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TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Several countries backing rival factions in Libya have violated an arms embargo which they had agreed to uphold a week ago at a summit in Berlin, the United Nations said on Saturday.

FILE PHOTO: General view of the Libya summit in Berlin, Germany, January 19, 2020. Kay Nietfeld/Pool via Reuters/File Photo

Last Sunday, foreign powers backing opposing camps fighting over Libyas capital Tripoli agreed at a summit hosted by Germany and the United Nations to push the parties to a lasting ceasefire and respect an existing U.N. arm embargo.

Over the last ten days, numerous cargo and other flights have been observed landing at Libyan airports in the western and eastern parts of the country providing the parties with advanced weapons, armored vehicles, advisers and fighters, the U.N mission to Libya (UNSMIL) said in a statement.

The mission condemns these ongoing violations, which risk plunging the country into a renewed and intensified round of fighting, UNSMIL said.

It blamed several countries which were present at the Berlin conference, without naming them.

The United Arab Emirates and Egypt support eastern forces of Khalifa Haftar which have been trying to take Tripoli in a near-ten month campaign. The internationally recognized administration based in Tripoli trying to fend off Haftars forces is backed by Turkey.

Fighting had abated in the past two weeks but on Saturday heavy artillery could be heard in Tripoli, a Reuters reporter said.

The Berlin summit had gathered top officials from the UAE, Egypt, Turkey as well as western countries such as the United States, France, Britain and European Union.

Germany also invited Haftar and Tripoli Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj, who both met separately with Chancellor Angela Merkel but refused to sit down together.

Libya has been engulfed in chaos since the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011. Haftar is backing a rival administration based in the east.

Reporting by Ulf Laessing and Ahmed Elumami; Editing by Daniel Wallis

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Several countries have breached arms embargo agreed at Libya summit: U.N. - Reuters

A Libyan militant was sentenced on Thursday to more than 19 years in prison by a federal judge for his role in the 2012 Benghazi attacks that killed four Americans, including the United States ambassador.

The militant, Mustafa al-Imam, was convicted by a jury last year of conspiring to provide material support to the terrorists who were responsible for the siege on the main diplomatic mission and a nearby C.I.A. annex.

During the trial in United States District Court in Washington last spring, the jurors also convicted Mr. al-Imam of destroying the complex and endangering lives, but deadlocked on murder charges.

Mr. al-Imam, 47, was the second person sentenced in the Sept. 11, 2012, attack, which became the subject of a contentious congressional inquiry sought by Republican critics of the Obama administration and Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state at the time of the siege.

We have not rested in our efforts to bring to justice those involved in the terrorist attacks on our facilities in Benghazi, which led to the death of four courageous Americans Tyrone Woods, Sean Smith, Glen Doherty and Ambassador Christopher Stevens and we never will, John C. Demers, assistant attorney general for national security, said in a statement on Thursday. Those responsible for these crimes must be held accountable.

Judge Christopher R. Cooper, who presided over the case, sentenced Mr. al-Imam to 19 years and six months in prison.

Matthew J. Peed, a lawyer for Mr. al-Iman, said in an email on Thursday night that an appeal was in the works.

We are disappointed by the sentence, which was based on allegations the jury did not believe, Mr. Peed wrote. The judge did find that Mr. al-Imam played a minor role in these events and harbored no animus towards America, which was encouraging. We look forward to an appeal, and hope those truly responsible for this attack are brought to justice.

Federal prosecutors had argued that Mr. al-Imam, who was captured in 2017 in Libya, should have received the maximum sentence of 35 years.

They said that cellphone records placed him at the complex during the attack and that he spent 18 minutes on the phone talking to the militia leader who orchestrated the siege, Ahmed Abu Khattala, while it transpired. The prosecutors said that Mr. al-Iman acted as the eyes and ears of Mr. Khattala, whom Judge Cooper sentenced to 22 years in prison in 2018, well short of the life sentence sought by the Justice Department.

