Libya

U.S. President Barack Obama directed his national security advisers on Jan. 28 to counter efforts by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) to expand into Libya and other countries, the White House said.

ISIL militants have taken advantage of chaos in Libya to establish themselves in the city of Sirte, and they have carried out several attacks on oil installations this month. 

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A Libyan court has withdrawn the charges of smuggling of oil products brought last year against the crew of tanker vessel Sunoil, which included two Bulgarian nationals, the Foreign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

A vivid diary written by a young Syrian girl has added to the heart-wrenching stories of the ongoing refugee tragedy, found after washing up on Turkey's Aegean shore following the deadly capsizing of another migrant boat bound for Europe.

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

A total of 23,664 migrants arrived in Europe by sea in the first 14 days of the year, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has announced.

The total number translates into an average daily of about 1,700.

The first 14 days of 2016 also saw the year's first 59 fatalities in the Mediterranean between Libya and Italy, the IOM said.

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.

More than 3,770 migrants and refugees died in 2015 trying to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean Sea, making the year the deadliest on record for those seeking sanctuary from conflict and poverty, an international migration group said on Dec. 31, 2015. 

Members of Libya's rival parliaments have signed Dec. 17 a U.N.-sponsored deal on forming a unity government, aiming to bring peace to the war-ravaged country.

Global powers on Dec. 13 backed the formation of a national unity government in Libya, pledging economic and security support to help stabilise the chaotic North African country where Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants have a foothold.