The Egyptian Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry, withdrew Tuesday from the 158th session of the Council of Arab League at the level of foreign ministers, rejecting the fact that the Foreign Minister of the Libyan outgoing government, Najla Mangoush, assumed the presidency of the session. Informed sources stated that the Egyptian Foreign Minister demanded Mangoush to apologize for the presidency of the session, but she refused, which prompted him to withdraw. The Egyptian delegation withdrew just before Al-Manqush delivered her speech without issuing any statement about it. The Libyan Government led by Fathi Bashagha had issued a statement Monday rejecting presidency of the 158th session of the Arab League Council at the ministerial level by the outgoing government of Abdul Hamid Dabaiba. “Such measures threaten the stability and unity of the country and represent a bias towards a political party that its mandate has expired and lacks legal legitimacy,” it pointed out.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Libyan Foreign Bank (LFB), Mohamed Al-Darrat, said that the bank’s management managed, in early September, to obtain two judgments issued in favour of the LFB by the French Court of Appeal. Crucial to the case was the French Court of Appeal recognizing the independence of the financial and legal personality of the Libyan Foreign Bank from the responsibility and personality of the Libyan state. The case reflects an ongoing trend by foreign entities seeking to recover debts in or to the Libya state/Libyan entities from assets frozen or deposited abroad. The foreign entities argue that all Libyan monies abroad belong to the state. The Libyan side argues that many Libyan entities are independent from the state.

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s foreign minister withdrew Tuesday from an Arab League session chaired by the chief diplomat of one of Libya’s two rival governments. The seats of the Egyptian delegation were seen empty as Najla Mangoush, the foreign minister of the Tripoli-based administration, was addressing a meeting for the Arab foreign ministers in Cairo. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukry left the meeting room in the Arab League headquarters when Mangoush took her seat to chair the meeting. In a news conference following the meeting, Mangoush attempted to downplay Shukry’s withdrawal, saying that it was “not a crisis but a divergence of views” regarding the legitimacy of Dbeibah’s government. In response, the country’s east-based parliament appointed a rival prime minister, Fathy Bashagha, who has for months sought to install his government in Tripoli.

By MARI YAMAGUCHIJapan has protested to Russia over multinational military exercises being conducted on Russian-held islands claimed by Japan, and is seriously concerned about shooting drills by Russian and Chinese warships off Japan's northern coast, an official said Monday. China’s Ministry of National Defense said in a statement Sunday that China participated in air, ground and naval exercises as part of the exercises. It said a Chinese naval tactical team conducted joint exercises with Russia in the Sea of Japan, including one designed to destroy drifting mines. The Chinese warships had crossed Tsushima Strait in southwestern Japan on Aug. 29, the ministry said. Russia earlier this year announced it has suspended peace talks with Japan to protest Tokyo’s sanctions against Moscow over its war in Ukraine.

A Russian reporter faces 24 years in prison for revealing a $2 billion arms deal between Moscow and CairoCopy LinkThe verdict on whether a Russian journalist will receive a 24-year prison sentence for high treason will be delivered by a court today, MEM reports. At the end of August, a government prosecutor argued that following his release, Safronov should be sentenced to two years of restricted freedom and fined over $8,000. Analysts say there is little evidence against him, and his defence team say the accusations against him are related to his work as a reporter and that he was targeted for revealing plans for a $2 billion arms deal to Egypt. Since President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s rise to power in Egypt, human rights groups have slammed the number of countries scrambling to strike arms sales with Cairo. Egypt is one of the most repressive regimes in the world, with around 60,000 political prisoners who are systematically tortured and denied medical care.

Renewed clashes broke out over the weekend in oil-rich Libya’s capital as militia forces aligned with the Government of National Unity (GNU) moved to ensure continued control after a failed attempt by the rival eastern-backed prime minister to take Tripoli last week. Fighting took place in the city's western outskirts on Friday and Saturday, Reuters reports. Current interim prime minister Hamid Al-Dbeibah is attempting to shore up control and weed out militias aligned with newly appointed parliamentary-backed prime minister Fathi Bashagha. Dbeibah’s key concern now is gaining control of various armed factions within Tripoli that have not aligned definitively with one side or the other. A week ago, the Libyan National Oil Company (NOC) reported that production had hit 1.22 million bpd.

Storage tanks are seen at Marathon Petroleum's Los Angeles Refinery, which processes domestic & imported crude oil into California Air Resources Board (CARB), gasoline, diesel fuel, and other petroleum products, in Carson, California, U.S., March 11, 2022. REUTERS/Bing GuanReutersLibya’s oil production has decreased to 1.163 million barrels per day (bpd) due to power issues in the Sarir and Mesla oilfields, Libya’s National Oil Corp said on Monday. Earlier this week, oil production in the North African country reached 1.224 million bpd.

