Financial Times | Don't let Venezuela become the next Libya Financial Times For more than two months, protesters and government forces have faced off all over Venezuela, leaving more than 50 dead and hundreds wounded and imprisoned. The stand-off occurs against the backdrop of a fall of nearly a third in per capita income, the ... |
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Don't let Venezuela become the next Libya - Financial Times
Geneva - The United Nations on Tuesday launched a $75.5 million appeal to tackle a swelling humanitarian and migration crisis in Libya.
The UN's High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said the funds would go toward providing essential services for displaced people, refugees and asylum-seekers.
The appeal is in partnership with the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM).
"We have urgent work to do in Libya and can only do it together," said UNHCR head Filippo Grandi in a statement. "We are going the extra mile in trying to make a difference for hundreds of thousands of people."
The work will buttress the IOM's own appeal, launched last month, which set down a three-year $180-million plan.
Rival administrations and militias have fought for control of the oil-rich country since the 2011 uprising that toppled Moamer Kadhafi.
Libya is also the hub for African migrants desperate to reach Europe. Their trek is notorious for exploitation and maltreatment and for the dangerous sea crossing.
The IOM Tuesday that it had tallied 1,481 migrant deaths on the Mediterranean, with a further 1,720 people missing, since the start of the year.
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UN launches $75m appeal for Libya | News24 - News24
By Scott DiSavino | NEW YORK
NEW YORK Oil prices sank 3 percent to a three-week low on Wednesday as an increase in Libyan output helped boost monthly OPEC crude production for the first time this year.
Brent notched its fifth straight monthly decline in a row despite OPEC-led output cuts and forecasts that U.S. crude inventories would fall for an eighth straight week since hitting a record at the end of March.
Post-settlement, prices pared some losses as data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) showed crude inventories fell by 8.7 million barrels in the week to May 26 to 513.2 million, compared with analysts' expectations for a decrease of 2.5 million barrels. [API/S]
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) report is due at 11:00 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) on Thursday, delayed a day because of the Memorial Day holiday on Monday.
Brent crude futures for July LCOc1 fell $1.53, or 3.0 percent, to settle at $50.31 a barrel on their last day as the front-month. It was Brent's lowest close since May 10.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 fell $1.34, or 2.7 percent, to settle at $48.32 per barrel, its lowest close since May 12.
Brent's premium over the same U.S. month WTCLc1-LCOc1 narrowed to its lowest in almost five weeks.
For the month of May, Brent fell almost 3 percent, its fifth straight monthly loss. WTI had its third straight monthly decline, ending May down more than 2 percent.
Output from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) rose in May, the first monthly increase this year, a Reuters survey found. Higher supply from Nigeria and Libya, OPEC members exempt from a production-cutting deal, offset improved compliance by others.
"Even if Libyan output levels from here for a few weeks, current relative strength provides an additional challenge to OPEC given the fact that the elevated Libyan production is not only eating into other OPEC members market share but is also forcing renewed weakening in Brent structure," Jim Ritterbusch, president of Chicago-based energy advisory firm Ritterbusch & Associates, said in a note.
Libya's oil production has risen to 827,000 bpd, above a three-year peak of 800,000 bpd reached earlier in May, the National Oil Corporation said.
(To view a graphic on 'Libya oil tanker exports' click reut.rs/2sciXCM)
OPEC and other producers, including Russia, agreed last week to extend a deal to cut production about 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) until the end of March 2018.
Compliance with output cuts remained high among OPEC members and industry sources said Russian figures for May showed output in line with its pledge.
Saudi Arabia and Russia said OPEC and non-OPEC producers were committed to bringing global oil inventories down to the industry's five-year average.
(Additional reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar in New York, Karolin Schaps in London and Henning Gloystein in Singapore; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Chizu Nomiyama)
SEOUL San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John C. Williams said on Thursday he sees a total of three interest rate increases for this year as his baseline scenario, but views four hikes as also being appropriate if the U.S. economy gets an unexpected boost.
BEIJING China's manufacturing activity unexpectedly contracted in May for the first time in 11 months and companies shed more jobs as demand weakened and shrinking factory prices dented profits, a private survey showed on Thursday.
BOSTON Major investors put U.S. industry on notice on Wednesday that climate change matters, even as reports emerged that President Donald Trump plans to withdraw the United States from an international pact to fight global warming.
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Oil prices slide on worries Libya output will feed glut - Reuters
Yvonne Snijter (Photo: Twitter)
A woman from Holland, Yvonne Snijter, is missing in Libyas capital Tripoli, according to numerous reports and calls for help from friends on social media.
The woman was last seen on Friday in a cafe in the old town of the capital city of Tripoli.
The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs is investigating the matter according to social media sources.
According to Snijters last tweet, on May 26th, she was heading out to get something to eat a few hours before Ramadan started. After that her usually active Twitter account falls silent.
Snijter is the founder of foundation Al Eureka, an independent education center in Tripoli, according to AD. She also regularly writes opinion pieces for website Joop.nl.
The dangerous situation in Libya is a regular topic in her writing. She was friends with photographer Jeroen Oerlemans, who was killed in a terrorist shootout in Libya last year.
A spokesperson for Foreign Affairs confirmed to AD that they are aware of reports about Snijters disappearance and they are taking them seriously.
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Dutch woman missing in Libya's capital - Libyan Express
A local source from al-Hereish hospital in Libyas Derna has confirmed the death of the leader of the Shura Council of Mujahedeen in Derna abu Musab al-Shaaria, known as al-Amir, in airstrikes launched by Egypt in the city over the past few days, Afrigate News reported.
Libyan Brigadier General Abdul Salam al-Hassi said the airstrikes targeted the council as well as Abu Salim Martyrs Brigade, two groups that ally with al-Qaeda.
The Guinean President Alpha Conde, who heads the African Union, said the union will hold a meeting with participation of Libyan parties in Malabo to tackle the crisis as well as the formation of a national unity government.
During a press conference with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in Khartoum on Monday, Conde said he will meet with Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, head of the Libyan national army. He added that he recently held meetings with Libyan parties including the parliament, the head of the National Conference for the Libyan Opposition, the heads of tribes in the south and representatives of the Government of National Accord.
Meanwhile, the presidential council of the government expressed in statement on Wednesday its determination to take measures for the return of the displaced to their home before the end of Ramadan. It warned against violations like abductions or attacks on peoplesproperties.
Lt. Gen. Emad al-Tarabulsi, commander of the special operations force, earlier urged head of the Presidential Council Fayez al-Sarraj, head of the House of Representatives Aguila Saleh, head of State Council Abdul-Rahman al-Swehly and Haftar to facilitate the return of the displaced who were forcibly evacuated by the war in Tarablus in June 2014
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
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Egyptian airstrikes kill terrorist leader in Libya's Derna - Egypt Independent