In a sentencing motion for Mr. al-Imam, Mr. Peed wrote that his client was a frail, uneducated and simple man, not a fighter, an ideologue or a terrorist. The lawyer for Mr. al-Imam wrote that his client made a tremendous mistake when he agreed to help his friend, Mr. Khattala, damage and loot the complex.

In contrast to the five men awaiting military tribunals at Guantnamo Bay on charges that they plotted the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, Mr. al-Imam was tried in federal court, a venue opposed by the Trump administration.

Mr. Stevens, the ambassador, and Mr. Smith, another State Department employee, were killed when a mob of militants tried to storm the main United States diplomatic mission, which was set on fire. Mr. Woods and Mr. Doherty, who were contractors for the C.I.A., died later when a separate annex run by the agency was hit by mortars.

In 2016, an 800-page report by the House Select Committee on Benghazi delivered a broad rebuke of the State Department, Defense Department and C.I.A. for their failure to grasp the acute security risks in Benghazi and for maintaining diplomatic outposts that they could not protect. The report found no new evidence of culpability or wrongdoing by Mrs. Clinton.

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Libyan Militant Is Sentenced to 19 Years in Deadly Benghazi Attacks - The New York Times

(Want to get this briefing by email? Heres the sign-up.)

Good morning.

Were covering halting steps toward peace in Libya, Harry and Meghans hard break from the British royal family and a facial recognition app thats scraping photos from Facebook.

Gen. Khalifa Hifter, a rebel commander in Libya whose forces are laying siege to Tripoli, is due to meet in Moscow today with President Vladimir Putin of Russia, amid hopes that the general might embrace a permanent cease-fire agreement that he refused to sign last week.

The meeting comes a day after more than a dozen international powers with competing interests in Libya met in Berlin and called for a cease-fire, an arms embargo and a Libyan-led and Libyan-owned political process for ending a conflict that has festered for nearly nine years.

But expectations remain low: On Sunday, as General Hifters forces launched fresh attacks on Tripoli, he and the Libyan prime minister refused to even spend time in the same room together.

Related: As Russia and Turkey play a bigger role in trying to end the conflict, Europe is belatedly sensing the implications of a new Great Game, this time in North Africa, that is rapidly destabilizing its backyard, our Brussels-based correspondents write.

Russia: Our reporter in Moscow explains why Mr. Putin announced last week a surprise reorganization of the government four years before he is scheduled to step down. (Hint: An autocrats usual retirement package death, jail or exile is unappealing.)

When Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, made the bombshell announcement that they planned to step back from their royal duties, they said they hoped to carve out a progressive new role within the monarchy.

But under a severance deal announced over the weekend, the couple will lose most of the privileges and perks of royalty once they give up their full-time status and forsake Britain for an uncertain future in Canada and the United States. Its a harsher deal than the soft exit theyd imagined.

It brings me great sadness that it has come to this, Harry said of the agreement, which codifies one of the most dramatic ruptures within the British royal family since King Edward VIII abdicated the throne in 1936 to marry an American, Wallis Simpson.

Details: Harry and Meghan will forgo public funding of their activities, abandon their royal designations and repay the more than $3 million they spent refurbishing their residence on the grounds of Windsor Castle. But for now, their website has retained references to His Royal Highness and Her Royal Highness.

Quotable: Penny Junor, a royal biographer, said the British royal family was trying to prevent a half-in, half-out arrangement, which doesnt work.

President Trumps high-powered legal team is expected to expand today on its earlier arguments that the case against the president is legally and constitutionally invalid, and driven by a desire to hurt him in the 2020 election.

Democrats argued in a competing legal brief on Saturday that Mr. Trump, through his pressure on Ukraine, had enlisted a foreign government to help him win re-election, then sought to conceal his actions from Congress. And with the presidents Senate impeachment trial set to open on Tuesday, Democrats are intensifying their demands for testimony and documents.

