Migrant boats capsize off Italian coast, killing at least 27
More than 90 people were aboard the two boats before they capsized, Flavio Di Giacomo, spokesperson for the UN's International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said.A Somalian woman onboard one of the vessels gave a harrowing account to the Rome-based daily newspaper La Repubblica of losing her one-year-old daughter and husband. "All hell broke loose," she said. "I never saw them again, my little girl slipped away, I lost them both."What caused the two vessels to capsize has yet to be confirmed. However, survivors suggested to La Repubblica that when the first boat capsized, its occupants were forced to climb into the second vessel, which then capsized as well."We had set out on two boats, but one capsized, so we all climbed aboard one of them. But then the other one also started taking on water," one told the paper. Italian PM Meloni said in a statement: "When a tragedy like today's occurs, with the deaths of dozens of people in the waters of the Mediterranean, a strong sense of dismay and compassion arises in all of us."And we find ourselves contemplating the inhumane cynicism with which human traffickers organise these sinister journeys."
The island of Lampedusa is home to a migrant reception centre that is often overcrowded with challenging living conditions. It welcomes tens of thousands of migrants who have survived the often dangerous route across the Mediterranean to Europe every year. Those who make the journey often travel in poorly maintained and overcrowded vessels.At least 25,000 people have gone missing or been killed while trying to cross the central Mediterranean since 2014, according to the IOM.
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Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
Suella Braverman: ‘Labour tried to smear us as racist for opposing migrant housing'
More than 200 years ago, what is now the unremarkable Hampshire town of Waterlooville, was founded by returning soldiers celebrating the defeat of Napoleon. On a damp Wednesday evening over two centuries later, Waterlooville is the scene of another victory party, as residents descend on its high street to celebrate following the news that the Home Office has backed down on plans to house migrants in the town centre. Union flags are draped over shoulders, Sweet Caroline (and AC/DC) blares out of loudspeakers, placards say 'Keep our women & children safe'. Some are dressed head to toe in red, white and blue; even those who have stumbled across the rally by accident while running their errands are getting into the party spirit. The atmosphere is upbeat, but it's also defiant: speakers are also lambasting the 'woke liberal agenda'. Residents' anger at the thought of being neighbours with 35 unknown asylum seekers housed up in flats above a junk emporium on that inauspicious high street – and relief that they now, for the moment, won't – has even been backed by local Conservative MP and former home secretary Suella Braverman who, with her husband Rael and family friends, and carrying a Union flag, is mingling and taking selfies with protesters. Braverman's appearance marks a defiant hit-back at her critics. Philip Munday, who heads up the local Havant council's Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green coalition, had accused Braverman of seeking to 'exacerbate fear in the hearts and minds of our concerned residents' on the migrant housing issue, and said her comments on it were 'deeply inappropriate, potentially inflammatory and ultimately misleading.' He argued that those earmarked for the flats were asylum seekers, not 'illegal immigrants', and joined the fuming chorus from Left-wing politicians and charities who disparagingly frame the protests over migrant hotels and accommodation as a far-Right cause. Yet despite two weeks of outcry in Waterlooville, involving a protest by 1,000 people last month and a petition that has received more than 10,000 signatures, there have been no arrests or violent incidents. Indeed, it is largely ordinary local people – shop assistants, carers, IT workers and pensioners – who have turned out for the evening rally next to Boots. 'These are not skinheads. These are mums and grannies and children,' says Braverman when we meet over a drink in The Denmead Queen, the local Wetherspoons, ahead of the gathering. 'These are families who are feeling cowardice, who are feeling like no one speaks to them and who are feeling like they have no other option but to take to the streets in peaceful protest to represent their views. They feel powerless.' She says the suggestion that her constituents were motivated by racism is 'incredibly offensive.' 'It's not racist to want to have a sense of control and safety in your own country. That is patriotism, that is love of our country, that is decency, and that reflects the vast majority of British people who are welcoming and friendly.' Braverman says that there was always the risk protests would 'attract provocateurs' and extremists, and admits she is 'very concerned' about public order in the coming weeks amid growing anger over illegal immigration. ('We're walking on glass in this country,' she says. 'I think there's a real simmering fury and fear of betrayal, and combined with a sense of powerlessness and the lack of anything on the horizon looking like there will be a solution, I'm very worried about public order to be maintained.') Yet the former Attorney General says that Waterlooville had shown peaceful protests could be effective, and the government should prepare for more demonstrations elsewhere. 'I think where Waterlooville leads, the country can follow. The fact that it's been carried out very peacefully, zero arrests, zero incidents, zero offences, really reflects well on the people from Waterlooville who did this and took the action. I think it does provide a bit of a template for how objections can be successfully maintained.' She says her constituents feel 'a profound sense of fear, anger and betrayal' and claims that Munday is part of an establishment that is out of touch with local people and the country's problems. 'The Labour leader wrote to me and was seemingly more upset that I used the term illegal migrant rather than asylum seekers. They're more interested in terminology and faux outrage and trying to silence people and smear people as racist, xenophobic, divisive and inflammatory than actually being honest with the British people.' As she leaves the pub for the rally, Braverman notes that Sir Keir Starmer could not expect a warm welcome at The Denmead Queen. 'I don't think Keir Starmer will get anyone offering to buy him a pint, let's put it that way,' she adds. 'Keir Starmer is so far detached and insulated from the realities of what is going on that he does need to open his eyes as to what is happening in this country, on the ground amongst regular folk who go to Wetherspoons, because people are fed up. 