Obscure Clause May Help US Avert Default
The White House could resort to an little-known line in the US constitution to prevent a ruinous default if Democrats and Republicans do not agree to raise the debt ceiling by August 2, experts say.
The 143-year-old clause, written to address still-potent divisions after the bloody Civil War, has been dredged up by legal scholars as well as the US Treasury secretary to suggest how a debt debacle might be avoided.
But resorting to it could spark a constitutional crisis over just who — the Congress or the White House — controls the power of the federal purse, analysts say.
The US government reached its debt limit of $14.29 trillion in May and since then the Treasury has used special measures to allow the government to keep paying its bills.
But unless the limit is raised by August 2, the Treasury says, growing spending and debt service commitments will force a default, which would have disastrous ripple effects throughout the global financial system.
Republicans in Congress — which sets the debt cap into law — have refused to raise it unless the move is accompanied by deep spending cuts, and their talks with Democrats have made little visible progress.
If the impasse is not broken, could President Barack Obama simply ignore the ceiling and borrow more money?
Some legal experts believe he could, citing the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, adopted in 1868.
With the country still wrestling with post-war divisions, section four of the amendment was written after politicians from the defeated south sought to block the north’s commitment to repay large debts arising from its victorious campaign.
“The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law … shall not be questioned,” it reads.
Neil Buchanan, a professor at George Washington University Law School, said that means the government’s obligation to make payments cannot be abrogated by some “arbitrary limit.”
“If Congress has enacted laws that create public obligations, then those obligations must be met,” Buchanan wrote in a column on Thursday.
Taken a step farther, some suggest, the law may make the debt ceiling itself unconstitutional.
While some have argued that the constitutional clause was specific to the situation of the time, a 1935 Supreme Court ruling established that it still applies, Buchanan said.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who has warned that a default would have “catastrophic” consequences, raised the clause during a discussion of the debt ceiling in May — though he did not say the White House should invoke it if negotiations fail.
If invoked, experts say, it could spark a nasty fight over constitutional powers between the White House and Congress.
Asked about it during his Twitter town hall this week, Obama — a former constitutional law professor — emphasized the need to reach a deal in Congress.
“I don’t think we should even get to the constitutional issue. Congress has a responsibility to make sure we pay our bills,” he said.
Geithner’s mention of the law does not mean he thinks it can be used to ignore the debt cap, the Treasury said Friday in a letter addressed to The New York Times.
“The secretary has cited the 14th amendment… in support of his strong conviction that Congress has an obligation to ensure we are able to honor the obligations of the United States,” a senior lawyer for the department wrote.
| [Return to headlines] |
Signs of Life in Tunisia’s Economy as Italian Trading Partners Get Back in Business
Tunisia’s recent “Jasmine revolution” has brought much of the country’s economy to a standstill. Foreign tourists are still a rare sight right now, but long-established Italian companies are eager to reignite old economic ties
At the first Italian-Tunisian business forum after the revolution, which took place last week in Tunis, jasmine flowers were everywhere: scattered on the desks and window sills, and even decorating men’s buttonholes. The flower — a symbol of the Arab spring — has replaced the pictures of former Tunisian president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, in the streets and in all the offices of Tunisia’s transitional government.
At the forum, Tunisia’s new trade and tourism minister, Mehdi Houas (who came back from Paris only six months ago) met many Italian businessmen, as well as Italy’s industry minister Paolo Romani. “I am here to reassure the Italian business community and also to be reassured by the Tunisian authorities about the further steps towards transition of a country which is a dear friend of Italy,” Romani told him.
Italy is Tunisia’s second most important trading partner (after France), with a global volume of trade of 5.8 billion euros. Around 740 Italian companies, which together employ 55,000 people, do business in Tunisia. The Italian clothing retailer Benetton, for example, employs 15,000 Tunisians.
