Italy will allow a ship carrying 179 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean Sea to dock so medics can carry out health checks, the country's foreign minister said on Friday.
Antonio Tajani said that Humanity 1, a German-flagged vessel, would head for Catania, Sicily, and "be able to stay in our territorial waters for the time necessary for us to examine all the emergencies on board".
More than 1,000 migrants who were trying to reach Europe are currently aboard three rescue boats, and Italy has faced mounting pressure to let the humanitarian ships dock.
The charity rescue ships, including the Norwegian flag-bearing Ocean Viking and Geo Barents, have been at sea off Italy for more than a week waiting for permission from Rome to dock.
The Norwegian-flagged vessels have more than 800 people on board and are sailing off Sicily, while the German-flagged Humanity 1 has 179 people, including more than 100 unaccompanied minors and a seven-month-old baby with her mother.
"We will accept all those people, for example because they are minors, or because, according to what we know from the media, they are pregnant women or with young children, or people with fever", Mr Tajani said.
But he warned that "all those who do not meet these criteria will have to be removed from our territorial waters by the ship".
Norway ambassador to Italy said. it will not take in almost 1,000 migrants stranded in the Mediterranean.
In an email statement to Reuters, ambassador Johan Vibe said Norway had “no responsibility” to take in the people on board two private Norwegian-flagged vessels.
The Norwegian ambassador’s response came after Italy’s new Prime Minister Georgia Meloni suggested that the countries under whose flags the ships are operating should take in the rescued migrants.
Italy sent letters last week to the embassies of Germany and Norway, saying non-government organisation (NGO) ships flying their flags were not following European security rules and were undermining the fight against illegal immigration.
"The primary responsibility for co-ordinating the work to ensure a safe port for those in distress at sea lies with the state responsible for the search-and-rescue area where such assistance has been rendered.
"Neighbouring coastal states also have a responsibility in such matters," Mr Vibe’s statement said.
The German embassy on Wednesday urged Italy to provide help swiftly, saying the NGO ships made an important contribution to saving lives at sea.
On Thursday, the charity SOS Mediterranee, which operates the Ocean Viking, said it had asked Greece, Spain and France.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told RMC-BFMTV that international law said Italy should take in the migrants, but also said that Paris and Berlin were ready to offer assistance.
"We have told our Italian friends, together with our German friends, that we are ready to take in, clearly as we have done in previous cases, some of the women and children so that Italy is not alone in receiving them," he said.
Search-and-rescue co-ordinator for SOS Humanity, Nicola Stalla, called the “blockade at sea” a “disgrace” and said delays in disembarking could have “life-threatening consequences”.
Petra Krischok, a press officer at the German NGO, SOS Humanity, who is aboard the vessel, posted on Twitter that the migrants were sleeping on the deck and could soon face rough seas after days of good weather.
In a video posted on the social media platform, a doctor on Humanity 1, said people aboard were getting sicker and suffering from skin problems, psychological stress; some showed signs of having experienced violence.
Earlier in the week, the Italian interior minister Matteo Piantedosi told the Corriere della Sera daily newspaper that Italy “cannot take in migrants who are picked up at sea by foreign ships operating without any planned co-ordination with the authorities”.
Migrant numbers have surged in Italy over the past week, with more than 6,200 people arriving since October 27 compared with 1,400 in the same period in 2021, according to government data.
The latest figures from the UN refugee agency show there have been just over 83,000 sea arrivals in Italy this year.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shantanu Maheshwari, Jimmy Shergill, Saiee Manjrekar
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Rating: 2.5/5
How to get there
Emirates (www.emirates.com) flies directly to Hanoi, Vietnam, with fares starting from around Dh2,725 return, while Etihad (www.etihad.com) fares cost about Dh2,213 return with a stop. Chuong is 25 kilometres south of Hanoi.
The Pope's itinerary
Sunday, February 3, 2019 - Rome to Abu Dhabi
1pm: departure by plane from Rome / Fiumicino to Abu Dhabi
10pm: arrival at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
Monday, February 4
12pm: welcome ceremony at the main entrance of the Presidential Palace
12.20pm: visit Abu Dhabi Crown Prince at Presidential Palace
5pm: private meeting with Muslim Council of Elders at Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
6.10pm: Inter-religious in the Founder's Memorial
Tuesday, February 5 - Abu Dhabi to Rome
9.15am: private visit to undisclosed cathedral
10.30am: public mass at Zayed Sports City – with a homily by Pope Francis
12.40pm: farewell at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
1pm: departure by plane to Rome
5pm: arrival at the Rome / Ciampino International Airport
The biog
Hometown: Cairo
Age: 37
Favourite TV series: The Handmaid’s Tale, Black Mirror
Favourite anime series: Death Note, One Piece and Hellsing
Favourite book: Designing Brand Identity, Fifth Edition
Stree
Producer: Maddock Films, Jio Movies
Director: Amar Kaushik
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi, Aparshakti Khurana, Abhishek Banerjee
Rating: 3.5
Punchy appearance
Roars of support buoyed Mr Johnson in an extremely confident and combative appearance
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
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F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
The past Palme d'Or winners
2018 Shoplifters, Hirokazu Kore-eda
2017 The Square, Ruben Ostlund
2016 I, Daniel Blake, Ken Loach
2015 Dheepan, Jacques Audiard
2014 Winter Sleep (Kış Uykusu), Nuri Bilge Ceylan
2013 Blue is the Warmest Colour (La Vie d'Adèle: Chapitres 1 et 2), Abdellatif Kechiche, Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux
2012 Amour, Michael Haneke
2011 The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick
2010 Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Lung Bunmi Raluek Chat), Apichatpong Weerasethakul
2009 The White Ribbon (Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte), Michael Haneke
2008 The Class (Entre les murs), Laurent Cantet
