ArrowRight One witness, Taher Amaizig, said thousands joined a march to the parliament building calling for the current political powers to be dissolved and elections to be held. Friday is the first day of the weekend in Libya, meaning the building was likely empty when it was stormed. It was unclear what protesters intended by targeting the buildingAdvertisementOther protests demanding elections were staged earlier in the day in several cities around Libya. The administration based in the east is backed by military commander Khalifa Hifter, and a U.N.-supported administration is based in the capital of Tripoli. More recently the parliament there elected Fathy Basghagha as prime minister to a government that rivals the Tripoli-based administration.

Protests over Libya's chronic power cuts hit several cities on Friday, as people braved the wrath of armed factions to voice their anger at a failure of government that has made life insufferable during the sweltering summer months. In Tripoli's Martyrs' Square, several hundred people gathered to shout slogans demanding electricity, criticising armed factions and politicians and demanding elections in the capital's biggest protests against the ruling elite for years. They also chanted slogans against the armed factions that exert control across swathes of Libya. Libya's electricity sector has been undermined by years of warfare and political chaos, stopping investment, preventing maintenance work and sometimes damaging infrastructure. Eastern-based factions have blockaded oil facilities, reducing fuel supply to major power plants, causing more blackouts.

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Protests over chronic power cuts brought demonstrators onto the streets of several cities, braving the wrath of armed factions to voice their anger at failures that have made life intolerable during the sweltering summer months. In Tripoli's Martyrs' Square, several hundred people gathered to shout slogans demanding electricity, criticising armed factions and politicians and demanding elections in the capital's biggest protests against the ruling elite for years. Later on Friday, dozens of protesters stood by the government headquarters building, chanting "we want electricity, we want electricity". They also chanted slogans against the armed factions that exert control across swathes of Libya. In Tripoli, protesters waved placards on which the faces of Dbeibah, Bashagha, Saleh, another legislative leader and the U.N. representative were crossed out with big red marks.

Libyans in several cities took to the streets on Friday to express their anger with the government over power cuts. Local television stations reported that protesters broke into the building of the parliament in Tobruk and committed acts of vandalism. Security forces protecting the parliament withdrew from the site, Reuters cited an eyewitness as saying. Libya has endured several days of power cuts, worsened by the blockade of several oil facilities against the backdrop of political rivalries. But the vote never took place due to several contentious candidacies and deep disagreements over the polls' legal basis between rival power centers in the east and west.

I wholeheartedly welcome the mediating role played by the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Libya, Stephanie Williams, and by UNSMIL in the meeting of the Presidents of the House of Representatives and of the High Council of State in Geneva on 28 - 29 June 2022. The Presidents achieved a far-reaching agreement on a constitutional basis which would, if finalised, pave the way for presidential and parliamentary elections in Libya. It is now paramount for the House of Representatives and the High Council of State to resolve the few remaining disagreements quickly and in good faith. Libya’s oil production must be fully restored without delay and economic resources must be managed in a transparent, responsible and accountable manner for the benefit of the Libyan people nationwide. I urge Libya’s leaders to agree on the country’s public spending priorities and to establish a joint revenue management and oversight structure through continued engagement with the Berlin Process Economic Working Group.

Oil prices gained more than 2 per cent on Friday as supply outages in Libya and expected shutdowns in Norway outweighed expectations that an economic slowdown could dent demand. WTI and Brent traded at about 70 per cent and 77 per cent, respectively, of the previous session’s volumes ahead of the U.S. Fourth of July holiday. For the week, Brent lost 1.3 per cent, while WTI rose 0.8 per cent. Prices rose on Friday despite the release of industry data showing U.S manufacturing activity slowed more than expected last month, adding to evidence that the country’s economy was cooling as the Federal Reserve tightens monetary policy. Still, low crude and fuel supplies supported the oil market even as equities slumped and the U.S. dollar, which typically has an inverse relationship with crude, rose.

