Rescue groups say Malta coordinated the return of 500 migrants to Libya instead of saving them
May 29, 2023 GMTBARCELONA, Spain (AP) — A group of non-governmental organizations dedicated to rescuing migrants in the central Mediterranean is accusing the European island nation of Malta of coordinating the return of around 500 people to Libya where they were subsequently imprisoned, in violation of international maritime law.
US Navy commander: No real change in Russian military’s conduct toward Western warships in east Med
May 17, 2023 GMTLIMASSOL, Cyprus (AP) — A U.S. Navy commander said Wednesday there is “no significant change” in the conduct of Russian aircraft and warships toward Western naval and air assets in the eastern Mediterranean as Moscow’s war in Ukraine grinds on.
U.S. hands Cyprus ancient artifacts, some 4,000 years old
May 2, 2023 GMTNICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — The United States has returned some 80 ancient artifacts, including coins and limestone sculptures, to Cyprus, the Mediterranean island nation's Department of Antiquities said Tuesday.
EU team presses on with probe of Lebanon Central Bank chief
April 27, 2023 GMTBEIRUT (AP) — A European judicial team pressed on with its corruption probe of Lebanon's embattled Central Bank governor on Thursday, questioning one of his aides and summoning his brother for another hearing next week, officials said.
Lebanese judge lifts travel ban for central bank governor
April 13, 2023 GMTBEIRUT (AP) — A Lebanese judge on Thursday rescinded a travel ban she had placed on the country's embattled central bank governor, clearing the way for him to travel to Paris for a scheduled hearing with French prosecutors next month.
UN: Year is off to a deadly start for migrants crossing Med
April 12, 2023 GMTROME (AP) — The first three months of 2023 were the deadliest first quarter in six years for migrants crossing the central Mediterranean Sea in smugglers’ boats, the U.N. migration agency reported Wednesday, citing nations' delays in initiating rescues as a contributing factor.
Helicopter rescues migrants stranded on Italian isle
April 3, 2023 GMTROME (AP) — An Italian Coast Guard helicopter on Monday rescued 32 migrants who were stranded overnight on an uninhabited isle south of Sicily after strong winds and high waves made evacuation by sea impossible.
Rushed daylight-saving decision puts Lebanon in 2 time zones
March 27, 2023 GMTBEIRUT (AP) — The Lebanese government’s last-minute decision to delay the start of daylight saving time by a month until the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan resulted in mass confusion Sunday.
AP PHOTOS: Marseille carnival melds resistance with revelry
Cypriot president pledges 2% of GDP on defense spending
March 10, 2023 GMTNICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus will earmark 2% of gross domestic product to defense spending in line with other European Union member states as a means to strengthen the east Mediterranean island nation’s foreign policy bargaining power, the new Cypriot president said Friday.
3 wounded in Tel Aviv shooting, hours after West Bank raid
March 9, 2023 GMTTEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A Palestinian gunman opened fire on a crowded street in central Tel Aviv late Thursday, wounding three people before he was shot and killed, Israeli officials said. The shooting came hours after an Israeli military raid killed three Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank.
Rights group says Lebanon electricity crisis deepens poverty
March 9, 2023 GMTBEIRUT (AP) — Since the collapse of Lebanon’s state power grid, many middle and working class families have been forced to spend most of their monthly income to pay shady neighborhood businessmen running private generators.
Report: 8,468 perished trying to reach Europe since 2019
February 14, 2023 GMTCAIRO (AP) — More than 8,400 Europe-bound migrants perished at sea while attempting to cross the Mediterranean over the past four years, a charity said Tuesday.
Save the Children said in a report that about a half million people crossed or attempted to cross the Mediterranean to Europe since 2019.
8 dead migrants recovered off Italian island of Lampedusa
February 3, 2023 GMTMILAN (AP) — The bodies of eight migrants have been recovered by Italy's coast guard during an operation overnight that also rescued 42 survivors in the central Mediterranean off the island of Lampedusa, authorities said Friday.
