(ANSA) – ROME, JUL 22 – Reception capacity on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa remained under strain on Saturday morning following the arrival of 266 migrants and refugees since midnight.
Coast guard and finance police patrol boats intervened in support of seven boats including one carrying nine Tunisians of whom seven were pregnant women. The other boats carried between 21 and 49 people.
On Friday a total of 936 migrants and refugees arrived in 28 boats on the tiny stepping-stone island that is closer to north Africa than it is to Europe.
As of 9 am local time there were 2,501 people in the hotspot against an official capacity of around 400.
Of the total, 1,034 were reported to be minors.
A group of 760 people were due to be transferred off Lampedusa to Porto Empedocle on mainland Sicily later on Saturday. On Friday in total of 1,244 migrants and refugees were transferred off the island by a combination of passenger ferry, finance police patrol boat and the naval vessel Cassiopea.
The Cassiopea docked in Reggio Calabria on Saturday morning.
(ANSA).
Kenya's trade ministry has warned foreign nationals that visa-free entry into the country does not grant them the right to work, as the government vows to shut down unlicensed small busi...
France has dropped plans to introduce a mandatory deposit system for plastic bottles, instead proposing that towns and cities establish voluntary schemes.
The French environment minis...
Updated 1220
nech Acquittal Sheds Light on Controversial Moments Behind Trial’s Media Bans: Yorgen Fenech was acquitted on Wednesday of masterminding the assassination of journalist D...
Morning Briefing
Court orders police to examine new evidence after Fenech acquittal
The Criminal Court has ordered police to examine testimony heard during Yorgen Fenech’s murder t...
The European Commission has unveiled an ambitious package of tax reforms aimed at simplifying tax rules across the European Union, reducing compliance burdens for businesses and strength...
The European Union's new Migration and Asylum Pact enters into force on 12 June, ushering in the most significant reform of the bloc's migration framework in years and placing renewed em...
A shortage of fuel oil used in ships and power plants looms in the third quarter as refiners increasingly squeezed by wars that have disrupted both crude processing and tanker traffic ...
Malta Public Transport is encouraging passengers attending Una Notte Con Le Stelle at The Granaries, Floriana, on Saturday 5 September to make use of the regular night bus services opera...
Artificial intelligence has already transformed industries such as finance and education, but one of its most important tests may come in medicine: discovering new drugs.
Pharmaceutic...
Malta’s new pay transparency regulations, which came into effect on the 5th of June, aim to strengthen fairness and equality in the workplace, but employers are warning that the rushed i...
Malta Public Transport is encouraging passengers attending Una Notte Con Le Stelle at The Granaries, Floriana, on Saturday 5 September to make use of the regular night bus services opera...
The first edition of HEKATECH.HEALTH 2026, to be held in Malta on November 26, will focus on how health systems can reconcile two increasingly urgent demands: expanding access to new med...
Fears of renewed escalation gripped the Middle East on Wednesday after the United States and Iran exchanged their biggest barrage since July, with Washington striking Iran's southern co...
President Donald Trump announced late Saturday that he had called off planned U.S. strikes on Iran, saying renewed negotiations had raised hopes of easing the conflict and reopening ship...
At least 32 people have been killed and more than 700 injured after two powerful earthquakes — measuring 7.2 and 7.5 — struck central Venezuela seconds apart, causing widespread destruct...
Thousands of Cuban security personnel have begun leaving Caracas after nearly two decades in Venezuela, as Washington ramps up efforts to dismantle the long standing alliance between the...
Ukraine wants peace but will not just give in to Russia at any price, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday in a defiant speech marking Independence Day celebrations.
British...
Russia is open to listening to new proposals on how to reach a settlement on the Ukraine conflict, a senior Russian diplomat said, but any proposals should reflect the "realities on the...
