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More than 1,400 migrants arrived on the island of Lampedusa at the weekend as NGOs running rescue ships prepared for a new legal battle with the Italian authorities.
The mass landings sparked calls from far-right politicians for action to stem the flow, with a number of rescue ships that operated in the central Mediterranean already forced to tie up in Italian ports.
Some 15 boats arrived on Lampedusa from Saturday night onwards, Italian news agencies reported, one of them with almost 400 people of different nationalities on board, including 24 women and children.
The arrivals were condemned by Matteo Salvini, the leader of the far-right League party who is facing trial in Sicily for refusing to allow migrants to disembark while he was interior minister in August 2019.
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Death threats and online abuse have forced a German charity to abandon plans to name a second rescue ship after one of the young Syrian brothers who drowned in the Mediterranean in 2015.
Aid group Sea-Eye said it had reported the abuse to police and shelved plans to name the new vessel after Ghalib Kurdi, the boy, 5, who died with his brother Alan, 3, off the coast of Turkey when their boat capsized.
The photograph of the lifeless body of Alan lying face down on a sandy beach made front pages around the world and highlighted the plight of Syrian refugees risking their lives travelling to Europe in boats operated by people smugglers. His mother also died in the crossing.
Syrie: dix ans de révolution à travers dix photos slate.fr - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from slate.fr Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Content warning: This article contains references that some may find distressing.
It was 2011 in Aleppo, Syria, and mother of two, Zuzan Hassan was nine months pregnant with twin boys. Her family of four were living on the top level of a five-storey apartment block when a series of airstrikes began above them.
“Our building was collapsing so I was running away with my two small kids, and the babies in my stomach fell out in the street,” she says.
Covered in blood, Zuzan was carried to hospital by the strangers around her, only to be turned away because it was at capacity. She was left on the floor outside the hospital.
The Vatican published its 2021 budget in its latest effort at greater transparency
It seeks to reassure donors that money is being well spent after mismanagement
However, the Vatican warned it has nearly depleted its reserves from donations
It is now urging the faithful to continue giving to cover its budget deficit
Francis economy minister, Reverend Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves, said the pandemic reduced donations as well as revenue from shuttered museums
He said this would contribute to a projected 30 percent reduction in revenue
The reduction will be 213 million euros in 2021, from 307 million euros in 2019