Direct negotiations between Tunisia's ruling Islamist party Ennahda and the opposition to resolve a months-old political crisis sparked by the assassination of an opposition MP will begin on Saturday, mediators announced Thursday.

"The national dialogue meeting will take place next Saturday at the Palais des Congres" in Tunis, the country's main UGTT trade union said on its Facebook page.

The trial of three Tunisian policemen for raping a young woman last year, which sparked outrage when the prosecution tried to blame the victim, was adjourned Thursday until November 4.

The prosecutor asked for postponement because the alleged victim's medical report was still not ready, prompting condemnation from the defense lawyers.

At least 50 asylum-seekers drowned and 120 were rescued after a boat carrying some 500 people caught fire and capsized near an Italian island on Thursday, officials and media reports said.

The Italian news agency Ansa cited officials as saying 50 bodies had been recovered including those of two children and several women.

A Tunisian rights group on Wednesday accused the police of harassing the tiny Jewish community on the southern island of Djerba, saying it had come under a string of attacks.

"Tunisian Jews feel in danger, they are really afraid," Yamina Thabet, the president of the Tunisian Association Supporting Minorities, told a news conference after visiting Djerba.

Tunisia's main trade union said Wednesday that the government had notified it of "serious threats" to its leaders aimed at undermining its efforts to broker an end to a lingering political crisis.

"The union's management has been informed of the existence of serious threats targeting its leaders... with the information coming from the relevant departments of the interior ministry," the UGTT said on its Facebook page.

The UGTT trade union confederation mediating crisis talks in Tunisia said Saturday that the ruling Islamist Ennahda party had agreed to a plan for talks on a new government.

The country's largest union confederation called on the Islamists and the secular opposition to agree on a date next week for a "national dialogue" aimed at ending a crisis sparked by the murder of a prominent opposition MP in July.

Egypt recalled its ambassador from Tunisia on Saturday after the Tunisian president demanded the release of deposed leader Mohammed Morsi, state television reported.

The Egyptian foreign ministry recalled its ambassador for "consultations," state television reported.

The United Arab Emirates has recalled its ambassador from Tunisia to protest calls by the Tunisian president for the liberation of Egypt's deposed head of state, reports said Saturday.

Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki had called on the UAE-backed new rulers in Cairo to free Mohamed Morsi, the Islamist president deposed in a military-led coup on July 3, in a speech this week at the U.N. General Assembly.

Tunisia's Islamist-led government said Thursday it had ordered a probe and contacted Interpol after a young Tunisian living abroad posted a photo of himself on the Internet trampling on the Koran.

The interior ministry said a preliminary inquiry found that the photo, published on social networking sites, was taken "by a young Tunisian under 20 years old living in a European country."

Tunisian rapper Klay BBJ was jailed for six months Thursday for songs judged insulting by the authorities, a verdict his supporters slammed as a sign of the Islamist-led government's growing intolerance.

"We have decided on a sentence of six months in prison, to begin immediately," Judge Belgacem Chaieb ruled after a trial lasting less than 90 minutes.