Rival Libyan leaders agree on UN plan for 2019 elections at Palermo conference: Libya’s rival leaders, Egypt-backed military commander Gen. Khalifa Haftar and Tripoli-based Prime Minister Fayez Al Sarraj, agreed yesterday on a UN-proposed political transition plan, according to Bloomberg. The two leaders, whose meeting at a two-day conference in Palermo to discuss the plan was their first in five years, agreed to attend a national conference early next year to lay the groundwork for national elections by Spring 2019. Egypt was among 38 countries and organizations attending the conference in hopes of brokering the agreement.

On the sidelines of the gathering, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi met with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte to discuss bilateral relations including the latest developments in investigation into Giulio Regeni’s murder, as well as economic cooperation and other issues of mutual interest, according to an Ittihadiya statement.