The Libyan National Oil Company (NOC) has suffered losses of over $3.5 billion because of the forced closure of major oil sites since mid-April. Management of the company announced on Thursday declaring a state of "force majeure" at some facilities. Libya suspends production at major oilfield https://t.co/T9yYkzD26K — africanews 😷 (@africanews) April 18, 2022According to the NOC, production has "fallen sharply" and exports have dropped to between "365,000 and 409,000 b/d, a loss of 865,000 b/d" compared to the average production before the crisis. In addition, 220 million cubic metres of gas are lost every day, although this is necessary to supply the electricity network. The drop in gas production is contributing to the chronic power cuts that Libya is currently experiencing, which last a dozen hours daily.

Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) declared force majeure on crude exports from its oil terminals amid continued blockades of production and ports, which have severely crippled Libya’s oil exports. The force majeure comes after weeks of protests and closures amid the new rift in Libya’s political class over who should be governing the country. Bashaga, backed by the east-based Parliament, is now based in Sirte in the east of Libya, while Dbeibah is based in Tripoli. Earlier this week, NOC said it was considering declaring force majeure within 72 hours unless production and shipment of oil resume in the Gulf of Sirte, which hosts the oil export terminals of Zueitina, Brega, Ras Lanuf, and Es Sider. The new outage in Libya comes as the market grapples with the loss of Russian oil supply due to the Western sanctions on Moscow, and could further tighten the physical market.

Libya’s oil exports fall to about a third of last year’s after the worsening political crisis prompted the suspension of shipments https://t.co/B89X5upXEE— Bloomberg (@business) July 1, 2022(SocialLY brings you all the latest breaking news, viral trends and information from social media world, including Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. The above post is embeded directly from the user's social media account and LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body. The views and facts appearing in the social media post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY, also LatestLY does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)

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NIAMEY: Ten migrants have been found dead in the desert in northern Niger near the Libyan border, the Nigerien defence ministry said on Thursday. A military patrol this week found "10 lifeless bodies of clandestine migrants... summarily buried in graves" some 30-km from the city of Dirkou, it said, without giving a precise date. An investigation into the cause of their death is underway, it added.

The National Oil Corporation (NOC), Libya’s state-owned oil company, declared on Thursday force majeure in Sidra, Ras Lanuf and El-Feel oilfields due to shutdowns which caused $3 billion loss (16 billion Libyan dinars). “We are forced to declare a state of force majeure on the terminals of Asidra and Ras Lanuf, in addition to the Al-Feel field, with the continuation of the state of force majeure on the terminals of Brega and Zueitina,” NOC quoted its chairman, Mustafa Sanalla, as saying in a statement released Thursday evening,“Our patience has run out after we have repeatedly tried to avoid declaring the state of force majeure, but the implementation of our obligations has become impossible,” Sanalla said. Sanalla blamed these outcomes on the forceful shutdown of production, political disputes between the country’s rival parties as well as “the refusal of the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance to monetize allocations in US dollars”. The NOC chairman also criticized by name Oil Minister Mohamed Aoun, who serves in the cabinet of Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, and accused him of ‘misleading public opinion’ and ‘manipulating facts’. The two officials have had long-running disagreements over management of the country’s oil sector, which aggravated to tit-for-tat moves including trading accusations publicly.

Libya’s House of Representatives said on Thursday that it failed to reach agreement with the High Council of State on eligibility requirements for elections candidates during the two-day talks between the leaders of both chambers in Geneva. “It was agreed to refer the matter to the two chambers for final decision,” it added. Nevertheless, both sides agreed to form a congress, which would be located in Sabha, while the House will remain as legislative body based in Benghazi. The seats for the new congress will be equally distributed between the three historic regions of Libya: Cyrenaica (east), Tripolitania (west) and Fezzan (south). The statement of the House echos the remarks made by U.N. Advisor on Libya, Stephanie Williams, who facilitated the negotiations between Saleh and Al-Mishri, shortly after the talks ended.

This number is just one of many saddening figures from the UN refugee agency’s Global Trends report, published recently. The food security crisis exacerbated by the war in Ukraine has now threatened a new wave. Riot police detain a migrant during clashes near the Moria camp for refugees and migrants, on the island of Lesbos, on March 2, 2020. (AFP)The war in Ukraine led to the fastest and one of the largest displacements since the Second World War. And yet if that is not healed, I don’t know how we will deal with these global crises,” said Grandi.