Europe migrant crisis

60 migrants have been rescued from the sea near Libya by a Spanish aid boat – after they were spotted in a patched up rubber dinghy. But Italy’s hard line interior minister immediately declared he’d refuse permission for them to land there – saying “they can forget about arriving in an Italian port”. A hundred…

Italy’s controversial new interior minister has hit back at criticism of his migrants policy by the French government after he refused to allow 629 people on a charity ship to come ashore in Sicily. Matteo Salvini accused France of turning back 10,000 migrants on its border with Italy. The migrant ship Aquarius is now headed…

Italy has sent two ships to the 629 migrants on board a rescue boat off its shore to transport them to Spain, after Italy’s new populist government refused to take them. The migrants on board the Aquarius include 123 unaccompanied minors, 11 children and six pregnant women. Since we’ve been on air, the process of…

It is our duty to avoid a humanitarian catastrope, Spain’s new prime minister declared today, as he agreed to allow a stranded ship with 629 migrants on board a safe port, amid a diplomatic storm. Italy and Malta had turned the rescue ship away, despite warnings from aid agencies that it would run out of…

There has been a drastic drop in those crossing to Italian shores, with 13,430 people arriving this year. That’s just 20 per cent of last year’s figure. But for those who continue to make the journey from Libya to Italy, the route remains is treacherous. We have gained exclusive access to a rescue boat off…