Libya

The European Union decided to authorize the use of military force against human traffickers in the Mediterranean Sea.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced that Moscow will continue its supplies of military equipment to the Syrian government in the fight against terrorist groups.

Lavrov said this in a news conference on Friday, TASS news agency informs.

The UN Security Council is considering allowing European naval forces to board and search ships on the high seas in an effort combat the smuggling of migrants, diplomats said on Sept.9.

Delivering on the European Agenda on Migrations from May, the European Commission is putting forward a comprehensive package of proposals which will help address the refugee crisis that EU Member States and neighbouring countries are facing, including by tackling the root causes making people seek refuge in Europe.

At least 30 migrants are feared to have drowned off Libya after their dinghy began to sink, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said Sept. 4.

A Bolivian-flagged freighter intercepted off Crete this week was carrying more than 4,000 assault rifles and nearly 500,000 rounds of ammunition, all reportedly headed to Libya.

An ancient Greek sculpture depicting goddess Dimitra or her daughter Persephone worth around 1.5 million pounds was found to have been illegally brought to the UK after it was looted from a world heritage site in Cyrene, Libya. Judge John Zani ruled that the 4ft marble statue dug up in the ancient Greek colony of Cyrene that was smuggled to Britain in 2011 has to be returned.

Greek authorities have seized a freighter carrying an undeclared shipment of weapons en route from Turkey to Libya.

At least 12 migrants, believed to be Syrians, became the latest victims of a worsening refugee crisis when two boats sank after leaving southwestern Turkey for the Greek island of Kos on Sept. 2.  

The first immigrants that Romania has agreed to take in at the EU's request will arrive in November, presidential adviser Leonard Orban, has said, although the government promptly declined to confirm this.