At a Tripoli press conference today promoting the Libya Oil, Gas and Renewable Energy Fair (28 to 30 November 2022), Oil and Gas Minister Mohamed Aoun said the fair is to encourage international companies to return to or enter the Libyan oil sector. Aoun complimented the Oil and Gas Ministry for its success in preserving oil revenues for the state and said its aim is to maintain current oil production while continuing exploration and development to increase production. However, he said the Libyan private sector must enter the industry with the sector’s existing high standards which are imposed by international partners. Having an oil ministry enables a global outlookMinister Aoun could not resist having an indirect dig at his nemesis Mustafa Sanalla when he pointed out that only by having an oil ministry could Libya take a sovereign outlook on policies in the oil and energy sector. Without mentioning him by name, the implication was that Sanalla was too narrow in his outlook for Libya’s oil sector.

Libya — no new momentum in stalled aspirationsHafed Al-GhwellPeople shop at a market in Libya's capital Tripoli. It might be premature to predict how the tenure of the new UN envoy to Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily, will play out but so far the signs are not promising. It might be premature to predict how Bathily’s tenure will play out but so far the signs are not promising. This Washington-backed plan would have oil revenues temporarily held in the National Oil Corporation’s accounts at a Libyan offshore banking institution wholly owned by the country’s central bank. The lack of specificity and the repeated rebuffing of calls to utilize this leverage to resolve Libya’s political and military impasse suggests that this arrangement is borne out of the typical self-interest governing external interventions in Libya.

US ambassador and envoy to Libya, Richard Norland, said that the two prime ministers in Libya cannot run the country, referring to Abdel Hamid al-Dabaiba and Fathi Bashagha. In his statements to Sky News Arabia, Friday, Norland made it clear that resolving the Libyan crisis requires a general agreement on a fully legitimate government that has strength and trust to manage the affairs of all Libyans, and this will only happen through elections. Norland stressed the need to overcome the current state of mistrust in Libya and move as quickly as possible towards holding elections, adding that Libyans alone are the ones who decide the future of their country, but the lack of trust between the Libyan parties and some regional parties is fueling the conflict. The US ambassador said that there are security and economic interests at stake, so solving such deep problems will not be easy.

US State Department Counselor Derek Chollet has stressed the need for Libyan leaders to work towards a framework for elections without delay. "Members of the P3+2 met in New York today, and we all agree on the need to support the head of UNSMILibya, Mr. Abdoulaye Bathily, to restore momentum to Libya’s political process," the US diplomat tweeted on Friday. In a video recording, Norland said they noticed great interest and new ideas during the ongoing meetings on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly's gathering in New York. "The United States is working closely with partners in the diplomatic community, and with Libyan visitors... to try to restore momentum to the Libyan electoral process," Norland said. He said all actors are aware of the importance of moving quickly to reach the elections in light of the current violence in Libya.

Gaddafi UNGA Speech Video: Gaddafi, waving a copy of the UN Charter, condemned the permanent membership of the Security Council. He said it encouraged treatment of other countries as “second-class citizens”.

The United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and France have jointly reaffirmed their support for the newly appointed U.N. Envoy to Libya Abdoulaye Bathily and for the U.N. mediation aimed at “producing a constitutional basis to enable free, fair, and inclusive presidential and parliamentary elections throughout Libya in the shortest possible time”. The joint statement was released in subsequence to a meeting on Libya held between “senior officials” representing the five western powers on September 22 on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. “The officials also discussed the importance of fulfilling Libyan aspirations for the transparent management of oil revenues and agreeing on a unified executive with a mandate focused on preparing for elections,” reads the statement. “Participants strongly rejected any use of violence and reiterated their support for full implementation of the October 23, 2020 ceasefire agreement.”