“The situation is improving but is still fragile, given that the transitional government has not been legitimized by an election,” said sources at the Italian embassy in Tunis. The election of the constitutional assembly has been postponed from July 24 to October 24, which some see as a setback. Moreover, the war in neighboring Libya — which has prompted almost 2,000 refugees to cross the border almost every day — is also adding strain. In Tunis, a sense of insecurity makes people stay indoors as soon as the night falls. Thousands of former detainees have been freed and burglaries have picked up. Many people have installed iron bars over their windows. Armored vehicles are parked in front of the national television building.
Collapse of tourism
Many people in Tunisia are worried about the increasing appeal of the Islamic party — which, according to some polls, could obtain about 20% of the votes —, the high unemployment rate among the young. The collapse, by as much as 50 percen, of the tourism sector has had particularly devastating results, since it employs around 8% of the total workforce. This summer, the resort complexes of the Italian tour operator Valtour will remain closed in both Tabarca and Bizerte.
If Italian tourists have decided to avoid Tunisia this year, Italian companies have stayed put. Colacem, a cement manufacturer, and Gervasoni, a steel manufacturer, have continued making business as usual; another Italian company, Clerprem, is still producing car armrests in Bizerte, in northern Tunisia.
Construction is resuming as well, especially in Tunis, where many buildings still await to be completed. Todini, a construction company, will build two plots of the new expressway between the cities of Gabes and Sfax, for a total value of 100 milllion euros. Ferretti Construction has recently resumed work as usual, and the Italian Gwh, a biomasses producer, and the French Thales, which produces radio navigation systems, have recently opened up new offices in Tunisia. Still, some companies have complained about a number of custom issues at the borders; the uncertainty linked to the next elections and government also makes some payments unsure.
But no one doubts that the economy can help Tunisia’s transition to democracy. During the Italian-Tunisian forum, Tunisian ministers promised a series of investment incentives for Italian businessmen willing to open new firms (such as exemption from paying any taxes or VAT for export only companies during the first ten years of investment). Tunisia is also inviting small and medium firms to invest in mechanics, electronics and food farming in a country that is now the central trade platform towards Egypt, Morocco and Jordan.
“This is positive,” said Michele Tronconi, president of the Italian Textile and Fashion Federation. “Now they have to liberalize distribution, real estate, transportation and media, all of which were until now under the monopole of Ben Ali’s family.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Cyprus: EU: New Funds to Support Turkish Community
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, JUNE 27 — Today the European Commission approved 26.5 million euros of funding for the Turkish Cypriot community. These funds will focus on measures to promote reconciliation and confidence building. Beneficiaries will include civil society organisations, schools, farmers, villages, SMEs. “These 26.5 million euro — said Stefan Fule, EU Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy — demonstrate the continued commitment of the EU to the Turkish Cypriot community and to a Cyprus settlement. The activities implemented by the Commission with this fresh funding are reunification-driven, underlining the EU’s expectations for a successful end of the talks towards reunification of the island”.
The whole Aid Programme for Turkish Cypriot community will total 28 million euros in 2011 and 1.5 million euros has already been approved earlier this year to fund the EU Scholarship Programme for the academic year 2011/2012.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: De Gennaro: Secret Services to Hire Through University
(AGI) Rome — DIS Director De Gennaro has said the secret services will hire the first 15 young people recruited through the university. Gianni De Gennaro made the announcement at the signing of an accord-program between the Department of Information for Security and the La Sapienza University of Rome, which forsees the creation of bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degree courses to train experts in information.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Nero’s Golden House to Remain Closed to Visitors
Rome, 8 July (AKI) — Roman Emperor Nero’s first century Domus Aurea villa will be closed to visitors for at least another three years as complicated repairs to the sprawling complex cause its scheduled 2011 reopening to be delayed, said the Italian culture minister’s director general for archeology Luigi Malnati.
“You first and foremost have to avoid further collapses and save it,” he said in an interview with Il Messaggero newspaper published on Friday.
Some historians say Nero started the great fire that charred much of Rome in 64 AD to make room for his 300 acre Domus Aurea, or Golden House that was adorned by gold leaf and dazzling frescos.
Following his suicide in 69 AD, the complex was considered a symbol of Nero’s arrogance and was buried and built over after the gold, pearls and other valuable jewels laid into its some 150 rooms were stripped.
