700 Migrants Feared Drowned in Mediterranean
More than 700 people fleeing Africa and the Middle East may have drowned in shipwrecks in the Mediterranean over the last week, bringing the death toll this year to almost 3,000, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on Monday. In the worst incident, as many as 500 migrants are believed to have died after traffickers rammed their ship off Malta's coast last week, an event that only came to light this weekend in testimony from two of nine survivors. The survivors said the traffickers ordered the migrants to change vessels in the middle of the Mediterranean. The migrants refused, leading to a confrontation that ended when traffickers rammed the ship carrying the migrants, causing it to sink, IOM spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume told Reuters in Geneva.
Greenpeace's 'Arctic Sunrise' Skipper Refused Bail
The captain of the Greenpeace International ship 'Arctic Sunrise' and two other activists have been refused bail by a Russian Court informs Greenpeace International. American Pete Willcox appeared this morning before a court in Murmansk. He was the captain of the Arctic Sunrise when it was seized last month by armed men from the Russian security forces. He was also the captain of the Rainbow Warrior in 1985 when it was bombed by the French secret service, killing Greenpeace photographer Fernando Pereira.