Sixty migrants feared drowned crossing Mediterranean from LibyaROME (Reuters) -As many as 60 people are feared to have drowned on a vessel carrying migrants across the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy or Malta, the operators of a charity rescue group said on Thursday. SOS Mediterranee said it rescued 25 people in a “very weak” condition in coordination with the Italian Coast Guard on Wednesday and that two unconscious people were flown to Sicily by helicopter. According to the U.N. migration agency (IOM), almost 2,500 migrants died or went missing attempting the crossing last year, and 226 since the start of 2024. “The survivors departed from Zawiya, Libya, seven days before they were rescued,” SOS Mediterranee posted on the social media platform X. “Their engine broke after three days, leaving their boat lost (and) adrift without water and food for days.

MILAN (AP) —Survivors rescued from a deflating rubber dinghy in the central Mediterranean Sea have reported that some 50 people who departed Libya with them a week ago perished during the journey, the humanitarian rescue group SOS Mediterranee said Thursday. Creazzo said the survivors were traumatized and unable to give full accounts of what had transpired during the voyage. Humanitarian organizations often rely on accounts of survivors when pulling together the numbers of dead and missing at sea, presumed to have died. The U.N. International Organization for Migration says 227 people have died along the perilous central Mediterranean route this year through March 11, not counting the new reported missing and presumed dead. The survivors said the boat departed Zawiya, Libya with 75 people on board, including some women and at least one small child.

The Libyan-Maltese Forum for Trade and Export will be held in Malta from 24-26 April. The revelation was made yesterday during a meeting between the Tripoli based Libyan Minister of Economy and Trade, Mohamed Hwej, and Maltese Ambassador Charles Saliba, at the Ministry’s Tripoli headquarters. During the meeting discussions took place on the current arrangements for holding the forum, to be held under the auspices of the Ministry of Economy and Trade, Trade Malta, and Malta Enterprise, with the participation of the Ministry of Economy and Trade, the General Authority for Exhibitions and the Libyan Export Promotion Centre (LEPC). Difficulties facing the business sector and business owners in both countries and ways to overcome them in coordination with the relevant authorities were also discussed. Call for the establishment of a business councilThe Minister also called for the establishment of a Libyan-Maltese Business Owners Council, which will facilitate procedures for the benefit of company owners and investors with the competent authorities and enhance trade and investment relations between the two countries.

The meeting in Libya of the Minister of the Interior of the Italian government, Matteo Piantedosi, and the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Edmund Cirielli, with the general Khalifa Haftar in Benghazi it is "an important and courageous signal from the Italian government". The president of FederPetroli Italy, Michele Marseille, following the Libyan mission of the two government representatives, underlining: "There is a big step forward in bilateral relations between Italy and Libya which have been at a standstill for years." Our position, supported over the years, at the time compromised relations with an important Italian diplomat in Libya (now in another European location), considering 'FederPetroli Italia to be on the side of a criminal'. In just a few years, a change of direction, an important and courageous signal from the Italian government which strengthens the Federation's positions in foreign policy", added Marseille. Read also other news on Nova NewsClick here and receive updates on WhatsAppFollow us on the social channels of Nova News on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Telegram

Keatinge, who was in Malta for workshops on sanctions, said he was impressed by the coordination and community in Malta on sanctions, which is a far cry to the impression many abroad have of Malta’s sanctions approach. Malta is one of those places that is guilty until it proves itself innocent. People are quick to judge Malta and Cyprus, but I can tell you that I’ve been to Cyprus and I’ve been to Malta and it’s completely different when it comes to sanctions,” Keatinge said. Despite the reputation abroad, Keatinge felt that Malta could actually teach other Member States on certain best practices regarding sanctions. “What we did after 2014 was we did a load of sanctions on Russia and then we thought ‘Oh, we’ve done sanctions on Russia.

A boat carrying 91 migrants has reached a small island south of Crete that is seeing a spike in the arrival of people attempting the long and dangerous crossing from Africa, A Greek coast guard statement said the migrants, who were found on a beach on Gavdos island Tuesday, were being taken to reception areas on Crete

In a true twist of irony, Gadhafi, who killed Libyan cinema with years of corruption and censorship, saved the production. Yet in the background of all of this, “The Message” and “The Lion of the Desert” still loomed. After the success of “Lion of the Desert,” Gadhafi’s regime bankrolled films with similar themes, but they all flopped. No other Libyan films to date have fared much better, either inside or outside the country. The vision of Libya in “The Lion of the Desert,” despite its grim reality, is the one with which we are most comfortable.