After 18 years of restoration work it was reopened in 1999 but was repeatedly closed because of collapses due to moisture.
“The problem is the rain that seeps inside,” Malnati said.
“The vaults are covered with calcium and the walls are bloated with humidity.
He said the site must be restored with parts being sealed with a solution to protect it from water damage but its vast size means an effort to secure the entire area is too ambitious.
“The place is a colander and the restoration is so delicate that it required much calm and time,” Malnati said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Nine Germans Given Life for World War II Massacres
Verona, 7 July (AKI) — A court in northern Italy gave nine Germans life sentences for the killing of more than 140 civilians during the World War II German occupation.
The men — who were convicted in absentia and who are in their 80s and 90s — where part of the “Hermann Goehring” division with the responsibility of putting down Italian resistance. Their 140 victims were killed in the Modena region in 1944.
The Germans were also convicted for carrying out massacres in the Emilia Romagna and Tuscany regions. Three others died during the trial that lasted seven months following a five-year investigation.
The sentence was read late Tuesday in front of family members of some of the victims.
“At last there is justice for the victims and their relatives and a bloody page of history can be closed,” plaintiff Demos Malavasi told the Corriere della Sera newspaper.
The 2009 Italian movie “The Man Who Will Come” is the true story of the 1944 killing of 700 Italians in the mountain village of Marzabotto near Bologna in Emilia Romagna.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Milan Brings First Civil Action Against ‘Ndrangheta
(AGI) Milan — To the satisfaction the mayor,Giuliano Pisapia, The City of Milan has be allowed to bring a civil action in the criminal trial for the kidnapping and murder of Lea Garofalo.
This is the first time the City of Milan has been granted such status in a trial involving crimes linked to the presence of the mafia, as requested by the municipality’s lawyer, Maria Rosa Sala.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Wilders Receiving More Threats From Abroad
Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders is increasingly being confronted with threats from outside the Netherlands. In an interview with Dutch daily AD on Saturday the controversial MP said at the end of last year people in the south-easternmost tip of Europe were preparing an attack.
“At the end of last year there was solid information about people somewhere in the Caucasus who were making preparations to harm me,” said Mr Wilders. The reason the politician is able to reveal this incident is because the case had been resolved and there was no longer a threat. Although he said he could not go into detail.
The threat was so serious that various scenarios were discussed. If they had not been stopped at an early stage he was told he should leave the country. “I refused. I am a politician here. I have a party to lead.” He said it was up to the security team to come up with a plan to keep him safe.
Mr Wilders believes the increase in threats are due to him becoming better known internationally. There are always threats to his life, but they have increased. “A couple of years ago there were clearly fewer threats,” he said.
A spokesperson for the National Coordinator of Counter Terrorism (NCTb) declined to respond to Wilders’ comments. “We never discuss actual threats and indications in the media and see no reason to do so now,” said the spokesperson.
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Brussels Opens Inquiry Into ‘Discounted’ Ships
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, JULY 4 — The European Commission has opened an inquiry into the tax breaks granted by Spain for the purchase of ships, which could be considered illegal state aid according to EU regulations.
The latter would allow maritime transport companies to purchase ships, in some cases, at a cheaper price of up to 30% off the market one. At this point in the investigation, according to Brussels, the tax regime would create benefits for companies making use of it and harm EU competition. “The European Union,” said EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia, “needs a competitive maritime sector at the international level and allows for a favourable taxation system to prevent enterprises from moving their activities elsewhere. The inquiry does not bring into question the principle of these rates, but the EU Commission must make sure that the Spanish system does not go beyond what is allowed for by EU rules, and that it does not distort competition within the internal market.”
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: 12th Century Manuscript Disappears From Compostela
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, JULY 7 — The precious Codex Calixtinus dating back to the 12th century, the first ‘guide’ for the pilgrims of Compostela, considered to be of inestimable value, disappeared from the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, where it was kept in a vault in the Archives, report Spanish police. The disappearance of the Codex, attributed to Pope Callixtus II, was reported to police by religious authorities on Tuesday night.
