A French court has sentenced 18 people – mainly Iraqi Kurds – to prison terms of up to 15 years for organising a major migrant-smuggling ring that transported people across the English Channel in small, flimsy boats.
Another group of migrants boarded the Italian Navy ship Libra on November 4 to be transferred to Albania, even though judges are continuing not to validate the practice.
A considerable number of migrants reached the Sicilian island of Lampedusa and the Calabrian city of Crotone in recent days. Nearly 800 people arrived on Lampedusa between Monday and Tuesday.
Migrants in a Bari reception center staged a three-hour protest over poor living conditions, sparked by the recent death of a fellow migrant who allegedly lacked adequate medical care.
The UK has offered direct relocation to asylum seekers stranded on Diego Garcia, a remote British territory in the Indian Ocean, ending a previous plan for temporary transfer to Romania.