Tripoli, Libya - Libya's shutdown of its main border crossing with Tunisia this week will remain in force until authorities put an end to smuggling involving powerful armed groups, an official said on Friday. Authorities aim to "ensure the security of the borders and combat crime and smuggling," Interior Minister Imad...

Tripoli, Libya--Libya ordered the "immediate" closure of its main border crossing with Tunisia on Tuesday following clashes between armed groups and security forces on the Libyan side, the interior ministry said. The border post in the desert area of Ras Jedir about 170 kilometres (105 miles) from the Libyan capital Tripoli,...

Libya earns around $20 billion per year in net revenues from oil and gas exports, which accounts for around 95 percent of state revenue. Much of this wealth pays for a bloated public sector that employs almost one third of the population, as well as for state subsidies meant to...

TRIPOLI, LIBYA - The flood that devastated Libya's eastern port city of Derna last year has impacted up to 1.5 million people and will require $1.8 billion for reconstruction, according to a new report. On September 10, Storm Daniel hit the east coast of Libya, causing floods that collapsed two dams...

Tripoli, Libya -- Libya's state-owned energy firm said on Sunday it had declared a state of "force majeure" at Al-Sharara oilfield after production at the major facility was suspended due to protests. The National Oil Corporation (NOC) said in a statement it had taken legal action for the southwestern oilfield, which...

Hassituha (You Felt It), a mostly silent play from eastern Libya, symbolizes both the country's divisions between west and east, and the rebirth of Libya's National Theatre Festival,

Twenty-five people were rescued and transferred to a Libyan detention center, said the IOM. It said the survivors were all in good condition and had received medical support from IOM staff.

Vienna, Austria - Major producer Brazil will join OPEC+ from next year, the oil cartel announced on Thursday. Brazil is among the world's top 10 producers and has been the largest oil producer in Latin America since 2016. Its crude production hit a record 3.7 million barrels per day in September,...

Last month's flood was the latest catastrophe to strike the oil-rich North African country that has been wracked by war and lawlessness since a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 ousted and killed longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi. The psychological impact of the disaster will also be felt for a long time among...

Shortly after her dismissal by the internationally recognized government in Tripoli, Amel Jerary, whose detention was ordered by the country's prosecutor general over alleged corruption, was questioned about "administrative and financial abuses" allegedly used to "obtain illicit material advantages by illegally seizing public funds".

Tripoli, Libya--Libya and Italy have signed an agreement to enhance cooperation to enable air transport companies to operate charter and regular flights between the two countries. In this regard, the Libyan Civil Aviation Authority and the Italian civil aviation authority signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at the Ministry of...

The conference was put off until November 1-2 to "offer time for the submission of effective studies and projects" for the reconstruction effort, the committee charged with planning the meeting said in a statement. The divided country's eastern administration last month invited the "international community" to attend the conference in...

Tripoli, Libya - A Rome-bound aircraft departed on Saturday from Libya's capital, restarting flights to Italy after a nearly decade-long suspension due to an EU ban, authorities in Tripoli said. The European Union in 2014 halted flights operated by Libyan airlines and banned them from entering member states' airspace, as the...

Tripoli, Libya-- Qatar and Libya have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to boost cooperation in the field of civil aviation. In this connection, Qatar's General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) held Thursday bilateral talks with Libyan Civil Aviation Authority. Acting President of GCAA Mohamed Faleh Al Hajri chaired the Qatari...

Benghazi, Libya - Libya's prosecutor general has ordered the arrest of four more officials, bringing to 12 the number held as part of an inquiry into this month's flood that killed thousands. Flooding caused by hurricane-strength Storm Daniel tore through eastern Libya on September 10, leaving at least 3,893 people dead...

The land journey from sub-Saharan African countries, where many of the migrants hail from, to departure points on the Tunisian and Libyan coasts "remains one of the world's most dangerous," Ruven Menikdiwela, director of the UNHCR New York office, said. The migrants and refugees "risk death and gross human rights violations...

