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Tunisia's financial auditor has ordered a freeze on the bank accounts and financial assets of 10 people, including two senior officials.

The Tunisian Financial Analysis Committee says its order is based on a letter from an anti-terrorism judge, without giving details.

The 10 named people include Rached Ghannouchi, the head of the Islamic Ennahda Party and former Speaker, along with his son and son-in-law; former prime minister Hamadi Jebali and his two daughter.

Last May a Tunisian court banned Mr Ghannouchi and more than 30 other people from travel for being under investigations.

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Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has hosted Palestinian rival leaders Mahmoud Abbas and Ismail Haniya.

Mr Abbas - the Palestinian president - and his arch rival who heads the Hamas' politburo - the Islamist group that rules the Gaza Strip - met for the first time in 15 years.

The two leaders were invited by Mr Tebboune to attend his country's 60th independence day celebrations

Algeria is a major supporter of the Palestinian cause.

Footage broadcast by Algerian television channels showed President Tebboune getting his Palestinian counterpart and Mr Haniya to shake hands, after which Hamas delegation members embrace Mr Abbas.

It is not clear whether he held talks with Mr Haniya.

President Abbas presented Mr Tebboune with a Palestinian stamp commemorating Algeria's 60th independence day, along with a map showing a Ramallah street recently named "Algeria".

Hamas won the 2006 legislative elections but a year later the two men fell out and Hamas seized the Gaza Strip in a bloody civil war.

No Palestinian election has been held since, primarily because of the internal divisions.

Twenty-two migrants from Mali, including three children, have died after their boat got into difficulties off the Libyan coast.

The Malian government said they were part of a group of more than 80 migrants who had been stuck on their distressed vessel for much of the last two weeks.

Sixty-one people were rescued from the boat with the help of the United Nations' migration agency.

A spokesperson for the agency said there has been a "significant increase" in migrant flows through Niger and Mali towards North Africa in the first quarter of this year.

The UN mission in Mali says two Egyptian peacekeepers have been killed and five others seriously injured when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in the north of the country.

The UN mission (Minusma) said the attack between Tessalit and Gao may constitute a war crime.

It said mines and improvised explosive devices planted by jihadist fighters affected UN personnel, the Malian military and civilians without distinction.

The peacekeeping force is one of the UN's largest and is one of the most dangerous missions.

Over the last decade more than 170 troops have been killed.

Last month the UN Security Council extended the force's mandate by a year.

There is concern that the peacekeepers may be more vulnerable without French air support following France's decision to withdraw from Mali after falling out with the military leaders who carried out two coups.

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Two political parties in Tunisia have called for a boycott of this month's referendum on a new constitution.

The recently formed Work and Achievement party said President Kais Saied’s draft constitution “seeks to entrench individual rule” and threatens the independence of the judiciary.

The secular Democratic Current party was also highly critical saying that it “threatens the existence of the state”.

Speaking earlier President Saied denied that his proposed constitution would restore authoritarian rule, insisting instead that it would guarantee citizens rights and freedoms.

Tunisia’s referendum is due to take place on 25 July.

An Egyptian court has sentenced a researcher to three years in prison in a retrial over charges of "publishing false news".

Researcher Ahmed Samir Santawy, 30, was charged with "publishing false news from abroad" on conditions in the country in a Facebook post on his personal account.

He was sentenced by an exceptional court in a verdict that cannot be appealed.

Santawy's lawyer, Ahmed Ragheb, told the independent Mada Masr website that he would file a request with the recently formed presidential pardon committee for his client's release.

The researcher was initially sentenced to four years in prison over the same charges in July last year.

However the verdict was overturned after his lawyers filed a grievance.

Dozens of domestic and international human rights organisations have been calling for Santawy's release.

Santawy, who was studying in Austria, was arrested and detained by security forces on 1 February 2021 while on holiday at home.

His new sentence came one day before the start of political dialogue with opposition figures in the country on Tuesday.

Dozens of political activists were released ahead of the dialogue.

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Spanish police say they have seized six underwater drones built to smuggle large amounts of illicit drugs remotely from Morocco.

They said the unmanned submarines - each capable of carrying 200kg (31 stone) - had more than enough range to cover the 15km (9 miles) journey across the Strait of Gibraltar.

They said trafficking gangs were supplying drugs to criminals in France, Denmark, Italy, as well as Spain.

Eight people were arrested in the police operation, in Barcelona, and in the southern provinces of Malaga and Cadiz.

A United Nations mission in Libya says it is likely that there are many more mass graves in the town of Tarhouna where hundreds of bodies have already been found in recent years.

"Despite the continued efforts of the Libyan authorities to recover the mass graves in Tarhouna, reports suggest there are still over 200 people missing, a matter which has caused indescribable suffering for their families who have the right to know what happened to their loved ones," said one of the members of mission's members, Mohamed Auajjar.

A militia operated by a group of brothers carried out a campaign of mass execution, kidnapping and torture between 2016 and 2020 in Tarhouna.

The UN mission says satellite imagery has revealed evidence suggesting that there may be as many as 100 more mass graves still to be uncovered.

It has called on the Libyan government that's based in Tripoli to continue the search.

Read more: How six brothers - and their lions - terrorised a Libyan town

Egypt's foreign currency reserves have had a welcome boost after the Suez Canal posted record revenues for the latest fiscal year.

The head of the canal authority, Osama Rabie, said the $7bn (£5.7bn) earned in the 12 months to the end of June was more than 20% higher than the previous record.

He said recent global crises proved the importance of the canal to the world's supply chains.

The waterway, linking the Red Sea with the Mediterranean, carries about a 10th of all maritime trade.

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A letter signed by 34 British MPs and Lords has been delivered to the Egyptian embassy expressing their opposition to the imprisonment of a British national in Egypt.

The group hopes that Alaa Abdel Fattah's "release will indeed be secured soon, and that he will be allowed to travel to the United Kingdom".

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry is expected to visit London for talks with UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.

This comes after Ms Truss confirmed to parliament on last month that she "is working very hard to secure [Alaa’s] release" and would be bringing it up with Mr Shoukry at an upcoming visit to London.

Monday will be Mr Alaa’s 94th day of hunger strike.

It will also be his sister’s 23rd day of hunger strike.

"I have now lost 8.6% of my bodyweight. I started this strike because I wanted to shine some small light on what Alaa is going through. And I can tell you: I’m exhausted, I’m weak. But I know that Alaa is not going to give up, and we are never going to give up on him either," Mona Seif said.

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Egyptian officials say that two women have now been killed in shark attacks while swimming in the Red Sea.

The environment ministry says the attacks occurred within 600m (1,970 ft) of each other.

The authorities had earlier announced that an Austrian woman in her 60s had died of her injuries on Friday .

A Romanian woman in her 40s is now also said to have been killed.

The incidents happened in the Hurghada region, which is a major tourist resort.

Several beaches have been closed in the area as a result.