FDA food safety official resigns, cites structural issues
January 25, 2023 GMTThe federal Food and Drug Administration's top food safety official resigned Wednesday, citing concerns about the agency's oversight structure and the infant formula crisis that led to a nationwide shortage.
Red Crescent: 8 dead, 58 missing after shipwreck off Libya
January 25, 2023 GMTCAIRO (AP) — A boat carrying Europe-bound migrants capsized off Libya, killing at least eight people, while 58 others were still missing, the country's Red Crescent said Wednesday.
Tawfik al-Shukri, spokesman for the Libyan Red Crescent, said the shipwreck took place Tuesday off the Mediterranean town of Garabulli, around 60 kilometers (37 miles) east of the capital of Tripoli.
Libya says boat with 700 Europe-bound migrants intercepted
December 31, 2022 GMTCAIRO (AP) — A vessel carrying at least 700 migrants was intercepted off the eastern coast of Libya, the coast guard said. It was one of the largest interceptions in recent months of migrants seeking a better life in Europe through the war-torn North African country.
Charities say new Italian rules will limit rescues at sea
December 29, 2022 GMTMILAN (AP) — Charities that rescue migrants at sea complained Thursday that new measures adopted by Italy's right-wing government will limit their rescue capacity, setting lives at risk.
The government this week approved rules requiring rescue ships to request a port immediately after each rescue, and sail immediately to it once assigned without waiting for other rescues.
EU weighs plans to impose rules on NGO migrant rescue ships
November 25, 2022 GMTBRUSSELS (AP) — European Union interior ministers on Friday weighed proposals to ease tensions between France and Italy over migrants arriving on their shores without authorization, including a possible crackdown on charity-run ships doing search and rescue work in the Mediterranean Sea.
Greece: Boat with hundreds of migrants safely towed to port
November 22, 2022 GMTATHENS, Greece (AP) — A dilapidated fishing boat crammed with hundreds of migrants that lost its steering and had been drifting in the wind-lashed Mediterranean Sea south of the Greek island of Crete was successfully towed to port Tuesday, Greek authorities said.
Egypt, Greece sign deals on migrant rescues, agriculture
November 22, 2022 GMTCAIRO (AP) — Egypt and Greece signed two bilateral deals on Tuesday, including a pact to improve cooperation in migrant search and rescue missions across the Mediterranean Sea, officials said.
The deals, signed in Cairo, marked the second meeting the two countries’ foreign ministers in under two months after shared rival Turkey signed a controversial maritime and gas deal with one of Libya's two rival administrations.
4 dead, 2 missing off Tunisia in migration boat sinking
November 15, 2022 GMTTUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Four people drowned and two were missing after the inflatable boat they were on sank off the coast of Tunisia after departing for Europe, Tunisian authorities said Tuesday.
Total to launch sea exploration after Lebanon-Israel deal
November 15, 2022 GMTBEIRUT (AP) — French oil giant Total said Tuesday it would soon launch exploration activities in search for gas in the Mediterranean Sea off Lebanon’s coast, following last month’s Lebanon-Israel deal on their maritime border.
French lawmaker accused of racist comment in Parliament
November 3, 2022 GMTPARIS (AP) — A far-right lawmaker in France was criticized Thursday after he responded to a Black lawmaker's question about migrants stranded at sea by apparently saying, “Let them return to Africa.”
Lebanon-Israel deal a landmark but with limits, experts say
November 3, 2022 GMTBEIRUT (AP) — U.S. mediators tried for more than a decade to broker a maritime border agreement between Lebanon and Israel. Finally, the elements fell into place for a landmark deal between two countries officially — and sometimes actively — at war since 1948.
Lebanon and Israel sign sea border deal
October 27, 2022 GMTBEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon and Israel signed copies of a U.S.-mediated sea border deal on Thursday and delivered them to the U.N. in the coastal border town of Naqoura.
The agreement to demarcate the maritime border comes after months of indirect talks mediated by Amos Hochstein, the U.S.
Israeli High Court rejects challenges to Lebanon sea deal
October 26, 2022 GMTJERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's Supreme Court on Sunday threw out four legal challenges to a landmark maritime agreement between Israel and Lebanon, clearing a major hurdle for the deal that could mark a major breakthrough in relations between the two countries.