The Codex, made up of five books which were grouped into a single book in 1964, is considered to be one of the gems of Galicia’s cultural heritage. Spanish police have issued a European alert in case the work has been robbed, as specialists interviewed by El Correo Gallego believe, by a group specialising in art theft, which could have acted on an order from a wealthy and unscrupulous collector. The Codex is unsellable on the legal market. Police have activated a large-scale search, reports ABC online. According to sources in the investigation cited by Radio Cadena Ser, the work could already be outside of Spain. The Codex is a sort of guidebook for pilgrims created to promote the worship of St. James, who is believed to be buried in the Galician city. It offers advice, indications on accommodations, descriptions of the path, works of art and customs of the various regions that were travelled through.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
France Supports Moroccan Solar Power Plan
(ANSAmed) — RABAT, JULY 8 — The French Development Agency (AFD) has decided to grant a loan of 100.3 million euros to Morocco to support the country’s solar energy plan. The money will also be used for the construction of a solar power plant in Ouarzazate.
The financing, MAP writes, consists of a loan of 100 million and a financing of 300,000 euros to support the Moroccan plan that was launched in 2009. Goal of this plan is to develop 2000 MW of solar power production capacity by 2020. An important goal for a country that depends for 97% from other countries for its energy supplies. Most of the solar power that is generated in the context of the Moroccan plan will be used on the local market; part of it will be exported to Europe.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria: 60% of Imported Goods Are Fake
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, JUNE 14 — 60% of goods imported into Algeria and put on sale are fake. The figure, which outlines the massive reach of this phenomenon and which raised concern, was reported by Mohamed Abdou Bouderbala, the general director of Algeria’s Customs office, who was quoted by Aps. Bourdebala stated that some two to three million fake products are seized every year by the Customs office task force charged with fighting this type of fraud.
Almost all goods imported into Algeria are counterfeit products, from make-up to electronic devices to spare parts and cigarettes.
What is most alarming is what is done with medicines which, during the first stage (when importation has to be authorised) arrive as original products, but are then substituted with counterfeit items.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria: Record Citrus Production in 2011
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, JULY 6 — Citrus production in Algeria reached 11.5 million quintals in 2011, according to the Ministry for Agriculture and Rural Development, quoted by APS. Compared with the previous season, citrus production increased by 41%.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria: No More Minors in Adult Prisons Starting in 2012
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, JULY 8 — By the year 2012 the programme to move young prisoners to rehabilitation centres that will allow minors who are currently imprisoned in regular jails, where, however, they are still kept separate from the adult population, will be completed. The announcement was made by the Director General for the Prison and Rehabilitation System, Mokhtar Felioune, during a visit to the Oussera prison, reports APS. The programme calls for rehabilitation centres to be up and running as soon as possible, as they are part of the five-year prison building programme. These centres, added Felioune, will be educational in nature, as opposed to normal prisons. Currently 411 minors are in Algerian prisons, mainly for robbery or acts of violence.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Association Donates 2 Tons of Books to Baghdad Library
(AGI) Pescara — The Pescara-based association “Aiutiamoli a vivere” has donated two tons of books to the Baghdad library.
“Everything went as planned” said the president of the association, Tusio De Iuliis. “I left from Pisa on June 9 aboard a civil flight with some soldiers who were travelling to Afghanistan. With the two tons of books that we took with us, we can say that the library there, named after Ignazio Silone, is now complete. The situation in Iraq is terrible: there’s no electricity, gasoline is hard to find and temperatures can reach 50 degrees. The situation is bound to get worse as the summer approaches” De Iuliis explained. The mission was possible thanks to the valuable contribution of the municipality of Spoltore and the municipality and province of Pescara.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Mar Musa Monastery on Last Legs, Monks Demand Help
(ANSAmed) — ROME, JULY 8 — The Syrian crisis may also account for the Mar Musa monastery, a site for Christians and Muslims in the middle of the desert that was opened in 1982 by the Roman Jesuit, Paolo Dall’Oglio, and that has become a meeting point for pilgrims around the world, with an average of more than 50,000 travelling to the area every year. The Jesuit and his colleagues yesterday sent out an appeal for “money, commitment and prayer”, as the monastery is no longer able to rely on donations from its visitors and is at risk of closure, at a time when the local community has the greatest need for help and support.
