The government of Turkey changed its view of Russia’s attack on Ukraine over the weekend, declaring the assault is “officially a war” and promising to limit the number of Russian warships that can pass through the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits to enter the Black Sea.
The USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier strike group was heading for the Mediterranean on Sunday amid rising tensions between the West and Russia.
Pope Francis called for common, international solutions to migration Friday, referring to immigration as “extremely urgent” and an “enormous problem.”
Nicosia – Six people will stand trial in Cyprus on December 6 for allegedly plotting to attack Israeli businesspeople on the Mediterranean island, police said.
JERUSALEM — An Israeli scuba diver has salvaged an ancient sword off the country’s Mediterranean coast that experts say dates back to the Crusaders.
Greece´s lawmakers were debating and voting Thursday on a broad five-year mutual defense pact signed last week with France.
Greece´s coast guard says a search and rescue operation is under way for more than a dozen passengers from a yacht.
Two were arrested and seven police injured following rioting in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta during a visit by VOX leader Santiago Abascal.
Greece launched its tourism season Friday amid a competitive scramble across the Mediterranean to lure vacationers emerging from lockdowns.
More than 100 Europe-bound migrants are feared dead in a shipwreck off Libya, independent rescue groups said.
JERUSALEM — Greenpeace on Friday slammed an Israeli minister who accused Iran of “environmental terrorism” after a devastating oil spill in the Mediterranean.
Forces loyal to Gen. Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army (LNA) seized a Jamaica-flagged Turkish cargo ship in the Mediterranean on Monday, angering the Turkish government and potentially reigniting the Libyan civil war after a tentative truce was established in October.
BERLIN (AP) – Germany’s defense minister on Tuesday rejected Turkey’s complaints over the search of a Turkish freighter in the Mediterranean Sea by a German frigate participating in a European mission, insisting that German sailors acted correctly. Sunday’s incident prompted
Aboard a French frigate in the eastern Mediterranean — Deep in the bowels of a French frigate cruising the tense eastern Mediterranean waters, a dozen men and women scan radar screens through the dark.
Greece accused Turkey of undermining efforts to ease a crisis over drilling rights in the eastern Mediterranean on Monday.
(AFP) — Tunisia said Monday that naval patrols had intercepted 19 boats carrying a total of 246 people seeking to cross from the North African nation to Europe overnight Saturday to Sunday alone. The vast majority of those stopped were Tunisians, the interior ministry said, with just 29 people coming from other countries. Thousands regularly risk the dangerous crossing from North Africa’s coasts to reach Europe.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his French counterpart and NATO ally Emmanuel Macron on Saturday “not to mess” with Turkey, as the two continue to spar amid rising tensions in the Mediterranean.
NICOSIA, CYPRUS (AP) — Cypriot authorities have expressed alarm over the arrival of four boats carrying Syrian and Lebanese migrants in waters off the east Mediterranean island nation’s coastline within a 48-hour span.
ANKARA — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday played up Turkey’s military might after extending a Mediterranean gas exploration mission that has pitted it against Greece and the rest of the EU.
Greece’s coast guard said Wednesday it was continuing a broad search and rescue operation after a yacht smuggling migrants partially sank.
Istanbul — Turkey’s big push into the Mediterranean featuring controversial gas drilling, tough rhetoric and warships is rooted in a grand vision of a “Blue Homeland” that takes over waters claimed by EU neighbours.
Top EU officials are holding talks in Tunisia to try to stem the growing numbers crossing from the North African country to Europe.
Former Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti has warned that potential government collapse in Lebanon following the Beirut blast could trigger a domino effect and sweep chaos across the Mediterranean.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) – Greece’s prime minister is to convene the government’s national security council after Turkey announced its research vessel would be conducting exploratory drilling in the eastern Mediterranean in an area between Cyprus and Greece.
Admiral Kosmas Christidis has claimed that the Greek armed forces are fully capable of taking on Turkey militarily, as tensions remain high between the two countries in the Mediterranean.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) – A military helicopter operating off a Canadian frigate taking part in a NATO operation in the Mediterranean crashed into the sea between Greece and Italy, the Canadian military said. Greek state TV reported ERT said debris
A Turkish court on Saturday sentenced three human traffickers to 125 years in prison each for their roles in the death of Alan Kurdi, a two-year-old Syrian migrant child who drowned in September 2015.
President Donald Trump spoke with Egyptian President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi by telephone on Thursday and agreed to oppose “foreign exploitation” of the situation in Libya, where terrorists, warlords, and rival governments have been fighting ever since the fall of dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) – Greece´s prime minister says he will ask other NATO members at the alliance´s London summit to support Greece in the face of fellow member Turkey´s attempts to encroach on Greek sovereignty, notably last week´s agreement with Libya delimiting maritime borders in the Mediterranean.
Pope Francis has expressed his sorrow over the recent shipwreck off the coast of Libya in which as many as 150 people lost their lives.
Turkey on Tuesday hit back at E.U. measures designed to punish Ankara for its illegal drilling operations off Cyprus, alleging anti-Turkish “prejudice and bias” in the decision while adding the fine will “in no way” affect the country’s activities in the eastern Mediterranean.
When Turkey dispatched a second ship to drill for oil and gas in disputed waters off Cyprus last month, it drew fire not just from rival Nicosia but also the rebuke of Western allies and threats of EU sanctions.
Turkey made clear on Wednesday it has no intention of heeding a European Union warning to cease illegal drilling activities off Cyprus.
What was once Europe’s biggest migrant reception centre, in Mineo in Sicily, is to officially close on Tuesday in the presence of its biggest critic, far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini.
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) – Cyprus’ interior minister is accusing Turkey and breakaway Turkish Cypriots of helping to traffick migrants to the internationally recognized southern part of the ethnically split island nation.
French high school students attending anti-racism sessions this week have been warned that it would be “bizarre” to feel greater emotion over the Notre-Dame cathedral fire than about the plight of migrants in the Mediterranean.
A tanker hijacked by migrants it picked up in the Mediterranean has docked in the tiny island nation of Malta following a special forces operation.
Sea-Eye, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) which ferried migrants to Europe, has claimed that despite a three-week search off the coast of Libya, they were unable to find a single migrant to “rescue” before returning to port in Mallorca.
MADRID (AP) – Spain’s government says that unauthorized immigration by sea has dropped in the last month, falling to 930 people arriving in February compared to over 4,000 in January.
Doctors Without Borders says 116 migrants have been “forcibly returned” to Libya after a day and a half at sea.
