A man from Senegal was killed in an overnight fire at a shanty town mostly inhabited by irregular migrant workers and refugees. This is not the first time this area in southern Italy saw a destructive blaze.
The number of refugees using visa-free travel rights to enter the EU, especially from Latin America, is on the rise. Over the entire bloc, the number of new refugees has fallen to pre-2014 levels.
Italian authorities have been asked by the Netherlands to keep the NGO migrant rescue ship Sea Watch 3 in the port of Catania. The decision followed an inspection by Dutch authorities earlier this week.
The UN Refugee Agency says there has been an increase in the number of people fleeing South Sudan to the Democratic Republic of Congo in recent days, due to violence against civilians.
European Union countries plus Norway and Switzerland saw a 10 percent drop in international protection requests in 2018 compared with 2017. The EU border agency, Frontex, also says arrivals via the Central Mediterranean route in Jan1