Only yesterday, for instance, the monks took in W., a two and a half year-old child. “His parents have disappeared in the storm that is afflicting this country. A widow with three young girls picked up little W. and came here,” the monks said in their statement.
Set deep in the mountains east of Nebek (a town 80 kilometres north of the capital Damascus), the monastery stands at 1,320 metres above sea level and has a staircase of 300 steps built into the rock of a breathtaking valley. The original 6th century building was dedicated to Bar Musa, Saint Moses the Abyssinian, and is surrounded by caves that were used for centuries by hermits, which have also been revived by Father Paolo.
“Concern for the physical safety of the Syrian relatives of our monks and nuns is compounded by anxiety over a galloping economic crisis, which is even more serious for the tourism sector, which is in a disastrous state,” the statement continues. “Up until Easter, we would have hundreds of visitors. Tonight, one Chinese tourist came here and we looked at her as if she were a martian. Many young people, most of them destitute, reacting with their work and prayers to the depression and stress that threatens us all”.
The harsh truth is that “if things continues like this, within a few weeks we will be incapable of meeting the expenses of our secular collaborators,” the monks say, and, as a result, “the life of the monastic community would become very difficult, not to mention that of the needy families whom we help regularly”. A deterioration of the situation, in other words, would mean “bankruptcy” for Mar Musa, another negative signal for Syria’s future.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Two Deputies Propose Trousers for Women MPs
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, JULY 8 — Two Turkish parliamentarians proposed amendment to parliamentary bylaw to allow women deputies to wear trousers during Parliamentary General Assembly meetings, as Anatolia news agency reports. Justice & Development (AK) Party deputies Ihsan Sener and Sibel Gonul presented the proposal to Parliament Speaker’s Office on Thursday. Under the proposal, women deputies can wear trousers and jackets besides suits. It amends Article 56 of the bylaw, which states “women deputies wear suits”, as “women deputies wear suits or jacket and trousers”. The reason for the proposal is to let women deputies wear more comfortable clothes during long and exhausting General Assembly meetings.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Moscow Bans Abortion Ads That Don’t Inform Women of the Risks
Move contained in a bill passed in the Duma. The government continues to fight the decline in population: over 1.5 million abortions every year.
Moscow (AsiaNews) — Concerned by the continuing population decline that afflicts the world’s largest country, the Duma (the lower house of parliament) has approved a bill according to which, all advertisements relating to practices of abortion must contain warnings about possible risks to the health of women. The draft has passed its third reading last July 1 and now awaits the green light from the Federation Council (Senate) and then its signing — virtually taken for granted — by President Dmitry Medvedev, who has always championed the values of life and family.
According to Russian press reports, it is an amendment to the law on advertising, which states that 10% of the space used to advertise abortion should also inform women about the possible negative consequences such as infertility. “The advertising for abortion should not contain statements on the safety of these health services,” reads the text of the bill, released by news agencies. “These ads — said Viktor Zvagelsky, deputy of the ruling party United Russia — lead the young people to believe they will have no problems interrupting a pregnancy”, and he motivates the proposal of the new law with the “depressing” situation of abortions in Russia.
The Federation has one of the highest abortion rates in the world and for time now, experts have been speaking of “a demographic coma”. According to figures published by the Duma website, in 2007, there were 1.5 million abortions. The Soviet Union was the first country to legalize abortion in 1920, banned again by Stalin (from 1936 until his death in 1954) interested in encouraging births. For the same purpose, the Communist Party also bestowed awards and money on the most prolific couples, but immediately after the collapse of the USSR the demographic decline has become unstoppable: from 1992 to 2008 the population fell by more than 12 million people to about 143 million. The United Nations estimates that by 2050, Russia will lose a fifth of its population, reaching 116 million. The phenomenon is due to a poor diet that causes heart problems, high rates of alcoholism among men, the spread of HIV / AIDS and the high number of violent deaths.
