mr Bhiri’s health is at risk as he has a chronic illness and has been denied professional care.
His wife is quoted by the AFP news agency saying that he had suffered a heart attack and that she was denied access to him.
There was a heavy police presence in part of the Tunisian capital on Friday morning as hundreds took to the streets to mark the 11th anniversary of the start of the revolution which saw the downfall of former President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali and sparked the Arab spring.
Opposition parties had called for mass protests on Friday, in a stand against recent measures announced by President Kais Saied, according to local media.
Some of the president's supporters were also present, according to the AFP news agency.
They held a banner which read: "We are with you to the end in the fight against corruption," along with a photo of the head of state, AFP reports.
Mr Saied was elected in a landslide in 2019 promising to stand up against corruption, but has since caused controversy after he suspended parliament.
In a televised national address on Monday, Mr Saied said that parliament would remain suspended until fresh elections in a year's time.
Earlier this month Mr Saied switched the official anniversary of the revolution from 14 January to 17 December - the day in 2010 when a Tunisian street vendor set himself on fire.
BBC World Service
The Newsroom
Lawyers and human rights activists in Tunisia have lodged an appeal to overturn a one-year prison sentence against two men for homosexuality.
Consensual sex between two people of the same sex - whether men or women - remains punishable in Tunisia by up to three years in jail under a law that dates back more than 100 years.
The two men have taken their case to the country's top court after a lower court rejected their first appeal last year.
Their lawyer says that if their case is successful, it could create a legal precedent that would help do away with Article 230 in the criminal code, which outlaws homosexual acts.
BBC World Service
The Newsroom
The parliamentary speaker in Tunisia, Rached Ghannouchi, has said that he categorically rejects President Kais Saied's decision to suspend parliament for another year.
Mr Ghannouchi - who heads the Islamist Ennahda party - said that the exceptional measures announced by the president must be cancelled immediately.
He said it was the only way out of the crisis.
In a televised national address on Monday, Mr Saied said that parliament would remain suspended until fresh elections in a year's time.
He also said that before the election, a referendum on the constitution would be held in July.
Sebastian Usher
BBC Arab Affairs Editor
Tunisian President Kais Saied has announced that parliament will remain suspended until fresh elections are held a year from now.
In a national TV address, Mr Saied also laid out plans for a referendum on the constitution next year.
Ever since he froze parliament and dismissed the then prime minister back in July, the Tunisian President Kais Saied has continued to cement his hold on power while stressing that his actions have been necessary to shake a corrupt political status quo and reinvigorate the failing economy.
In a speech last month, Mr Saied talked of purifying state institutions as the only way to purify the country.
To his supporters, this remains a persuasive message - but his opponents still believe that what he has done and is doing amounts to a political coup.
Mr Saied's plan for a public consultation process to begin next month on constitutional reform will either please or further alarm each side in equal measure.
In case his message wasn't clear enough, the president has set the date for a referendum on the constitution to take place next 25 July - exactly a year on from the day he staged his dramatic seizure of full executive power.
Ahmed Rouaba
BBC News
One person is believed to have died after a fire broke out in the offices of the Ennahda party in the Tunisian capital, Tunis.
Videos shared on social media show smoke coming out of the windows and staff being evacuated by the fire brigade.
Former Prime Minister Ali Laaridh, a senior official of the party, has been taken to hospital for treatment, his son said on social media.
Mr Laaridh was seen jumping from the second floor of the building:
Police investigators are working to determine the cause of the fire, local media report.
Ennahda is the largest party in parliament. The moderate Islamist party is a fierce opponent of President Kais Saied.
Ahmed Rouaba
BBC News
Tunisia's Culture Minister Hayat Ketata is under fire after books critical of the government were removed from the country’s international book fair.
A book about Rached el-Ghanouchi, leader of Ennahdha party and a fierce critic of President Kais Saied, has been banned from exhibition.
The organisers of the book fair also removed a book by Rabah Kheraifi about corruption in Tunisia. His book was described as "offensive" to the state.
One opposition figure, Najib Chebbi, described the move as "shocking and dangerous", calling on the culture minister to go.
He urged intellectuals to stand against this "regression".
In July, President Saied suspended parliament in a move described by the opposition as coup and a violation of the constitution.
He insisted he had acted within the constitution and vowed to "clean up" the country from corruption.
Some politicians, lawyers, journalists and MPs critical of the president have since been arrested and jailed.
Ahmed Rouaba
BBC News
A Tunisian court has issued an arrest warrant against former president Moncef Marzouki, a strong opponent of the current President Kaïs Saïed.
It is not clear what the charges against Mr Marzouki are.
The president in October ordered a judicial inquiry into Mr Marzouki’s call for France to end its support to "Kaïs Saïed's dictatorial regime".
President Kaïs Saïed had then suspended parliament, which his opponent described as a coup and a violation of the constitution.
Several MPs, lawyers and politicians critical of the president have been arrested since then.
Some TV channels and radio stations that are close to the opposition have also been shut down.
Ahmed Rouaba
BBC News
A tunnel has been discovered near the French ambassador’s residence in Tunis, originating from a house frequented by an extremist known to the police, local media have reported.
The Interior Ministry said on Facebook security services had received intelligence about "suspicious activity" in a house in the Marsa area close to the ambassador’s residence, and they found a tunnel being dug.
The anti-terrorist unit is undertaking further investigations, the ministry added.
It is not known who has been digging the tunnel and for what reason, nor have French diplomats commented yet, according to the Reuters news agency.
Ahmed Rouaba
BBC News
Tunisians on social media have expressed concern at President Kaïs Saïed's call for "the true Tunisian nationalists to clean up the country" from the those who "have embezzled the country’s funds".
Speaking in a ministerial meeting, the president did not specify who were the "true nationalists" nor did he identify those who had "embezzled the country's funds".
It is seen by many as a divisive move and a dangerous call for the president's supporters to harass his opponents.
"This statement means setting up militias from 'the true nationalist' to clean up the country with violence and abduction. It is a call for civil war," wrote historian Mohamed Dhifallah on Twitter, in just one example.
Mr Saïed has been under pressure from opposition parties and organisations in the country as well the international community to restore the democratic institutions in the country.
Since suspending parliament last July lawyers, MPs, politicians and journalists have been arrested for taking a stand against the president's decisions. TV channels and radio stations critical of Mr Saïed have also been shut down.
