Damaging ‘medicane’ storm reaches Libya

Damaging ‘medicane’ storm reaches Libya

A Mediterranean storm that’s lasted for more than three days has finally reached the coast of Libya, according to France’s Keraunos Observatory. The subtropical storm, sometimes called a “medicane” for some of its hurricane-like features, reached the coastal Derna region on Sunday morning. The French storm experts said much of…

Italy allows 27 minors to leave rescue ship at Lampedusa

Unaccompanied minors aboard the Spanish sea rescue ship Open Arms were permitted to disembark at the Italian port of Lampedusa on Saturday, one day after the head of the rescue organization warned the situation aboard the ship – where migrants have been trapped for two weeks – was rapidly deteriorating….

UNHCR laments Italy’s approval of stiff migrant rescue penalties

The United Nations refugee agency responded quickly on Tuesday to a decision made by Italy’s parliament that will impose harsher penalties against those people and organizations involved in migrant search and rescue on the Mediterranean Sea. The UNHCR said that under the changes, fines for private vessels that rescue migrants…

HRW: Tourists abducted in Burkina Faso were taken to Mali

It’s been more than three months since travelers Canadian Edith Blais and Luca Tacchetto of Italy went missing in Burkina Faso, and there’s been little information to break the silence on what has happened to them. Now a report from Human Rights Watch suggests that Blais and Tacchetto were kidnapped…