Spain’s prime minister has said the country will take in a rescue ship stranded in the Mediterranean, to help avoid a humanitarian disaster.
Pedro Sánchez said he would give “safe harbour” to the Aquarius and the 629 people on board, after Italy and Malta both refused to let the ship dock.
The UN refugee agency and the EU had both called for a swift end to the stand-off between the two countries.
Mr. Sánchez, who took office a week ago, said the ship would dock in Valencia.
The migrants aboard the Aquarius were picked up from inflatable boats off the coast of Libya at the weekend, in six different rescue operations, according to the NGO SOS Méditerranée.
“It is our duty to help avoid a humanitarian catastrophe and offer a safe port to these people, to comply with our human rights obligations,” Mr. Sanchez’s office said.
The Council of Europe welcomed Spain’s move, with the organisation’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovic, tweeting: “Saving lives at sea is an obligation that states must always uphold.”
Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat tweeted his gratitude to Spain, saying Italy had broken international rules and caused a standoff.
He said Malta would be sending fresh supplies to the vessel, adding: “We will have to sit down and discuss how to prevent this from happening again. This is a European issue.”
Spain’s decision to take in the ship was hailed by Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini as a “victory” for his government’s hardline immigration policy.
Those saved include 123 unaccompanied minors, 11 younger children and seven pregnant women, SOS Méditerranée said.
The minors are aged between 13 and 17 and come from Eritrea, Ghana, Nigeria and Sudan, according to BBC reports.
“Most of them are sleeping outside. They are obviously exhausted, they have been exposed to the elements, they have been at sea for 20 to 30 hours prior to their rescue,” the BBC report said.
“They are fragile and we have yet to learn what’s going to happen to them,” she added.
Mr. Salvini refused to let the ship in, saying: “Saving lives is a duty, turning Italy into a huge refugee camp is not.”
“Italy is done bending over backwards and obeying – this time THERE IS SOMEONE WHO SAYS NO,” he wrote on Twitter, with the hashtag #closethedoors.
- US rejects asylum case in landmark ruling
The US attorney general has ruled that victims of domestic abuse and gang violence should no longer generally qualify for asylum in the US.
Jeff Sessions’ ruling overturns a 2016 decision which granted asylum to a woman from El Salvador who had been raped and abused by her husband.
America’s top law official said the “asylum statute is not a general hardship statute.”
Activists say the move will affect tens of thousands of asylum applications.
“Generally, claims by aliens pertaining to domestic violence or gang violence perpetrated by non-governmental actors will not qualify for asylum,” Mr. Sessions wrote in his ruling.
He added: “The mere fact that a country may have problems effectively policing certain crimes – such as domestic violence or gang violence – or that certain populations are more likely to be victims of crime, cannot itself establish an asylum claim.”
Mr. Sessions’ decision overrules a lower court’s ruling that granted asylum to a woman who told US immigration authorities she had been abused by her husband in El Salvador.
The woman – known in court documents as A-B – entered the US illegally in 2014, and requested asylum on the basis that her former spouse had repeatedly abused her “emotionally, physically and sexually.”
In December 2016, the Board of Immigration Appeals found that A-B qualified for asylum.
But speaking on Monday at an annual training conference for the nation’s hundreds of immigration judges, Mr. Sessions disputed the board’s findings that the woman’s case made her a member of “particular social group.”
“The asylum statute does not provide redress for all misfortune,” he said, adding that the woman was a victim of “private criminal activity” rather than state-sponsored persecution.
- US Air Force deserter found after 35 years
A man who deserted from the US Air Force (USAF) in 1983 has been found in California, the US military says.
Capt William Howard Hughes Jr, who had top-secret clearance, was last seen withdrawing $28,500 (£21,300) from his bank account at 19 different locations in New Mexico.
A man claiming to be Barry O’Beirne was interviewed earlier this month by officials investigating passport fraud.
Pressed on inconsistencies, the man said his real name was William Hughes.
He claimed he had been depressed about being in the Air Force so left and created a false identity.
He had been living in California ever since, he said.
Capt Hughes is currently being held at Travis Air Force Base in California, a statement from the USAF’s office of special investigations said.
He faces a maximum sentence of five years confinement, forfeiture of all pay and dishonourable discharge for his desertion.
Capt Hughes worked at the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center in Kirtland, New Mexico.
He had top secret clearance.
According to the USAF, his duties included “classified planning and analysis of the NATO command, control and communications surveillance systems.”
At the time of his disappearance he had just returned from the Netherlands, where he had been working with NATO officers.
Due to his access to classified information he was declared a fugitive and was on a list of the USAF’s seven most wanted individuals.
Officials do not know whether his family knew his whereabouts beforehand.
- Chloe Ayling ‘vindicated’ over kidnapper’s conviction
Model Chloe Ayling says she feels “vindicated” after the man she accused of kidnapping her was convicted and jailed for almost 17 years.
Ms. Ayling was lured to Italy from London on the promise of a photo shoot by Lucasz Herba, who drugged her and took her to a farmhouse in a holdall.
Herba, 30, held her there for six days in July 2017, and demanded a 300,000 Euro (£265,000) ransom.
The Polish national was jailed following a trial at a court in Milan.
The court heard he offered Ms. Ayling for sale online, before handing her over to the British consulate.
Herba – described by prosecutors as a “narcissist and a fantasist who was obsessed with Miss Ayling” – was also found guilty of attempted extortion and carrying false documents.
He was jailed for 16 years and nine months.
Herba had claimed Ms. Ayling went with him willingly, which she denied.
At the start of the trial in February, a police officer told the court that Ms. Ayling had suffered mental and physical abuse during the six-day ordeal.
Her agent Adrian Sington said: “This has been an incredible burden on her shoulders for the last year in the face of media criticism of her motivation and this is vindication – her story is true.
“It means now she can get on with her life. It’s hard if you’re being painted in the press as a liar and now she’s able to say, ‘I know it’s a bizarre story but it’s a true one.'”
He called Herba a “psychopath and a narcissist” who “behaves in such a way that it’s almost impossible to believe that someone could be so stupid.”
“So, in some ways, it’s not surprising that the media found Chloe’s story difficult to believe,” he said.
“Let’s not forget she was bundled into a suitcase, injected with ketamine in the boot of a car and thought she was going to die.”