ROME: Nearly 140 migrants who had been stranded on a boat at a port in Sicily were allowed to disembark early on Sunday after Ireland and Albania agreed to take some of them in.
The boat docked at Catania port on Monday but Italy had refused to let those on board disembark in the absence of any EU commitment to relocate them, prompting a new bitter row with Brussels.
But following a deal brokered by the Catholic Church late on Saturday, Italy’s far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini agreed to allow them to leave the Diciotti, the Italian coast guard ship which rescued them some 10 days ago.
There were initially around 180 migrants on board when it arrived at Catania, but Rome allowed 27 unaccompanied minors to disembark on Wednesday and a dozen women and men left the boat Saturday following a request from health authorities.
Albania, which is not a member of the EU, was the first to offer safe haven to 20 of the migrants.
The migrants disembarked several hours after Sicilian prosecutors said they had opened an inquiry into Salvini for “illegal confinement, illegal arrest and abuse of power” over his refusal to allow the migrants to disembark, media reports said.
EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos welcomed the deal, saying it was the result of “solidarity across borders and communities.”
“But we cannot always wait for this type of goodwill solidarity. We need to have structural measures,” he said in a statement.
The Diciotti standoff was the latest in a string of incidents involving Italy’s recently installed populist government, which has increasingly refused to take in boats carrying migrants rescued off Libya, prompting sharp divisions across the EU.
On Friday, Rome threatened to pull funding for the EU unless it agreed to take in some of those on board the Diciotti.
But Avramopoulos warned that Italy would end up “shooting itself in the foot” by its ongoing attacks over the bloc’s policies on migrants.
“I think that politicians in your country need to understand that you are not alone, that Europe is trying to help you. On the contrary, anyone who attacks the EU is shooting himself in the foot,” he told Sunday’s edition of La Repubblica newspaper.
Leading the charge has been Salvini, who heads the far-right League party and Luigi Di Maio, leader of the anti-establishment Five Star.
“The Commission has clearly said ‘no’ to threats, that they are unacceptable. All governments are required to respect their obligations regarding membership in the EU,” Avramopoulos said.
And he stressed the need for a clear policy on how to handle any future incidents involving migrants rescued at sea.
“We cannot move ahead with ad hoc solutions for each boat. The migration phenomenon is not going to stop overnight so we need to manage it together as one European family,” he said.
On Saturday, Albania’s Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati sent a message to his Italian counterpart Enzo Moavero Milanesi which was published on Twitter, saying Tirana was “ready to help.”
“We cannot replace Europe but we are always here, on the other side of a sea where once we were the Eritreans suffering for days and nights in the middle of the sea, waiting for Europe to wake up,” Bushati wrote.
After the fall of communism in early 1990s, Italy accepted thousands of people who fled Albania by sea, with Tirana keen to return the favor.
“Yesterday, Italy saved us, today we are ready to give a hand,” the minister said.
Migration is a hot-button issue in Italy, where hundreds of thousands of people have arrived since 2013, fleeing war, persecution and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Under EU rules people must seek asylum in their country of arrival, but Rome has recently moved to block boats from docking at its ports.
Speaking on Friday, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said Europe had “a fundamental moral and legal obligation” to help those fleeing war and persecution.
“The time has come to end the back-and-forth that has seen countries competing in a race to the bottom on who can take the least responsibility for people rescued at sea,” he said.
“It is dangerous and immoral to put the lives of refugees and asylum-seekers at risk while states engage in a political tug-of-war on long-term solutions.”
Italy lets migrants off stranded boat as deal reached
Italy lets migrants off stranded boat as deal reached
- Italy has threatened economic reprisals against the EU for not helping it enough with migrants
- Minors and ailing migrants, were allowed off earlier
French prosecutors request Carlos Ghosn, French culture minister stand trial in corruption case
PARIS: The French prosecutor’s office for financial crimes has requested former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn and French culture minister Rachida Dati stand trial following its probe into corruption, a judicial source said on Friday.
