The number of migrants arriving on Italy’s shores has nearly doubled compared with last year.
Almost 41,000 people have arrived in Italy by sea since January, compared with 21,000 over the same period in 2020.
The jump in numbers is not a one-off. Crossings during last year’s pandemic-affected summer were higher than in 2019.
Warm summer weather and political instability in North Africa have been linked to the rising number of crossings, with Libyan coast guards stopping three times as many people as last year.
Tunisian nationals made up more than a quarter of those who arrived in Italy this year. More than 33,000 of them set off from Libya or Tunisia.
Some took longer routes to Italy, with 5,000 travelling via Turkey, 800 setting off from Algeria and 600 from Egypt.
The most common port of entry was on the island of Lampedusa, but others arrived on Sicily or at the southern tip of the Italian mainland.
Lampedusa has a housing complex for migrants who reach the island after being rescued from boats launched by smugglers based in Libya.
Fishing boats or rubber dinghies crowded with migrants sometimes reach the island unaided after setting off from Tunisia’s coast.
The crossings have continued into September, with 548 people arriving on the Italian coast last Wednesday and another 283 on Thursday.
Although three quarters of this year’s arrivals were men, there were thousands of women and children, including more than 6,000 unaccompanied minors.
Asylum problems
At least 20,000 people have applied for asylum this year, but many have been rejected. Asylum requests are often denied by Italy unless people can show they are fleeing war and persecution rather than poverty.
As of this summer there were more than 53,000 asylum cases pending in Italy, according to figures from the UN’s refugee agency UNHCR.
The EU and Italy have provided support to Libyan coast guards in an effort to reduce illegal migration to their shores.
But an EU watchdog this week criticised the bloc’s efforts to deport unsuccessful asylum seekers, which it said were encouraging illegal migration.
Efforts by Brussels to persuade non-EU countries to take back migrants have “yielded limited results,” said the European Court of Auditors.
It said EU officials could not even agree on the size of the problem, with border guards giving different figures to the bloc’s statistics agency on how many people had been ordered to leave.
Water waste
In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.
Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.
A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.
The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.
The biog
Name: Atheja Ali Busaibah
Date of birth: 15 November, 1951
Favourite books: Ihsan Abdel Quddous books, such as “The Sun will Never Set”
Hobbies: Reading and writing poetry
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Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
The biog:
From: Wimbledon, London, UK
Education: Medical doctor
Hobbies: Travelling, meeting new people and cultures
Favourite animals: All of them
Results
6.30pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (Dirt) 1,600m
Winner: Celtic Prince, David Liska (jockey), Rashed Bouresly (trainer).
7.05pm: Conditions Dh240,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Commanding, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
7.40pm: Handicap Dh190,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Grand Argentier, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
8.15pm: Handicap Dh170,000 (D) 2,200m
Winner: Arch Gold, Sam Hitchcott, Doug Watson.
8.50pm: The Entisar Listed Dh265,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Military Law, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi.
9.25pm: The Garhoud Sprint Listed Dh265,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Ibn Malik, Dane O’Neill, Musabah Al Muhairi.
10pm: Handicap Dh185,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Midnight Sands, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
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