Haftar, who sponsors a rival administration to Libya's UN-backed government in Tripoli, has long cultivated close relations with Moscow and relies heavily on Russian mercenary group Wagner for military support. Haftar "held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu", his Libyan Arab Armed Forces said on its...

The officials are suspected of "bad management" and negligence, among other offences, a statement from the prosecutor general's office said, adding that seven of them served currently or previously in offices responsible for water resources and dam management. "The mistakes that they made" and their "negligence in the matter of...

Many of the dead are believed to have been swept out to sea, from where their bodies are still washing ashore. Others are thought to be buried beneath the debris that carpets whole neighborhoods of Derna. More than 43,000 people have been displaced from the city and neighboring parts of...

Benghazi, Libya - Libya's flood-devastated port city of Derna will host an international conference next month to aid reconstruction efforts, authorities in the east of the divided country said. There was no immediate reaction from the internationally recognized government in Tripoli nor any details on how the rival administration would accommodate...

The EU is to start releasing money to Tunisia under a pact aimed at stemming irregular migration from the country, the European Commission said. EU lawmakers, the bloc's ombudsman and migrant assistance charities have questioned whether the deal with Tunisia meets European rights standards. Tunisia is struggling with high debt...

"An estimated 43,059 individuals have been displaced by the floods in northeastern Libya," the IOM said, adding that a "lack of water supply is reportedly driving many displaced out of Derna" to other areas.

UN agencies warned that Libya's flood-stricken city of Derna, where thousands were killed a week ago, faces the threat of disease outbreaks that could bring "a second devastating crisis". Traumatized residents badly need clean water, food and basic supplies amid a growing risk of cholera, diarrhea, dehydration and malnutrition, UN...

According to a United Nations report released on Sunday, the toll from Derna alone has risen to 11,300. Citing the Libyan Red Crescent, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs added that another 10,100 people were still missing in the devastated city.

Several aid organizations have warned of the outbreak of disease in the port city of Derna, after Sunday's flood submerged it, washing thousands of people and homes out to sea. The flooding left behind a trail of devastation after two upstream dams burst under the pressure of torrential rains triggered...

TRIPOLI, LIBYA - Over a decade of bloody power battles in Libya have resulted in vital infrastructure falling into disrepair, culminating in the catastrophic death toll in Sunday's flood, politicians and analysts have said.   Wracked by conflict and division ever since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Moamer...

Military transport aircraft from Middle Eastern and European nations, along with ships, have been ferrying emergency aid to the North African country already scarred by war. In addition to the missing, tens of thousands of people have been displaced after the huge flash flood slammed into the Mediterranean coastal city...

Derna was home to about 100,000 people, and many of its multi-storey buildings on the banks of the riverbed collapsed, with people, their homes and cars vanishing in the raging waters. With global concern about the disaster spreading, several nations offered urgent aid and rescue teams to help the war-scarred...

The death toll from freak floods in eastern Libya is expected to soar dramatically, with 10,000 people reported missing, the Red Cross warned. Officials in Libya have said at least 150 people were killed in the sudden flooding on Sunday afternoon after storm Daniel swept the Mediterranean, lashing Bulgaria, Greece...

"At least 150 people were killed as a result of flooding and torrential rains left by storm Daniel in Derna, the Jabal al-Akhdar region and the suburbs of Al-Marj," Mohamed Massoud, a spokesman for the Benghazi-based administration in Libya, said. "This is besides the massive material damage that struck public...

Till last year, outages could last 20 hours, turning the streets dark and leaving residents sweltering in temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius.

Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah said that Najla al-Mangoush, the foreign minister, has been temporarily suspended and will be subject to an administrative investigation by a commission chaired by the justice minister. The decision was made after the Israeli foreign minister announced that he had held talks with her last week...

Haftar, who backs the country's eastern administration, is close to Russia's private Wagner mercenary group, whose troops guard military and oil infrastructure in the country. "This is the first official visit of a Russian military delegation to Libya," Moscow's defense ministry said.

Libya's central bank announced that its two rival branches in the west and east are reuniting after nearly a decade apart. The North African country is currently split between Abdelhamid Dbeibah's UN-backed government in the west and another in the east backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar.