Another angle: Mr. Trumps personal lawyer, Rudolph Giuliani, and his Ukrainian allies see people who are fighting corruption in the country as enemies. That could complicate President Volodymyr Zelenskys battles with oligarchs and organized crime.

Related: The Times Magazine profiled Mr. Giuliani, a central player in Mr. Trumps Ukraine pressure campaign.

From opinion: The Timess editorial board endorsed both Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Italys anti-establishment Five Star Movement, which won the largest vote in national elections two years ago, was supposed to revolutionize the countrys politics. Now it looks to be on the verge of a slow-but-irreversible collapse.

Five Star had a messy breakup with Matteo Salvinis hard-right League party over the summer, and its governing coalition with the center-left Democratic Party hasnt worked out. The main problem, analysts say, is that Five Star has failed to transition from a vague protest movement into a governing party that is willing to take clear positions.

Whats next: At elections in the Emilia Romagna and Calabria regions later this month, the ascendant Mr. Salvini is hoping to put a stake in the governments heart, our Rome bureau chief, Jason Horowitz, writes.

Closer look: Last month Jason profiled Luigi Di Maio, Five Stars political leader and Italys foreign minister.

Isabel dos Santos, above center, Africas richest woman and the daughter of Angolas former president, often took cuts of her countrys wealth through decrees signed by her father. Global banks, bound by strict rules about politically connected clients, largely declined to work with her family.

But consulting companies readily embraced her business, and even agreed to take money from offshore shell companies tied to her and her associates. As a result, they both facilitated and helped legitimize her efforts to profit off diamonds, oil and banks in a country hobbled by corruption.

Virus in China: The authorities reported a third death and more than 130 new cases linked to a mysterious respiratory virus over the weekend, bringing the total number of reported cases to about 200. As millions in China prepare to travel home for Lunar New Year, some experts worry that the outbreak could be more severe than the government admits.

Rocket blast: SpaceX intentionally blew up a spacecraft, with NASAs blessing, after launching it from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, as a way to test an escape feature for astronauts. The test may set the stage for SpaceX and Boeing to launch their first crewed flights.

Controversial app: Hundreds of American law enforcement agencies are using Clearview, a facial recognition app that identifies people based on photos scraped from Facebook and other websites. Clearview has shrouded itself in secrecy.

Klimt, revealed: A prosecutor said a painting by Gustav Klimt that was found last month inside the walls of the same Italian museum from which it was stolen almost 23 years ago is authentic.

Snapshot: Above, a small clothing factory that was flooded by calls from widows seeking work in Aleppo, Syria. As the countrys civil war grinds on, more women in socially and religiously conservative areas are leaving home and working for the first time.

What were reading: This look back at Prohibition, 100 years later, from NorthJersey.com. Its a perfectly mixed cocktail of history, politics and culture, writes Gina Lamb, a Special Sections editor. Dont miss the video.

Cook: Red curry lentils with sweet potato and spinach is an aromatic meal inspired by Indian dal.

Watch: With Star Trek: Picard, a spinoff following Patrick Stewarts Starfleet officer, the franchise is trying to rediscover its place in a universe that it effectively invented.

Smarter Living: If youre a night owl tired of not getting enough sleep, heres how to become a morning person.

Facing the likelihood of incoming clouds of smoke from the bushfires scorching the country, tournament officials say they may have to close the retractable roofs on three stadiums and restrict play to the eight indoor courts. Play began today.

The retractable roof on what is now Rod Laver Arena was a big attraction when it was new, in 1988. According to its designers, the point was to allow the stadium to host concerts and sports in all seasons.

It also helped the Australian Open make the transition into one of the grander of tenniss four Grand Slam events.

When the event began in the early 20th century, travel time for Americans and Europeans could be more than a month, so play was largely limited to Australians and New Zealanders.

Even after the advent of jet travel, low prize money and dates around the Christmas holidays kept many players away. Chris Evert played the Australian Open just six times; John McEnroe five; Bjorn Borg once.