A judge must make a decision on the request.
Germany’s Scholz urges Putin in phone call to open talks with Ukraine
- Scholz also demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine and reaffirmed Germany’s continued support for Ukraine
- “The Chancellor urged Russia to show willingness to enter talks with Ukraine with the aim of achieving a just and lasting peace,” the spokesperson said
BERLIN: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Russian President Vladimir Putin in a rare phone call on Friday to begin talks with Ukraine that would open the way for a “just and lasting peace.”
In a one-hour phone conversation, their first in almost two years, Scholz also demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine and reaffirmed Germany’s continued support for Ukraine, a German government spokesman said.
The call comes as Ukraine faces increasingly difficult conditions on the battlefield amid shortages of arms and personnel while Russian forces make steady advances.
“The Chancellor urged Russia to show willingness to enter talks with Ukraine with the aim of achieving a just and lasting peace,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“He stressed Germany’s unbroken determination to back Ukraine in its defense against Russian aggression for as long as necessary,” the spokesperson added.
Scholz spoke with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky ahead of his call with Putin and would brief the Ukrainian leader on the outcome afterwards, the spokesperson said.
Germany is Ukraine’s largest financial backer and its largest provider of weapons after the United States, whose future support for Kyiv appears uncertain following Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election.
Trump has repeatedly criticized the scale of Western financial and military aid to Ukraine and has suggested he can put a swift end to the war, without explaining how.
Scholz and Putin last spoke in December 2022, 10 months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, plunging relations with the West into their deepest freeze since the Cold War.
Scholz, the most unpopular German chancellor on record, is preparing for a national election on Feb. 23 in which his Social Democrats face stiff competition from left-wing and far-right parties that are critical of Germany’s backing for Ukraine.
Croatian health minister arrested and sacked over alleged graft
- Beros’ lawyer Laura Valkovic told local media that he denied any criminal responsibility
- The prime minister’s comments came after Croatia’s Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organized Crime (USKOK) said it was conducting several arrests
SARAJEVO: Croatian Health Minister Vili Beros was sacked on Friday after being arrested on suspicion of corruption, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said.
Beros’ lawyer Laura Valkovic told local media that he denied any criminal responsibility. The health ministry declined to comment.
The prime minister’s comments came after Croatia’s Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organized Crime (USKOK) said it was conducting several arrests.
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office also said it had initiated an investigation against eight people, including Beros and the directors of two hospitals in Zagreb, over alleged bribery, abuse of authority and money laundering.
Croatia’s State Attorney Ivan Turudic, whose office works closely with USKOK, said there were two parallel investigations into the alleged crimes and that EPPO has not informed his office nor USKOK about its investigation.
Turudic said Beros was accused of trade of influence. He said two other individuals had been arrested and one legal entity would be investigated on suspicion of the criminal act of receiving a bribe.
The people detained will be brought before an investigative judge who will decide on any pre-trial detention, Turudic told a news conference.
The EPPO said that a criminal group seeking to secure financing for the sale of medical robotic devices in several hospitals was suspected of giving bribes to officials to try to win contracts for projects, including EU funded ones.
“What is obvious is that this is about criminal acts of corruption,” Plenkovic said. “On behalf of the government, I want to say that agencies authorized for criminal persecution should investigate everything.”
Protesters storm parliament in breakaway Georgian region Abkhazia over deal with Russia
- Eshsou Kakalia, an opposition leader and former deputy prosecutor general, said the parliament building was under the control of the protesters
- “We will now seek the resignation of the current president of Abkhazia,” he was quoted by Russia’s Interfax news agency as saying
TBILISI: Protesters stormed the parliament of the Russian-backed breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia on Friday and opposition politicians demanded the resignation of the self-styled president over an unpopular investment agreement with Moscow.
Protesters used a truck to smash through the metal gates surrounding the parliament in the capital Sukhumi. Video from the scene then showed people climbing through windows after prying off metal bars and chanting in the corridors.