Videos circulated on social media on Wednesday night showed Mahmoud Hamza dressed in military fatigues and surrounded by his fighters at the Tekbali barracks south of the Libyan capital.

Fighting raged from Monday night between the influential 444 Brigade and the Al-Radaa, two of the myriad of militias that have vied for power since the 2011 overthrow of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi. In August last year, 32 people were killed in Tripoli in battles between divided Libya's two rival...

Twelve years after conflict broke out when President Bashar al-Assad repressed peaceful pro-democracy protests, Syrians are still trying to escape a war that has killed more than 500,000 people. At least 141 Syrians were among up to 750 migrants thought to have been on a trawler that set off from...

Some 234 families were evacuated from front line areas in the capital's southern suburbs, along with dozens of doctors and nurses who had got trapped by the fighting while caring for the wounded, the center said. Three field hospitals and 60 ambulances had been dispatched to the area when the...

The fighting between the 444 Brigade and the Al-Radaa Force, or Special Deterrence Force, erupted on Monday night and carried over into Tuesday, an interior ministry official said. "Clashes affected several areas of Tripoli's eastern suburbs, in Ain Zara south of Tripoli, pitting the forces of 444 Brigade against those...

In a collaborative bid to address the migrant crisis, Tunisia and Libya have announced a shared responsibility for hundreds of migrants stranded at their border. These migrants, primarily from sub-Saharan African countries, had been left in the desert area of Ras Jedir. The deal aims to provide shelter and essential...

Crude oil is the main revenue source for Libya, which has been torn by more than a decade of stop-start conflict, involving foreign powers and a myriad of militias, since a NATO-backed revolt toppled strongman Moamer Kadhafi in 2011. Over the past decade, Libya has been regularly plagued by clashes...

In the unbearable midday heat, a Libyan patrol near the border with Tunisia comes across a black African man collapsed on the reddish-brown desert sand. The man is one among hundreds of migrants arriving daily in Libya after being abandoned in the desert borderland by Tunisian security forces, according to...

In the midday heat, a Libyan patrol near the border with Tunisia comes across a black African man collapsed on the desert. The man is just one among hundreds of migrants arriving daily in Libya after being abandoned in the desert borderland by Tunisian security forces, according to Libyan border...

Many journalists at the Libyan-Tunisian border saw migrants who were visibly exhausted and dehydrated, sitting or lying on the sand and using shrubs to try and shield themselves from the scorching summer heat that topped 40 degrees Celsius. The group were in an uninhabited area close to Al-Assah, a town...

Tripoli, Libya - Oil production has resumed at two major Libyan oil fields, the oil ministry said Sunday, after a brief shutdown by demonstrators protesting the arrest of a former minister. "Operations have resumed in the Al-Sharara and Al-Fil oil fields... after they were suspended" Thursday, said the ministry, part of...

A statement from the prosecution said that the appeals court pronounced the verdict against a "criminal gang" whose members organized for migrants to travel on a "dilapidated boat, resulting in the death of 11 of them. Libya is a key departure point for migrants, with many risking the perilous sea...

Racial tensions flared into violence against migrants from sub-Saharan African countries in Tunisia's port city of Sfax last week, with hundreds fleeing or being pushed to inhospitable southern desert border areas. "All of the 500 to 700 migrants who were at the Libyan border have been transferred elsewhere," Salsabil Chellali...

TRIPOLI, LIBYA- Rivals in politically divided Libya have agreed to form a committee on sharing oil revenues, a move welcomed on Saturday by the UN, after military strongman Khalifa Haftar sought a "fair" split. Haftar, who backs the country's eastern administration, had last Monday called for a committee to address the...

One of the three, whose identities and nationalities were not given, was sentenced to life in prison and the other two to 20 years each. Considered to be the first convictions in Libya in human trafficking cases, the court found the three guilty of "trafficking in human beings" and having...

Vienna, Austria - Mohamed Aoun, Libyan Minister of Oil and Gas, has said that Libya is continuing its gas export operations to Europe through the Greenstream pipeline, local media reports said. He noted that an increase in gas exports is currently unfeasible, but could be considered in the future, after...