Over time, prize money and ranking points increased. The tournament shifted to the third and fourth weeks of January and moved to Melbourne Park which has since added two more retractable roofs. Those additions now seem prescient.

Thats it for this briefing. See you next time.

Mike

Thank youTo Mark Josephson and Eleanor Stanford for the break from the news. Todays Back Story is drawn from reporting by Ben Rothenberg, who covers the Australian Open for The Times. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

P.S. Were listening to The Daily. Our latest episode is about Bernie Sanderss campaign strategy. Heres todays Mini Crossword puzzle, and a clue: Point of a fable (five letters). You can find all our puzzles here. The New York Times reported from 159 countries in 2019.

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Libya, Harry and Meghan, SpaceX: Your Monday Briefing - The New York Times

Pope Francis during his Sunday Angelus speaks of the crisis in Libya making particular mention of an important summit taking place in Berlin which aims to find a solution to the current situation.

The Pope expressed the hope that the conference would be the start of a path towards an end to violence and a negotiated solution leading to peace and much-desired stability in the country.

The UN estimates that the country's conflict has killed hundreds of people and displaced thousands more.

Germany is bringing together the key players in Libya's long-running civil war in a bid to determine the North African nation's future.

Also in attendence is Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the UK's Boris Johnson and the UN.

As talks continued on Sunday there was a call for all parties to refrain from hostilities against oil facilities.

Conflict has been rife in Libya since the 2011 uprising which ousted long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi.

A truce was announced earlier this month between Gen Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA) and the rival and UN backed Government of National Accord (GNA), led by Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj. However, both sides have blamed eachother for breaches of the accord.

Listen to Nathan Morley's report

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Pope appeals for a peaceful solution to the crisis in Libya - Vatican News

Energy

Oil has had a strong start to the day, with ICE Brent touching US$66/bbl in early morning trading, following reports that forces loyal to Commander Haftar in Libya blocked oil exports, as fighting in the country continues. The blockade has seen the National Oil Corporation (NOC) declare force majeure, and warn that production could fall to just 72Mbbls/d in the coming days once storage tanks are full. Prior to the blockade, Libya was producing around 1.2MMbbls/d. A prolonged disruption from Libya would be enough to swing the global oil market from surplus to deficit in 1Q20. While, if a disruption of this magnitude was to last through until 2Q20, it would be enough to bring the global market to balance over the second quarter. Disruptions for the market do not stop there. In Iraq, OPECs second-largest producer, the 70Mbbls/d Al Ahdab oilfield was forced to shut, with security guards blocking access to the oilfield, as they seek permanent employment contracts. Meanwhile, there are reports that the 50Mbbls/d Badra oilfield is at risk of having to shut today as well.

Looking at the Commitment of Traders report, there was little change in speculative positioning in ICE Brent over the last reporting week. However NYMEX WTI saw significant liquidation, with speculators selling 62,636 lots over the reporting week, to leave them with a net long of 225,794 lots as of the 14th January. Meanwhile looking at Henry Hub natural gas, speculators continued to increase their net short over the last reporting period, selling 19,528 lots, leaving them with a net short of 269,944 lots - a record net short. However, this position is likely to be even larger at the moment, with Henry Hub coming under renewed pressure more recently, which has seen prices fall below US$2/MMBtu. This weakness is really reflective of the state of the global gas market, where all regions have an abundant supply. In the US natural gas inventories stand at 3.04Tcf, which is 494Bcf above levels seen at the same stage last year, and 149Bcf above the 5-year average. Meanwhile, forecasts for warmer than usual weather in the US havedone little to offer support to the US market.

Finally looking at the week ahead, and in terms of data releases, it will be fairly quiet for the oil market. Today the US is off for Martin Luther King Jr Day, and as a result, the usual US releases will be delayed by a day. API inventory numbers will be published on Wednesday, while the EIA weekly report will come out on Thursday.

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The Commodities Feed: Libya oil disruptions - ING Think