Libya

Around 30 migrants have been found dead on a boat in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and the North African coast.

The fishing boat had been overcrowded, with some 600 people on board. The cause of the deaths is most likely asphyxiation from being crammed into a compartment below the decks, the BBC revealed.

A Tunisian diplomat and an embassy worker kidnapped earlier this year by unknown gunmen in Libya arrived at dawn on Monday at a Tunis airport after being freed on June 29.
   

Two Turkish citizens were kidnapped in Libya late on June 24 and their whereabouts are still unknown, a Turkish Foreign Ministry official who wanted to remain anonymous has said.

The first group of Turkish nationals who were evacuated from Libya returned to Turkey on June 24 after they were threatened with arrest on spying claims.

Some 248 Turkish citizens, working for the construction company GAMA in the central coast city of Sirte, have returned to Turkey with a Turkish Airlines (THY) flight from Misrata in northwest Libya.

Some 250 Turkish citizens are leaving Libya, after a call from a renegade Libyan general to Turks and Qataris to leave the country’s east within two days or suffer a backlash from the public.

Most Turkish nationals have left the country since the Foreign Ministry issued its own warning, Anadolu Agency quoted Turkey’s Benghazi Council General Ali Sait Akın as saying on June 23.

A Libyan renegade general has called on all Turks and Qataris to leave volatile eastern Libya, accusing the two countries of supporting “terrorism,” his spokesman said June 22.

When Egyptians were flooding to Tahrir Square, I was fascinated with the Arab Spring. Like many others, I too wrote in praise of the movement at the time. Then an experienced Turkish diplomat warned me.

BELGRADE - New Libyan Ambassador to Serbia Tajori Shrady Tajori delivered the credential letters to Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic on Monday and said that his appointment for the office represents an expression of the wish of the new Libyan government to improve its cooperation with Serbia.

Libya has lost $30 billion due to 10 months of protests at oilfields and export terminals but has sufficient foreign currency reserves to keep the country running, a central bank official said June 6.

Illegal border crossing at the EU external borders increased sharply in 2013, rising to over 107,000 from 75,000 in 2012, an EU agency reports.