Demaris And The Sh Race P8
Thousands of migrants are ‘racing against the clock’ to make the perilous crossing from Libya to Europe before summer ends, with authorities in the conflict-torn country at a loss to stem the flow.
Improved weather is said to have triggered this week’s mass outflow that has seen more than 10,000 migrants rescued since Sunday from floundering boats.
The migrants are ‘racing against the clock because they fear the start of autumn when conditions will not be so good’ out at sea, according to Abdel Hamid al-Souei from Libya’s Red Crescent.
Most of the migrants from the Horn of Africa and the west of the continent set out from the Libyan town of Sabratha, just 180 miles across the Mediterranean from the Italian island of Lampedusa.
People traffickers have exploited Libya’s rampant insecurity to cash in, as authorities concentrate their limited resources on combating jihadists and an uphill political battle to extend their writ over the entire country.
‘Our patrols have been reduced lately because the vessels are ageing and we don’t have the means to control the Sabratha coast,’ Libya’s navy chief, Colonel Ayoub Qassem, said in Tripoli.
Rescuers saved 3,000 migrants in the waters off Libya on Tuesday as they tried desperately to reach Europe, a day after a record 6,500 people were rescued in the Mediterranean.
And after several weeks of relative calm in the waters between Italy and Libya, more than 1,100 people were rescued on Sunday.
{snip}
On Tuesday morning, a woman gave birth on board one of the rescue vessels–operated by Italy’s coastguard and navy as well as NGOs–as it made its way to the Italian coast.
She and her newborn were taken by speedboat to the island of Lampedusa, while the rest of the migrants made their way to several ports in Sicily, Sardinia and southern Italy.
The total number of arrivals in Italy this year now stands at 112,500, according to the UN refugee agency and the coastguard, slightly below the 116,000 recorded by the same point in 2015.
More than 3,100 people have died trying to reach Europe this year.
Improved weather is said to have triggered this week’s mass outflow that has seen more than 10,000 migrants rescued since Sunday from floundering boats.
The migrants are ‘racing against the clock because they fear the start of autumn when conditions will not be so good’ out at sea, according to Abdel Hamid al-Souei from Libya’s Red Crescent.
Most of the migrants from the Horn of Africa and the west of the continent set out from the Libyan town of Sabratha, just 180 miles across the Mediterranean from the Italian island of Lampedusa.
People traffickers have exploited Libya’s rampant insecurity to cash in, as authorities concentrate their limited resources on combating jihadists and an uphill political battle to extend their writ over the entire country.
‘Our patrols have been reduced lately because the vessels are ageing and we don’t have the means to control the Sabratha coast,’ Libya’s navy chief, Colonel Ayoub Qassem, said in Tripoli.
Rescuers saved 3,000 migrants in the waters off Libya on Tuesday as they tried desperately to reach Europe, a day after a record 6,500 people were rescued in the Mediterranean.
And after several weeks of relative calm in the waters between Italy and Libya, more than 1,100 people were rescued on Sunday.
{snip}
On Tuesday morning, a woman gave birth on board one of the rescue vessels–operated by Italy’s coastguard and navy as well as NGOs–as it made its way to the Italian coast.
She and her newborn were taken by speedboat to the island of Lampedusa, while the rest of the migrants made their way to several ports in Sicily, Sardinia and southern Italy.
The total number of arrivals in Italy this year now stands at 112,500, according to the UN refugee agency and the coastguard, slightly below the 116,000 recorded by the same point in 2015.
More than 3,100 people have died trying to reach Europe this year.
co-leader of anti-migrant party Alternative for Germany (AfD) has been struck on the head by a frozen cake flung by a far-left activist, a video released on YouTube shows. The politician claims the cake-throwing was “dangerous” and “well-organized.”
The incident took place as the AfD’s Jörg Meuthen was giving a speech in Harburg, Lower Saxony, on Monday.
The video captures the moment a young man approaches the politician with a cake (which was apparently frozen) and threw it right at Meuthen’s head.
The politician was “slightly injured in the head,” police later said in a report, adding that after receiving medical care, Meuthen was able to continue his speech.
The perpetrator caught at the scene was identified by police as a 17-year-old far-left activist. He is now accused of attempted serious bodily harm.
The officers later arrested six more people who were shouting slogans during the AfD event: a woman and five men, all aged 18 except for a 22-year-old male.
Meuthen lamented the attack as “cowardly and dangerous” adding “it had been well organized.”
“I was lucky that the assailant didn’t properly hit me, otherwise I would most certainly be lying in hospital right now,” he said, as cited by N-TV broadcaster.
{snip}
Meuthen is not the first AfD member to cop a cake in the face. In February two activists in clown costumes disrupted a meeting of the AfD by throwing a cake into the face of Beatrix von Storch, one of the party’s leaders and a member of the European Parliament.
The incident took place as the AfD’s Jörg Meuthen was giving a speech in Harburg, Lower Saxony, on Monday.
The video captures the moment a young man approaches the politician with a cake (which was apparently frozen) and threw it right at Meuthen’s head.
The politician was “slightly injured in the head,” police later said in a report, adding that after receiving medical care, Meuthen was able to continue his speech.
The perpetrator caught at the scene was identified by police as a 17-year-old far-left activist. He is now accused of attempted serious bodily harm.
The officers later arrested six more people who were shouting slogans during the AfD event: a woman and five men, all aged 18 except for a 22-year-old male.
Meuthen lamented the attack as “cowardly and dangerous” adding “it had been well organized.”
“I was lucky that the assailant didn’t properly hit me, otherwise I would most certainly be lying in hospital right now,” he said, as cited by N-TV broadcaster.
{snip}
Meuthen is not the first AfD member to cop a cake in the face. In February two activists in clown costumes disrupted a meeting of the AfD by throwing a cake into the face of Beatrix von Storch, one of the party’s leaders and a member of the European Parliament.
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26-30, M