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Pico Interactive has revealed in a tweet on Thursday its upcoming Pico 4 headset along with a series of specifications for the head-mounted display (HMD). Getting Social with Pico, TikTokPico’s PICO OS 5.0 will also integrate TikTok social media posting for communication and updates with online friends in real-time, along with sharing VR video feeds. It will also provide data statistics, workout plans, and social workout connectivity with other users. Timeline to LaunchThe news comes after Pico teased audiences with fresh announcements on the Pico 4 via TikTok and YouTube, noting that the upcoming headset would likely target consumers and enterprises. Pico also released its Neo3 Link headset in late May for £399, with preorders shipping in early June.

Libya’s oil production rose by 3,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 1.186 million bpd on Thursday, according to the National Oil Corporation (NOC), as the African OPEC member exempted from the OPEC+ deal has seen a recovery in output over the past month. Still, Libya continues to be a wild card on the oil market, despite the stabilization of its oil production over the past month. Libya’s oil production has recovered in recent weeks after the country resumed oil exports in July. The force majeure severely crippled Libya’s oil exports, following weeks of protests and closures amid the new rift in Libya’s political class over who should be governing the country. The National Oil Corporation said in mid-July that it planned to see oil output rates recover to 1.2 million bpd in less than a month.

Malta will continue to stand with the people of Ukraine, Robert Abela has told world leaders at the UN, as he condemned “recent statements” by Russia. “Close to 12.8 million people are estimated to have been displaced in Ukraine, which is a third of the nation’s population. Climate change posed “a serious threat” to all countries but particularly small islands and coastal communities, he said. “Climate change threatens state sovereignty, brings loss of territory, and causes damage to states’ critical infrastructure as well as their existing rights under maritime zone boundaries,” Abela said. “The displacement of people due to climate change, particularly due to droughts and sea level rise leading to loss of territory, is taking place on our watch,” he said.

The Libyan Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity, Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, said his government is with elections as the way forward for Libya, leading to elections. Dbeibah called in his cabinet meeting on Thursday for finding alternative solutions if the prolongation of approving a constitutional basis continued, urging the House of Representatives and High Council of State to issue a just and inclusive constitutional basis. He also said it was necessary not to base the future of Libya on the agreement of two parties who differed in one or two constitutional articles, adding that the result is that those two parties agreed to delay elections and go through the tenure extension route. Dbiebah called for giving the constitutional basis legitimacy through the Libyan people, not outdated entities due to tenure extensions, so it becomes legal. He said the international community is now more understanding regarding the need for a simple way that doesn't include tenure extension for any entity.

The Director of the Vaccination Department at the National Center for Disease Control, Abdelbasset Esmayo, confirmed that stocks of routine and school vaccines have run out in most regions. Esmayo called Wednesday for the speedy opening of letters of credit for the supply of routine vaccines, and the necessary school vaccines in most regions. He explained that the National Center for Disease Control has a good stock of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine, adding that the center is awaiting the arrival of a Pfizer shipment and that the epidemiological situation has improved both locally and globally.

"We have reports from people that the so-called 'voting commissions' coming to residences to record votes are accompanied by people with weapons.... The referendums have been condemned by Kyiv, Western leaders, and the United Nations as an illegitimate, choreographed precursor to illegal annexation. In his nightly address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the vote a "sham" and undemocratic. Western officials and experts say Putin plans to use the sham referendums to claim Ukraine is invading territory that is part of Russia. Moscow has deported about 1.6 million Ukrainians from those regions to Russia, according to Western estimates, while also busing Russian citizens into Ukrainian territory.

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Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, the leader of the Tripoli-based government, has accused the Audit Bureau of attempting to “tarnish” his government’s image after the publication of its 2021 report, which documents misuse of public funds. The report, which was released two days ago, contains allegations of corruption against multiple members of the Tripoli-based government, including Dbeibeh himself. During a cabinet meeting today, the 63-year-old premier tried to cast doubt on the credibility of the report, claiming that the timing of its publication is “politicized”. He also questioned the neutrality of the bureau’s chief, Khaled Al-Shakshak, by highlighting that both of them were once competitors in the presidential elections that failed to take place in December 2021. “We are accountable, but this does not mean playing with numbers and making reports that shake people’s feelings,” Dbeibeh told his ministers in the televised cabinet meeting.