How do "international networks" bring African children to be trafficked and smuggled into Europe? Big human traffickers hide behind "false names" to round up boys from Africa and Asia for gangs to use them in forced labor, prostitution, and armed groups. Asharq Al-Awsat is tracking cross-border smuggling routes.
Some relatives of people stranded in flooded villages following the collapse of the giant Nova Kakhovka Dam in southern Ukraine said on Friday that their loved ones were still stuck on roofs with dwindling food supplies and urgently needed rescuing. Volunteers and workers from Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry have been evacuating people from flooded Russian-controlled areas since Tuesday's disaster - which Moscow and Kyiv blame on each other. The Kremlin has praised the rescue efforts, as have some of the people who have been evacuated to safety.
Whenever there is news of a boat carrying undocumented migrants capsizing in the Mediterranean Sea or those onboard being sent back to Libyan ports, it affects many countries, like Egypt, Sudan, and Syria. This journey comes at a high price, with mothers selling their jewelry and fathers offering what little livestock they have left.