ATHENS (Reuters) - The Greek islands of Crete and Gavdos have seen a steep rise in migrant boats landing on their shores from Libya this year, U.N. data shows, piling pressure on ill-equipped authorities and raising fears of a new smuggling route in the Mediterranean Sea. Crete and its tiny neighbour Gavdos, which are relatively isolated in the central Mediterranean, had until now not been favoured by migrants over other islands further east near Turkey. Gavdos Mayor Lilian Stefanaki told Reuters that since the weekend boats carrying dozens of people had been arriving almost daily. Photos You Should See View All 60 ImagesNeither Gavdos nor Crete have migrant facilities. Historically, boats that leave Libya in north Africa generally have gone to Italy.

ATHENS (Reuters) - The Greek islands of Crete and Gavdos have seen a steep rise in migrant boats landing on their shores from Libya this year, U.N. data shows, piling pressure on ill-equipped authorities and raising fears of a new smuggling route in the Mediterranean Sea. Crete and its tiny neighbour Gavdos, which are relatively isolated in the central Mediterranean, had until now not been favoured by migrants over other islands further east near Turkey. Gavdos Mayor Lilian Stefanaki told Reuters that since the weekend boats carrying dozens of people had been arriving almost daily. Neither Gavdos nor Crete have migrant facilities. Historically, boats that leave Libya in north Africa generally have gone to Italy.

Nigeria has lost the status of the most increased crude oil production member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) for February 2024 to Libya This is according to OPEC’s Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) for February released yesterday. Nigeria held the most increased crude oil production country of OPEC for consecutive two months of December 2023 and January 2024. Total OPEC production in January was 26.368mbpd while it was 26.571mbpd in February, an increase of 203,000b/d. OPEC said: “According to secondary sources, total OPEC-12 crude oil production averaged 26.57 mb/d in February 2024, 203 tb/d higher, m-om. Crude oil output increased mainly in Libya and Nigeria, while production in IR Iran and Iraq decreased.” However, using direct communication, Nigeria’s crude oil production declined from 1.427mbpd in January to 1.322mbpd, which is a whooping decline of 104,000b/d.

The 2022 floods in Pakistan bear striking resemblance to those which hit Libya. In response to the Libyan floods, the international community joined forces with local partners and Libyan authorities to provide immediate assistance to those affected. The immediate response and relief efforts have now been rolled out in Libya’s affected regions. It is now crucial to shift the focus beyond immediate relief to long-term recovery. Unfortunately, long-term recovery often takes a backseat to short-term relief in disaster management policies and practices worldwide.

Without Abdel Hamid Dbeibah, now isolated, Libya's three main legislative bodies have decided to appoint a unified government in the coming weeks. Libya's three main legislative bodies, namely the Presidential Council, the High Council of State and the House of Representatives, have finally agreed to isolate Prime Minister Dbeibah. Abdoulaye Batilly, UN special envoy to Libya, expressed his agreement with the conclusions of this meeting. But he throws a little more fuel on the fire by proposing a quadripartite dialogue table in the presence of… the Prime Minister of Tripoli Abdelhamid Dbeibah. Proof that the international community has almost no influence in Libya, where resolving the crisis is now the business of the Arab League and the Libyan authorities themselves.

The Minister of Labour and Rehabilitation, Ali Al-Abed, has discussed with the directors of labour offices in a number of regions, facilitating the provision of services to citizens and regulate the labour market. Al-Abed stressed the necessity of controlling the labour market and job duplication in a way that provides new job opportunities, and to achieve the principle of equal social justice.

Dark skinned Libyans were framed as non-Libyan, Black African mercenaries. The process of de-Africanization and re-Europeanization of Libya: The Political Economy of Anti-BlacknessThe issue of framing Blacks in Libya as foreign mercenaries, or what the media purported as “African mercenaries," meant that the rebels were fighting foreign, Black Africans. Hence, the de-Africanization and re-Europeanization of Libya, harking back to the times when Libya was colonized, and Africa partitioned by European states. To the contrary, they have pushed African countries to sovereignly divorce themselves from relations of economic imperialism. [1] For a history on anti-Black racism in Libya before 2011, see Maximilian Forte’s Slouching Towards Sirte: NATO's War on Libya and Africa (2012).

CAIRO/TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia and Egypt's Cairo airport cancelled most flights to and from Libya on Thursday, officials said, days after the Libyan government said unidentified war planes had attacked positions of armed groups in Tripoli. A spokesman for Tunisian Aviation Authority gave no explanation for the measures but Libyan news agency LANA and Egyptian officials said Cairo airport authorities had cancelled flights for security reasons. Flights from Tunis to the eastern Libyan town of Labraq, as well as from the Egyptian Mediterranean port city of Alexandria to Libya were still operating, a Libyan aviation official said. Flights from Tunisia and Egypt to Libya had been operating on an almost daily basis until now. The United States, NATO and Egyptian officials have denied any involvement.