Tunisia is not at risk of a power vacuum despite the sudden hospitalisation of President Beji Caid Essebsi, one of his advisors said Friday, describing veteran leader's condition as stable.

Around 60 migrants most of them from Bangladesh have died after their boat capsized in the Mediterranean Sea after it left Libya for Italy, the Tunisian Red Crescent said Saturday.

Tunisia's health minister has resigned after the sudden deaths of 11 newborn babies at a state maternity hospital sparked an outcry in the country, the government said.

Prime Minister Youssef Chahed accepted Abderraouf Cherif's resignation, the premier's office said on Facebook late on Saturday.

Militiamen have kidnapped a group of Tunisian workers near the Libyan capital Tripoli, demanding Tunis release a comrade, the foreign ministry and a rights activist said.

A Tunisian court has sentenced seven jihadists to life in prison over attacks at a museum and on a beach in 2015 that killed 60 people, many of them tourists, prosecutors said Saturday.

Syria's "natural place" is within the Arab League, Tunisia's foreign minister said Saturday, ahead of the organisation's annual summit in Tunis in March.

Tunisian divorcee Latifa counts herself lucky -- she has a modest home that boasts a neat vegetable garden, a fig tree, and a pomegranate tree, along with a panoramic view of neighbouring farmland.

A public sector strike brought Tunisia to a standstill Thursday as workers heeded calls from a powerful trade union to stay home over demands for wage hikes and economic reforms.

Surrounded by other people's belongings piled high on beds, Georgie Ndab wants to leave Tunisia's only migrant centre and take her baby to Europe.

Tunisian women "have the chance to act", says Ines Boussetta, as she hits the campaign trail in northern Tebourba, listening attentively to the problems of the rural region's inhabitants.