Eshsou Kakalia, an opposition leader and former deputy prosecutor general, said the parliament building was under the control of the protesters.
“We will now seek the resignation of the current president of Abkhazia,” he was quoted by Russia’s Interfax news agency as saying. Protesters also broke into the presidential administration offices located in the same building as the parliament.
Emergency services said at least eight people were taken to hospital.
The presidential administration said in a statement that authorities were preparing to withdraw the investment agreement with Russia that some Abkhaz fear will price them out of the property market.
Russia recognized Abkhazia and another breakaway region, South Ossetia, as independent states in 2008 after Russian troops repelled a Georgian attempt to retake South Ossetia in a five-day war.
Most of the world recognizes Abkhazia as part of Georgia, from which it broke away during wars in the early 1990s, but Russian money has poured into the lush sub-tropical territory where Soviet-era spa resorts cling to the Black Sea coast.
RUSSIAN MONEY
Abkhazian lawmakers had been set to vote on Friday on the ratification of an investment agreement signed in October in Moscow by Russian Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov and his Abkhazian counterpart, Kristina Ozgan.
Abkhazian opposition leaders say the agreement with Moscow, which would allow for investment projects by Russian legal entities, would price locals out of the property market by allowing far more Russian money to flow in.
The opposition said in a statement that the protesters’ actions were not against Russian-Abkhazian relations.
“Abkhazian society had only one demand: to protect the interests of our citizens and our business, but neither the president nor the parliament have heard the voice of the people until today,” Interfax cited the statement as saying.
Earlier this week Abkhazia’s self-styled president, Aslan Bzhania, held an emergency security council meeting after protesters blocked a key highway and rallied in central Sukhumi to demand the release of four activists.
The activists, who were subsequently freed, had been detained for opposing the passage of a law regulating the construction industry which references the Russian-Abkhazian agreement.
In 2014, demonstrators stormed the presidential headquarters, forcing then-leader Alexander Ankvab to flee. He later resigned over accusations of corruption and misrule.
Opposition leader Raul Khadzhimba, elected following the unrest in 2014, was himself forced to step down in 2020 after street protests over disputed election results.
Pakistani province declares health emergency due to smog and locks down two cities
- Smog has choked Punjab for weeks, sickening nearly 2 million people and shrouding vast swathes of the province in a toxic haze
- Average air quality index readings in parts of Lahore exceeded 600 on Friday
LAHORE, Pakistan: A Pakistani province declared a health emergency Friday due to smog and imposed a shutdown in two major cities.
Smog has choked Punjab for weeks, sickening nearly 2 million people and shrouding vast swathes of the province in a toxic haze.
A senior provincial minister, Marriyum Aurangzeb, declared the health emergency at a press conference and announced measures to combat the growing crisis.
Time off for medical staff is canceled, all education institutions are shut until further notice, restaurants are closing at 4 p.m. while takeaway is available up until 8 p.m. Authorities are imposing a lockdown in the cities of Multan and Lahore and halting construction work in those two places.
“Smog is currently a national disaster,” Aurangzeb said. “It will not all be over in a month or a year. We will evaluate the situation after three days and then announce a further strategy.”
Average air quality index readings in parts of Lahore, a city of 11 million, exceeded 600 on Friday. Anything over 300 is considered hazardous to health.
The dangerous smog is a byproduct of large numbers of vehicles, construction and industrial work as well as burning crops at the start of the winter wheat-planting season, experts say.
Pakistan’s national weather center said rain and wind were forecast for the coming days, helping smoggy conditions to subside and air quality to improve in parts of Punjab.
Dr. Muhammad Ashraf, a professor at Jinnah Hospital Lahore and Allama Iqbal Medical College, said the government must take preventative measures well before smog becomes prevalent.
“It is more of an emergency than COVID-19 because every patient is suffering from respiratory tract infections and disease is prevailing at a mass level,” he said earlier this week.
