Tripoli, Libya | AFP | The number of migrants detained in Libya has dropped by four-fifths since May 2017, a senior government official told AFP on Monday. General Mohammad Bishr, head of a government department set up to tackle clandestine migration, said the number of migrants held by authorities had …
Read More »EU tracking 65,000 migrant smugglers: Europol
Brussels, Belgium | AFP | European law enforcement officials say they are tracking at least 65,000 migrant smugglers, twice as many as at the height of the migration crisis three years ago, as the illegal trade booms. Despite a drop in the number of migrants successfully crossing the Mediterranean since …
Read More »Europe to extend qualifications ‘passports’ for refugees
Athens, Greece | AFP | A Council of Europe project to help refugees to have their qualifications recognised abroad was extended to include more countries on Wednesday. France, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada and Armenia will participate in the second phase of the three-year project, joining Greece, Norway, Italy and the United …
Read More »COMMENT: Cold War II
Why a quarter-century after the end of the Cold War, we unexpectedly find ourselves in a second one COMMENT | RICHARD N. HAASS | The Cold War lasted four decades, in many ways both beginning and ending in Berlin. The good news is that it stayed cold largely because nuclear weapons …
Read More »Libya issues arrest warrants for over 200 alleged traffickers
Tripoli, Libya | AFP | Libya has issued arrest warrants for more than 200 Libyans and foreigners suspected of involvement in a smuggling network for Europe-bound migrants, the attorney general’s office said on Thursday. “We have 205 arrest warrants for people (involved in) organising immigration operations, human trafficking, (cases) of torture, …
Read More »Merkel vows swift return to government work to boost Europe
Berlin, Germany | AFP | German Chancellor Angela Merkel promised Monday that her new government would start work swiftly and lend a strong voice to Europe, a day after she secured a coalition for her fourth term. Germany’s second biggest party, the Social Democrats (SPD), on Sunday finally gave the …
Read More »US training Europeans to use nukes against Russia: Lavrov
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday accused Washington of training Europeans in the use of nuclear weapons, with the aim of using them against his country. “Nuclear disarmament is hampered by the US non-strategic nuclear weapons in Europe,” Lavrov told the UN Conference on Disarmament …
Read More »Salah the star African performer in Europe
Paris, France | AFP | Mohamed Salah was the star African performer in Europe at the weekend, netting twice to close within one goal of Harry Kane in the English Premier League leading scorer race. The Egypt sharpshooter and 2017 African Footballer of the Year twice gave Liverpool the lead in …
Read More »Bodies of 16 migrants recovered off Morocco coast
Nador, Morocco | AFP | Moroccan rescue services have recovered the bodies of 16 migrants off the coast of Spain’s enclave of Melilla, Moroccan and Spanish officials said Sunday. Three women were among the dead taken to a morgue in the Moroccan city of Nador, a medical official there told …
Read More »13,000 migrants repatriated from Libya: AU chief
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP | More than 13,000 migrants have been repatriated from Libya since the beginning of December, the African Union’s chief said Monday, nearly two months after reports emerged showing refugees being sold as slaves. That number is short of the AU’s goal to fly 20,000 out of …
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