Migrant flotilla overwhelms Italian island
ROME -- A flotilla of flimsy boats, crowded with migrants and launched from Tunisia, overwhelmed a tiny southern Italian island on Wednesday, taxing the coast guard's capability to intercept the smugglers' vessels and testing Premier Giorgia Meloni's pledge to thwart irregular migration.
Compounding the political pressure on Italy's first postwar far-right leader were vows by France and Germany to rebuff migrants who arrive by sea on Italian shores, and, in defiance of European Union asylum system rules, head northward to try to find jobs or relatives.
Starting early Tuesday, the unseaworthy, overcrowded iron boats, came one after the other in what appeared to be almost a procession to onlookers on Lampedusa, a fishing and tourist island south of Sicily. Around 6,800 migrants came in a span of just over 24 hours -- that number is a few hundred higher than the isle's full-time population.
In all, by Wednesday evening some 120 boats had arrived, Transport Minister Matteo Salvini said.
With Lampedusa-based Italian coast guard and border patrol vessels unable to intercept all of the smugglers' boats offshore, dozens of migrants temporarily eluded authorities by climbing up Lampedusa's rocky shores on their own.
Provoking the increase in numbers was a bottleneck in Tunisia's ports caused by rough seas that meant the smugglers hadn't been able to launch their boats for days, according to Italian authorities.
Palestinian politicians rage at criticisms
RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Palestinian politicians on Wednesday raged against dozens of Palestinian academics who had criticized President Mahmoud Abbas' recent remarks on the Holocaust that drew widespread accusations of antisemitism.
They lambasted the open letter signed earlier this week by over a hundred Palestinian academics, activists and artists based around the world as "the statement of shame."
The well-respected writers and thinkers had released the letter after footage surfaced that showed Abbas asserting European Jews were persecuted by Hitler because of what he described as their "social functions" and predatory lending practices, rather than their religion or ethnicity.
"Their statement is consistent with the Zionist narrative and its signatories give credence to the enemies of the Palestinian people," said the secular nationalist Fatah party that runs the Palestinian Authority.
Fatah officials called the signatories "mouthpieces for the occupation" and "extremely dangerous."
In the open letter, the legions of Palestinian academics, most of whom live in the United States and Europe, condemned Abbas' comments as "morally and politically reprehensible."
Baltic nations ban Russian vehicles
HELSINKI -- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have banned vehicles with Russian license plates from entering their territory, a joint move in line with a recent interpretation of the European Union's sanctions against Moscow over its war on Ukraine.
Estonia imposed the measure on Wednesday morning, matching similar actions by southern neighbors Latvia and Lithuania earlier in the week. Estonia's interior ministry said the decision by the Baltic nations -- which are all NATO members that border Russia -- followed "the additional interpretation of the sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation published by the European Commission" on Sept. 8.
Under the EU's decision, motor vehicles registered in the Russian Federation are no longer allowed to enter the territory of the 27-member bloc, including Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The Baltic states are among the most vocal European critics of Russia and President Vladimir Putin.
"The goal of the sanctions against Russia is to force the aggressor country to retreat to its borders," Estonian Interior Minister Lauri Läänemets said in a statement.
U.N. envoy to Sudan to resign post
UNITED NATIONS -- The U.N. special envoy for Sudan who was declared unwelcome by the country's military rulers announced his resignation Wednesday in a final speech to the U.N. Security Council, warning that the conflict between Sudan's two military leaders "could be morphing into a full-scale civil war."
Volker Perthes, who had continued to work outside Sudan, said the fighting shows no sign of abating, with neither side appearing close to "a decisive military victory." He also said the violence in Sudan's western Darfur region "has worsened dramatically," with the warring parties blatantly disregarding human rights and civilians being targeted based on their ethnicity.
Sudan has been rocked by violence since mid-April, when tensions between the country's military, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, burst into open fighting.
Perthes said at least 5,000 people have been killed since then and over 12,000 wounded, calling these conservative numbers and saying the actual number "is likely much higher."
--Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports
Migrants walk towards a station to board a bus directed to Marseille, France, in Rome, Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023. Despite vows by Italys right-wing government to crack down on migrant arrivals and European Union-inked deals with Tunisia to stem the flow, the numbers of desperate people making the dangerous Mediterranean crossing keep rising. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Migrants wait near a station to board a bus directed to Marseille, France, in Rome, Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023. Despite vows by Italys right-wing government to crack down on migrant arrivals and European Union-inked deals with Tunisia to stem the flow, the numbers of desperate people making the dangerous Mediterranean crossing keep rising. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)