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IMMIGRATION

Over 4,500 migrants rescued off Italy

More than 4,500 migrants were rescued from the Mediterranean Tuesday on in 30 separate operations in the Strait of Sicily, said Italy's coastguard, which coordinated the missions.

Over 4,500 migrants rescued off Italy
70,930 migrants arrived in Italy between January and June. Photo: Giovanni Isolino/AFP

More than 1,100 people were saved by a single Italian coastguard patrol vessel which took on board the passengers of a stricken wooden boat and five dinghies.

The wooden boat alone had 435 migrants aboard, including 124 women and 18 children, according to the coastguard.

Four Italian naval vessels saved more than 900 others, while boats belonging to charities and aid groups, the EU border patrol agency Frontex and the EU's Sophia anti-people smuggling mission rescued the remaining migrants.

The Italian interior ministry said last week that a total of 70,930 people landed between January and June – almost exactly the same number as the same period in 2015 and only slightly higher than in 2014.

The full-year total of migrant arrivals for 2015 was 153,000.

More than 10,000 migrants have perished since 2014, including more than 2,800 so far this year, the UNHCR said last month.

IMMIGRATION

France ‘will not welcome migrants’ from Lampedusa: interior minister

France "will not welcome migrants" from the island, Gérald Darmanin has insisted

France 'will not welcome migrants' from Lampedusa: interior minister

France will not welcome any migrants coming from Italy’s Lampedusa, interior minister Gérald Darmanin has said after the Mediterranean island saw record numbers of arrivals.

Some 8,500 people arrived on Lampedusa on 199 boats between Monday and Wednesday last week, according to the UN’s International Organisation for
Migration, prompting European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to travel there Sunday to announce an emergency action plan.

According to Darmanin, Paris told Italy it was “ready to help them return people to countries with which we have good diplomatic relations”, giving the
example of Ivory Coast and Senegal.

But France “will not welcome migrants” from the island, he said, speaking on French television on Tuesday evening.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has called on Italy’s EU partners to share more of the responsibility.

The recent arrivals on Lampedusa equal more than the whole population of the tiny Italian island.

The mass movement has stoked the immigration debate in France, where political parties in the country’s hung parliament are wrangling over a draft law governing new arrivals.

France is expected to face a call from Pope Francis for greater tolerance towards migrants later this week during a high-profile visit to Mediterranean city Marseille, where the pontiff will meet President Emmanuel Macron and celebrate mass before tens of thousands in a stadium.

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