'There's a real sense of despair, unfortunately, and in the Westminster bubble this might look very, very different to him. He's just deluding himself the more that he stays away from people. His arrogant dismissiveness of the British people is not good for him. It's not good for the Government, it's not good for our country.' At the celebration, attendees share Braverman's anger at being dismissed as racist. 'I've got seven grandchildren,' said Maria Jackson, 56, a shop assistant. 'That's why I'm here. I want them to live in a safe environment. We don't have an issue with letting in a number of people who genuinely need to come here. But this will just be men, not even kids or women. 'These are flats right in the town centre. Why can't they give them to people on the waiting list? If our children wanted to live there they'd be waiting for years. They talk rubbish about racism but Keir Starmer is not in the real world.' Councillor Philippa Gray, deputy leader of Havant Borough Council, says legitimate concerns are not extremist, and the authority respected 'healthy democratic debate'. However, she says Braverman was continuing to use 'inaccurate and inflammatory language', and that the flats were to be used by a mix of families and individuals who were 'asylum seekers' and 'not illegal immigrants'. But locals do not believe these reassurances. 'We have no idea about the history,' says 61-year-old IT worker Paul Crowley, who is joined at the party this evening with his wife Mel Crowley, also 61, who works in retail. 'We don't know who is coming in. If they came through with legitimate reasons because of persecution that's fine, but this is now a concern for me as a grandparent. I care about my children and my grandchildren.' 'We've been slurred a lot with racism,' he says. 'I'm not a racist, I am patriotic. I care about this country and I care about people entering the country who are completely undocumented.' Genevieve Doury, 46, a refuse collector for the same council that criticised Braverman, says she would have been 'neighbours' with migrants who would move into the flats and was worried about her teenage daughter's safety. 'I live here with my 14-year-old girl. If they did actually come here I would have to leave here. I'm right across the road and I would know nothing about who these people are. 'I wouldn't feel safe. There are people who try to get a visa, do the proper route but these people are skipping the queue and that's unfair. There are rules for a reason.' She adds that she will '100 per cent be back' protesting if there are any new plans to house asylum seekers in the town, and hopes similar peaceful protests would spread across the country. 'I hope there will be a domino effect,' she says. 'We've started it and everybody else will follow.' It certainly could provide a template for grounds on which to argue: ironically, for all of Munday's dissent against Braverman's protest, the council did raise concerns over fire safety in relation to the flats earmarked for asylum seekers, and in a statement the council later said that after a consultation, the Home Office 'decided not to purchase the property as the accommodation'. Many of the town's 65,000 people now worry there will be a fresh application from the Home Office to house migrants elsewhere. However, for now Braverman believes residents have done the town 'proud' by peacefully defeating the plans for the high street. 'It's a victory for the ordinary folk who often don't have a voice,' she says. 'This is a victory for the people of Waterlooville.'
BBC News
4 hours ago
- BBC News
Chositi: Dozens dead in flash floods in Indian-administered Kashmir
At least 34 people have died after flash floods hit a village hosting Hindu pilgrims in Indian-administered Kashmir. The disaster took place in the remote village of Chositi in Kishtwar district, which is on a busy pilgrimage route to a famous shrine in the Himalayas. Videos shared online showed dramatic flood waters, vehicles being washed away and rescuers searching for survivors in damaged homes, as people cried in the streets - some caked in mud. Dozens of pilgrims have been evacuated to safety, but at least 50 people are feared missing, and a rescue operation is still underway. The floods were triggered by a cloudburst, officials said, with Federal Minister Jitendra Singh, who is also an MP from Jammu and Kashmir, saying it was on a "massive scale" and rescue teams were finding it difficult to reach the site. A road had been washed away, he said, and the weather was not safe enough for helicopters. He expects the incident to result in a substantial number of casualties. A resident of nearby Atholi village told news agency AFP he saw "at least 15 dead bodies" being brought into the local hospital.A large community kitchen where visiting pilgrims were eating lunch was completely washed away, an official told Reuters news agency. The region's Chief Minister Omar Abdullah described the disaster as a "tragedy", announcing he was cancelling some of the cultural activities which had been planned for the Friday's Indian Independence Day celebrations. The news was "grim", he said, with accurate, verified information from the area "slow in arriving", but all available resources were being mobilised to manage the rescue Prime Minister Narendra Modi said "every possible assistance" would be available to those who need it. India's northern region has seen very heavy rainfall in recent days, triggering flash floods in several week, nearly half of the village of Dharali, in Uttarakhand state, was submerged after it was hit by a massive flash flood. On Tuesday, officials said that 66 people were still missing and only one body had been recovered.
Telegraph
4 hours ago
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Meloni has proven that cutting taxes works. If only Reeves was taking notes
Not only do Italians enjoy better food, warmer weather and la dolce vita, they're now richer than us too. Adjusted for the cost of living, Italy's GDP per capita has overtaken the Britain's for the first time this century, according to the World Bank. Though the gap in living standards is small – the Italians and the British both have GDP per capita of just over $60,000 (£44,000) – the symbolism is huge. Back in 1987, when Italy's economy briefly overtook the UK's in size for the first time, the news prompted an outpouring of patriotic sentiment and became known as il sorpasso – 'the surpassing'. It hasn't always been plain sailing for our Mediterranean rivals. After 1945, Italy's weak coalitions became a byword for political instability. For decades, the country has struggled with demographic decline and fiscal debt crises. In 2011 there was national humiliation when the then prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, was effectively removed from office by Brussels, which threatened to force Italy out of the eurozone. Today, however, Italy seems to have achieved an enviable stability. Under Giorgia Meloni's tough-minded conservative leadership, Italy is now among the most desirable domiciles in Europe, not least for millionaires fleeing the Labour Government's tax raids.