To combat what Moscow sees as a real war for survival, the government also supports the Orthodox Church which for years has asked for more stringent measures to reduce the number of abortions. According to data from the Russian Social University, the annual abortion rate is far higher than official figures, and in reality is around three to four million.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
British Writer Released From Prison in Singapore
(AGI) Singapore — The British journalist Alan Shadrake has been released from prison in Singapore, after serving a 5-week sentence for writing a book which is critical of the use of death sentences in this small Asian country. The 76-years-old had been arrested last July on charges of criminal defamation against the country’s judges after writing study on Singapore’s justice system called “Once a jolly hangman” .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Hindu Temple in India’s Kerala Reveals €8bn Treasure
(AGI) New Delhi — Digs at a Hindu temple in India’s southern state of Kerala have led to the discovery of an 8bn euro treasure. The underground rooms at the temple have been found to contain thousands of silver and gold necklaces and precious stones, currently estimated to be worth some 500bn rupees.
Kerala authorities say the estimate is a preliminary one.
According to Secretary of State K. Jayakumar “there is still another secret room we have to open. It has remained close for 140 years.” ..
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Vietnamese Protest Against the “Tyrannical” Expansion of China
The Hanoi government has to find the “positive and effective” measures to protect the fishermen and vessels for oil exploration as soon as possible. In June, nearly 3 million Vietnamese in the world held a sit-in in front of Chinese embassies in the United States, France, Germany and other countries. Meanwhile, China seeks bilateral agreements to dominate the South China Sea.
Hanoi (AsiaNews) — Old, young, children, students, scientists, teachers, writers, farmers, factory workers: the entire Vietnamese people today, took to the streets to resist the ‘“tyrannical oppression and expansion” of the Chinese Communist regime in the South China Seas. In an announcement yesterday, intellectuals called on the government of Vietnam “ to find positive and effective measures to protect the fishermen and boats for oil exploration as soon as possible.” Because Hanoi “has to rely on the strength of the whole Vietnamese people, both at home and around the world.”
In recent weeks, at least 3 million Vietnamese fishermen and sailors all over the world organized sit-in in front of Chinese embassies of France, Germany, the United States and other countries. All cried, “Trung Qu?c dà d?o lu?c xam” (down with the Chinese invasion), protesting against the repeated attempts to occupy the Spratly Islands.
Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American, told AsiaNews: “I am very concerned about the aggressive ambitions of China. On 3 July I took part in a peaceful demonstration in Hanoi. The people who were with me spoke of the Chinese paramilitary ships, which for years have blocked Vietnamese fishing vessels, killing hundreds of thousands of fishermen and shooting women, children and elderly living in the border provinces in northern Vietnam. “
Meanwhile, the newspaper Revolutionary Military of China’s People says the “leaders of the Chinese military” are heading to Vietnam “to resolve sensitive issues” and guide Vietnamese public opinion “in the right direction.” In fact, Beijing continues to seek only bilateral agreements, so as to intimidate smaller countries and force them to accept their claims on maritime boundaries in the South China Sea. The other countries are instead calling for multilateral agreements.
In June of this year tension between China, Vietnam and the Philippines increased after beijing’s “paramilitary ships” disguised as fishing vessels, arrived in Vietnamese waters. May 25 and June 9, armed ships cut the cables of two Vietnamese ships for oil exploration, the Binh Minh 02 and the Viking II. And since June 15, Beijing has sent a large ship from its coast guard to control navigation, explicitly signalling its ambitions on the Spratly and Paracel islands, uninhabited, but very rich in resources and raw materials. The hegemony of the area is of strategic importance for trade and exploitation of raw materials, including oil and natural gas.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Another 4 Boatloads Land on Lampedusa, Over 1,000 Refugees
(AGI) Lampedusa — The Coastguard reports that four boats have put into Lampedusa in quick succession after several days’ respite. 1,042 migrants landed on the island between 11.30pm and 6.30am (CET), including roughly a hundred women and thirty or so children. Most of them are of Sub-Saharan origin and came from Libya.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
0 comments:
Post a Comment