mediterranean - Page 3

Charities and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) operating “rescue” missions in the Mediterranean are “colluding” with criminal people-smugglers to bring migrants to Europe, according to Italian authorities.

ROME (AFP) – About 146 migrants are feared missing after their boat capsized after leaving Libya, according to a Gambian man who was rescued following the disaster, the United Nations’ refugee agency said Wednesday.

Ships from an array of countries have made their presence known in the Mediterranean over the last few months due in part to the ongoing Syrian civil war.

Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority issued a warning on Monday asking Israelis to avoid the waters near Hadera, a city in the center of Israel near the coats of the Mediterranean, because of large populations of sharks infesting the waters there.

According to a report by the UK Daily Mail, Russia has just about given up on launching missions into Syria from its aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, following a “calamitous voyage from Russia to the Mediterranean.” Fighters and bombers from the carrier have reportedly been moved to the Syrian air base at Hmeymim.

The shellfish that was one of the main sources of Tyrian purple – one of the most storied and valuable trading products in the ancient world – has disappeared from the eastern Mediterranean coast, amid warnings of an ongoing multi-species collapse blamed on global rises in sea temperatures.

(REUTERS) – Some 1,400 boat migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean from North Africa to Europe have been rescued so far on Tuesday, Italy’s coastguard said, after at least 11 overcrowded boats set out from Libya amid calm seas.

Russia will create a permanent naval base in Syria to expand its military footprint in its closest Middle East ally, a government official said on Monday, a week after Moscow said it was considering reopening Soviet-era bases in Vietnam and Cuba.

Some 3000 migrants were saved in the Strait of Sicily in 30 separate rescue missions on Tuesday, the Italian coastguard said, bringing the total to almost 10,000 in two days and marking a sharp acceleration in refugee arrivals in Italy.

A record number of migrants have died crossing the Mediterranean this year, new figures have revealed, prompting aid agencies to call on Europe to do even more to help those making the crossing. 2,899 migrants died in attempts to cross

Turkey and Israel will this weekend announce a deal on normalising ties, ending a six-year diplomatic crisis sparked by a deadly Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla in which 10 Turkish nationals died, a report said Tuesday.

From the deck of the USS Harry Truman, CNN reports that “a new dramatic tempo” for airstrikes against the Islamic State has been set, with planes taking off and landing every few minutes, and crews working around the clock to keep them in the air.

Two Catholic human rights organisations, Caritas Europa and Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Europe, have blamed Europe’s “restrictive approach to migration” for the thousands of migrant deaths that have occurred in the Mediterranean Sea over the past months. “Policies focused on

(AFP) A total of 116 migrants were plucked to safety from the Mediterranean on Saturday, three of whom had week-old bullet wounds, rescuers said. Rescuers found 20 women and a child amongst the men and teenage boys on board, three

Contents: Human traffickers sell routes through Europe for 5000 euros; Europeans expect hundreds of thousands of migrants from Libya

(Reuters) – Italian coast guard and navy vessels rescued nearly 1,400 migrants from boats and rubber dinghies in the southern Mediterranean on Tuesday, officials said, indicating numbers were rising as the weather warms up. About 570 were rescued by the

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel’s Supreme Court began hearings Wednesday on a contentious natural gas deal aimed at tapping major reserves in the Mediterranean that could lead to important shifts in the region’s energy supplies. The deal between the Israeli government and a

Airstrikes launched from unidentified warplanes targeted the southern and western region of the Mediterranean port city of Sirte in Libya, which has become the de facto base for the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) wing in the North African country, a witness told Reuters.

What would you say are the biggest threats to the tourist future of the Mediterranean? If I had to make a list, my top three would be something like: 1. Terrorists on a fast boat from Libya (or similar) wreaking

After a few relatively calm months, there have been clashes between police and “migrants” in Greece, and now there are reports of mysterious masked gunmen intercepting refugee boats in Greek waters.

Knife-wielding human traffickers who took charge of the migrant boat that sank off the coast of Libya this week slashed or thrashed the hundreds of migrants on board depending on their ethnicity. Italian police said that witnesses accused the traffickers

Contents: Hundreds of migrant deaths in Mediterranean highlight Libya-Calais relationship; U.S.-trained Free Syrian Army’s Division 30 suffers major defeat; US program to train rebels in Syria appears flawed from the start

Hundreds of migrants trying to reach Europe from Libya are feared to have drowned after their boat capsized in the Mediterranean, Italy’s coastguard says. The migrants, who were crammed into a fishing boat, sent out a distress call some 15

Authorities in southern France are looking at proposals to administer ‘bone tests’ to migrants to determine their true ages to prevent adults accessing aid and assistance reserved for children. French law gives special provision to vulnerable migrants such as children,

A record 137,000 people made the perilous journey across the Mediterranean to Europe in the first half of 2015, most of them fleeing war, conflict and persecution, the United Nations said on Wednesday. “Europe is living through a maritime refugee

Stopping the Mediterranean migrant boats is critical to discouraging criminal trafficking gangs exploiting the desires of refugees and migrants, and turning European countries into a new hub of imported, organised crime, according to a new think-tank report. The Stop the Boats proposal

The strain of dealing with the massive wave of refugees pouring off the coast of war-torn, ISIS-threatened Libya and flowing across the Mediterranean is proving too much for Italy. A backlash is growing against the migrant wave, although it is unclear what any faction of the Italian body politic, or the wider European Union, is prepared to do to stop it.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking in Albania on Wednesday, called for Europe to accept more refugees, particularly those fleeing from the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. Erdogan called this a “duty” Europe should be held accountable for.

The Turkish government announced it had captured 350 migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea from the port region of Mersin to Italy or the greater EU.

Britain must take in the migrants currently crossing the Mediterranean, a senior Bishop has said, arguing that we have a “moral duty” to accept refugees from wars partly of our own making. Writing in today’s Observer, the Rt Rev David Walker,

The people traffickers making thousands of dollars ferrying migrants across the Mediterranean have laughed at EU plans to take their vessels by military force, saying the ships are easily replaceable, and that anyway migrants are starting to make the journey

Amnesty International called the European Union “negligent” over the deaths of 17,000 migrants in 2015. The blame is solely placed on Italy, who ended their Mare Nostrum search and rescue operation shortly before the latest wave of migrants began fleeing Libya.

The European Union’s summit to deal with the Mediterranean refugee crisis is underway, and based on leaked documents, it appears a major component of the strategy will involve returning most migrants to their countries of origin.

In the wake of a horrible tragedy in the Mediterranean that appears to have drowned over 800 refugees, the European Union called a summit, scheduled to begin on Thursday, to consider options for dealing with the Libyan crisis. According to a report at the Telegraph & Argus, experts are “warning the death toll could reach the tens of thousands as growing numbers of desperate migrants take to the waters in overcrowded and unseaworthy boats.”

Italian police have arrested the captain and first mate of the ship which foundered in the Mediterranean over the weekend, causing catastrophic loss of life. Both have been charged with people trafficking; the captain has also been charged with reckless

Distress calls have been received from at least two more boats in the Mediterranean carrying migrants, with reports of 20 further fatalities, including children. The Italian coast guard is believed to be asking commercial vessels in the area to respond