A joint Arab stance is needed to guarantee all rights and legal positions of all member states are maintained, he added. Speaking during the session was also Aly al Halaby, Lebanon’s permanent representative at the AL. He stressed the need for all members to support his country, which is hosting the majority of Syrian refugees – who make up one-sixth of the population in Lebanon. Lebanon has been, despite its limited potentials, acting to secure the needs of those refugees since the start of the Syrian crisis in 2011, Halaby said. “We have been calling on sisterly and friendly countries to support Lebanon … until the Syrian refugees are back to their country,” Halaby told the session.

The Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC) on Monday attributed decline in oil production to technical issues related to electricity in the Masala and Sarir oilfields. NOC clarified in a statement that specialized technical teams of the Arabian Gulf Oil Company (AGOCO) were working to solve the problem. The Corporation stated that the production of crude oil amounted to 1.163 million barrels, and the production of condensate reached 48,000 barrels during the past 24 hours. NOC had announced Sunday that crude oil production amounted to 1.224 million barrels, and condensate production reached 54,000 barrels during the past 24 hours.

The Minister of Industry and Minerals, Ahmed Abu Hessa, head of Misrata’s Audit Bureau Branch, and a number of officials and dignitaries of the city of Misrata have participated in the takeover ceremony of the new management of the Libyan Iron & Steel Company. In his remarks, the new Chairman of the Board of Directors, Mohamed Al-Faqih expressed his thanks and appreciation to all successive governments over the past period and all those who had a relationship with the board of directors, praising the role of the company’s workers who preserved the company and were an example of loyal workers. The new board of directors comprises; Mohamed Al-Faqih, chairman and Sulaiman Bayram his deputy, and membership of Ali bin Omran, Abdul Hakim Al-Hadiri, Jamal Al-Sharif, Abdul Samie Khaddora and Abdul Salam Munaider.

The Libyan Government led by Fathi Bashagha has issued a statement rejecting presidency of the 158th session of the Arab League Council at the ministerial level by the outgoing government of Abdul Hamid Dabaiba. “With this action, the League violates its acclaimed role of full solidarity with the state of Libya in its crisis, and the recognition of the Libyan Government as the sole legitimate representative of the Libyan people,” said the statement of the government led by Fathi Bashagha. “Such measures threaten the stability and unity of the country and represent a bias towards a political party that its mandate has expired and lacks legal legitimacy,” it pointed out.

Several political party leaders and representatives have expressed desire to cooperate with the High National Elections Commission (HNEC), in order to consolidate the values of democracy and culture of peaceful transfer of power. They also appreciated HNEC accomplishments during the previous electoral process stages, and its efforts to hold free and fair elections that are compatible with all political parties. This came during their meeting with Chairman of the Board of the High National Elections Commission, Imad Al-Sayeh, on Sunday. The meeting was held within the framework of reaching out to all parties interested in the electoral process, to ensure effective participation of all political movements and parties in the upcoming elections, so that elections be acceptable to all Libyans, HNEC explained on its Facebook account.

Libyan chaos could have been averted if world listened to JibrilDr. Dania Koleilat KhatibMahmoud Jibril could foresee the chaos into which Libya would plunge if there was no disarmament of the militias. Mahmoud Jibril, who served as the head of the National Transitional Council between March and October 2011, foresaw the problems. The worst part is that the different militias use the state and its oil income to enrich themselves and finance their military operations. The different militias use the state and its oil income to enrich themselves and finance their military operations. But with intervention comes great responsibility and, if the international community had listened to Jibril in 2011, Libya would not be in the chaotic state it is today.

An armed group at Tripoli’s Mitiga Airport has forcibly prevented 30 members of parliament from leaving the capital, sources told The Libya Update on Monday. The lawmakers were planning to travel to Benghazi to attend a session of the House of Representatives. The House’s spokesman, Abdullah Blehaq, confirmed the news, telling press reporters that the travel blockade against the MPs caused the parliament to cancel today’s session.

The UN-recognised Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah was given a warm welcome by Prime Minister Robert Abela when he visited Malta last week. Referring to the eruption of violence in Libya in the last few weeks, Abela said, “The last days in Libya have been difficult. The peace and stability in the past two years was something we were happy to see.”Abela promised his Libyan counterpart that Malta would “remain friends” with the people of Libya. Malta can do little to help Libya regain stability except to put pressure on the EU to give more importance to brokering a peace deal between the Libyan warring factions. Today Turkey supports Dbeibah and Libya while Russia and Egypt support the challenger Fathi Bashagha and his militias.