Malta’s call for an EU humanitarian mission in Libya is being considered and the issue will be discussed at the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in the coming days, the European Commission said.
Earlier this week, Minister Evarist Bartolo called on the EU to launch a humanitarian mission that would ‘incentivise’ migrants to stay in Libya rather than face the dangers of a sea crossing.
During a videoconference press briefing for the Bulgarian media, IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva claimed that developing countries may be the hardest hit economically by the fallout from the spread of the new coronavirus.
“The countries that are now worst hit by the pandemic are not necessarily the ones that will be worst hit economically. I am most worried about the developing and emerging countries,” she said.
The crisis sparked by the spread of the novel coronavirus is the worst since the Great Depression, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said today.
The fallout from the virus will mean that 170 countries will have negative economic growth this year, she told a videoconference press briefing for the Bulgarian media.
Gold fell to a more than one-week low on Monday, dragged by a firmer dollar amid doubts over the United States’ plans to reopen the world’s largest economy as the novel coronavirus pandemic showed no signs of easing.
Spot gold fell 0.5% to $1,675.17 per ounce by 08:16 GMT, having touched its lowest since April 9 earlier.
The metal slumped about 2% on Friday on hopes that the U.S. economy might reopen soon.
Palladium rose 2.2% to $2,204.81 per ounce, platinum gained 0.1% to $775.83, while silver was steady at $15.13.
Oil prices fell today, depressed by concerns U.S. storage facilities will soon be full as the novel coronavirus pandemic destroyed demand and as companies prepare to report their worst quarterly earnings since the 2008 financial crisis.
Todayy, the front-month May West Texas Intermediate (WTI) contract was down $3.40, or 18.6 percent, to $14.87 a barrel by 06:00 GMT. At one point, the contract had fallen as much as 21 percent to hit a low of $14.47 a barrel, the lowest since March 1999.
The volume of oil held in U.S. storage, especially at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for the U.S. WTI contract, rose as refiners throttled back activity because of weak demand.
The oil industry has been swiftly reducing output in the face of an estimated 30% decline in fuel demand worldwide.
Libya’s National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) announced another two positive cases of Coronavirus.
It revealed that it had received a total of 25 suspected samples with two proving positive. It said a new case had mixed with an existing case.
This brings Libya’s total Coronavirus cases to 51, with eleven recoveries and one death.
Sarraj’s deputy health minister, Mohamed Haitham Issa, who has taken the lead in dealing with the coronavirus crisis, is reportedly planning to transfer health-care responsibility to the municipalities, claimed that 10 southern regions had received medical equipment to launch laboratories for testing Coronavirus suspected cases .
According to a statement published by the ministry, this came during a celebration attended by mayors.
These municipalities received medical supplies and equipment to raise the readiness of hospitals located in the south within the framework of fighting the spread of Coronavirus epidemic
.
The Government of National Accord (GNA) agreed today, to cut subsidies on fuel, but at the same time to activate other benefits, such as the family allowance, the wife and children grant, pension adjustment and support, allowances for job seekers, and financial benefits for families of martyrs.
This came in a meeting chaired by the head of the Presidential Council, Fayez Al-Sarraj, in the presence of his deputies and ministers; the deputy head of the Presidential Council (PC) Ahmed Maiteeq, the members of the Presidential Council (PC) Abdul Salam Kajman, Mohammed Amari Zayed, Ahmed Hamza, along with the Ministers.
The government officials had an extensive discussion on the issue and ways of mitigating its effects on citizens within the framework of the Economic Reform Programme, which includes a package of measures that aim at addressing and adjusting the Libyan economy.
The Libyan Man-made River’s management expressed their regret for late arrival of water today morning to Tripoli due to reasons beyond their control.
It will be reminded that, yesterday, the Libyan Man-made River’s management announced that repairing teams at the system in Al-Hasawna had started reopening wells and valves since last Monday.
The management said water supplies could gradually reach Tripoli and surrounding areas on Saturday night or Sunday morning.
The management added that the delay of announcing the date for the resumption of water supplies due to the difficulty of obtaining information from technical teams which had been facing hurdles as the locations they were operating in were insecure and in fighting zones.
Malta’s Prime Minister Robert Abela says he is under investigation for his role in the death of at least five migrants who tried to sail from Libya to Italy.
Monitors of Mediterranean crossings said five people died and seven others went missing while their boat was in distress off Malta’s coast this week.
The boat was reportedly carrying around 55 people. It eventually returned to Libya under disputed circumstances after being spotted by a fishing boat.
On Thursday, Malta’s Repubblika civil rights organisation filed two police reports alleging criminal inaction on the part of Abela and Maltese armed forces commander Jeffrey Curmi. Its second report was filed against 11 crew members of a Maltese patrol boat who allegedly cut the cables of the migrant dinghy’s motor.
Investigators would probe “the homicide… of several irregular migrants at sea”, he added. “The charge for homicide carries with it a life sentence,” the Maltese premier said. Maltese police reports are automatically investigated. Criminal proceedings can then be launched depending on how much evidence is found.