Tripoli

Serbia and the US continue to dispute the causes of the deaths in Libya of the two kidnapped Serbian embassy employes, Sladjana Stankovic and Jovica Stepic.

Belgrade maintains a US air strike against the Islamic State, ISIS, last week killed them but Pentagon officials blame a "criminal group", which it says used the US bombing as an alibi to kill them.

Libya faces severe shortages of life-saving medicine and about one million people will soon be in dire need of help, a U.N. humanitarian official warned, as warring factions hamper efforts to end chaos and form a unity government. 

A leading military expert has called for a Serbian parliamentary committee to investigate the kidnap by ISIS of two employees of Belgrade's embassy in Tripoli, after Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic at the weekend revealed a new link between the incident and the arms trade.

Two Serbian embassy staff members abducted in Libya in November are believed to have been killed on Feb. 19 in U.S. air strikes on a suspected Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) training camp, Serbia's foreign minister said on Feb. 20.

The United Sates is weighing potential military options in Libya as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) jihadists expand their influence in the north African nation roiled by political instability, a Pentagon official said Jan. 27.

Libya's internationally recognized parliament on Jan. 25 voted to reject a U.N.-backed unity government, lawmakers said, in a major blow to international efforts to end the country's unrest.

"We voted against endorsing the government and ask... to be presented with another government," parliamentarian Ali al-Gaydi said.

A Libyan court has withdrawn the charges of smuggling of oil products brought last year against the crew of tanker vessel Sunoil, which included two Bulgarian nationals, the Foreign Ministry in Sofia announced on Friday.

The court in Tripoli has also ordered the release of the five members of the crew, which also included two Ukrainian citizens and one Romanian.

Libya's UN-brokered national unity government announced its formation on Jan. 19 under a disputed deal aimed at ending years of bloodshed.

Culture Ministry of Greece and the Arcadia Antiquities Ephorate announced that the Tegea Archaeological Museum has been nominated as a candidate for the European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA) in 2016.

EMYA established in 1977 under the auspices of the Council of Europe and is awarded annually aiming to encourage the best practices and innovative actions by museums in Europe.

At least 65 people were killed on Jan. 7 when one of Libya's worst truck bombs in years exploded at a police training centre in the town of Zliten, local officials and hospital sources said.