NewsOvernight reports: Libyan rivals initiate UN-backed election talks in Morocco
Overnight reports: Libyan rivals initiate UN‑backed election talks in Morocco
This happened while you were asleep. Here's what global agencies reported overnight from Thursday to Friday.
ed. Sara Bounaoui
- Two competing Libyan parliaments agreed in Morocco to initiate talks aimed at utilising the UN's assistance to facilitate joint elections, intended to resolve a decade of political deadlock, reported Stephanie Koury, acting head of the United Nations Mission in Libya (UNSMIL). Three years after the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya was split into two regions. The West is governed from Tripoli by the UN-recognised Government of National Unity with the High Council of State acting as a parliament, while the East is controlled by General Khalifa Haftar and his supporting senate, known as the House of Representatives, based in Benghazi.
- The main Administrative Court in Lisbon (TCAS) acquitted 11 sailors of the Portuguese warship NRP Mondego who, in March 2023, refused to set sail from the Madeira archipelago following the appearance of a Russian naval fleet. According to the court ruling, cited by Portuguese media, the presiding judge concluded that during the 2023 trial, which resulted in disciplinary penalties, the accused were not properly informed by their commander of their rights and obligations.
- Egyptian Abdullah Ezzeldin Taha Mohamed Hassan, a student at George Mason University (GMU) in Virginia, has been charged with possession of weapons of mass destruction and planning an attack on the Israeli Consulate General in New York using a bomb, assault rifle, or suicide vest. He faces a potential 20-year prison sentence. According to "The Washington Post," prosecutors allege that he demonstrated to an undercover agent how to construct an explosive device with the intent to harm persons under international protection. During the investigation, additional charges may be added. Hassan will be detained until the trial.
