Libya

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.

Warring Libyan factions meeting in Tunisia said on Dec. 6 they had reached an agreement to be approved by rival parliaments on ending the political deadlock that has plagued the country since Moamer Kadhafi's overthrow.

Two Serbian citizens kidnapped in Libya earlier this month are both alive, PM Aleksandar Vucic said on Wednesday.

Serbian embassy employees Sladjana Stankovic and Jovica Stepic were taken from a convoy of vehicles in the town of Sabratha on November 8.

Two Serbian embassy employees kidnapped in Libya on Sunday are held in a house "on the outskirts of the town of Sabratha," a Belgrade daily writes on Wednesday.

According to Vecernje Novosti, Serbian security services are "constantly in contact with Libyan authorities," and through them with the kidnappers.