NGO: Libyan Coast Guard threatened to shoot down plane
October 26, 2022 GMTBARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The German non-governmental organization Sea-Watch on Wednesday accused the Libyan coast guard of threatening to shoot down their monitoring plane that helps the group document the interception of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea.
Egypt: 10 killed in truck-minibus collision in Nile Delta
October 25, 2022 GMTCAIRO (AP) — A truck slammed into a minibus in Egypt's fertile Nile Delta region early on Tuesday, killing at least 10 people, authorities said. Officials blamed speeding for the crash; local media said women and children were among those killed.
Italian coast guard finds bodies of 2 minors on migrant boat
October 21, 2022 GMTROME (AP) — Two minors were found dead Friday on a migrant boat carrying nearly 40 people in the Mediterranean Sea and a search was under way for a woman reported missing from the vessel, Italy's coast guard said.
Tunisian authorities recover bodies of 15 migrants on beach
October 14, 2022 GMTTUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisian authorities have recovered the bodies of 15 migrants who died trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe, the coast guard said Friday.
A coast guard statement said the bodies were found Wednesday and Thursday on beaches near the town of Mahdia, 200 kilometers (124 miles) south of the capital, Tunis.
Lebanon’s president approves historic Israel sea border deal
October 13, 2022 GMTBEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon's President Michel Aoun said Thursday that the cash-strapped country has approved a U.S.-mediated maritime border deal with Israel.
Lebanon and Israel both claim around 860 square kilometers (330 square miles) of the Mediterranean Sea that are home to offshore gas fields.
EXPLAINER: Fewer people cross Mediterranean; many still die
October 7, 2022 GMTROME (AP) — The back-to-back shipwrecks of migrant smuggling boats off Greece has once again put the spotlight on the dangers of the Mediterranean migration route, the risks migrants and refugees are willing to take and the political infighting that has thwarted a safe European response to people fleeing war, poverty and climate change.
US delivers proposal for maritime border to Lebanon
October 1, 2022 GMTBEIRUT (AP) — The U.S. ambassador to Lebanon on Saturday delivered a maritime border demarcation proposal to President Michel Aoun, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Speaker Nabih Berri on Saturday, as negotiations with Israel progress.
UN renews ship inspections off Libya for smuggled migrants
September 29, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Thursday to authorize for another year the inspection of vessels off the coast of Libya suspected of smuggling migrants or engaging in human trafficking from the North African nation.
‘Don’t leave me’: Survivor recounts Lebanon boat sinking
September 28, 2022 GMTBOURJ HAMMOUD, Lebanon (AP) — Jihad Michlawi struggled to make ends meet as a chef in crisis-hit Beirut. The Palestinian had never considered taking a perilous journey across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe until friends who did so persuaded him to try.
6 migrants reported missing after boat reaches Greek beach
September 22, 2022 GMTATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities mounted a sea-and-air search for six people reported missing by a group of migrants found Thursday on the southeastern Aegean Sea island of Leros after crossing from the nearby Turkish coast in an inflatable dinghy.
Relatives lose contact with Lebanese migrant ship near Malta
September 6, 2022 GMTBEIRUT (AP) — Activists and relatives of Lebanese and Syrian migrants aboard a fishing boat taking on water near the island of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea said Tuesday they lost contact with the vessel overnight.
Lebanon flotilla rallies at Israel sea border ahead of talks
September 4, 2022 GMTBEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese protesters on Sunday sailed down the country’s coast in dozens of fishing boats and yachts toward Israel, days before a U.S. envoy is expected in Beirut to continue mediating in a maritime border dispute between the two countries.
Baby killed by hailstone in storm in northeast Spain
August 31, 2022 GMTMADRID (AP) — A 20-month old baby girl died after being hit by a massive hailstone during a fierce storm in the northeastern Spanish town of La Bisbal d’Empordà, officials said Wednesday.
Town mayor Carme Vall told Spanish National Television the baby was with her parents when she was hit by the ball of ice Tuesday.
Libya: 2 Egyptian migrants dead, 19 missing after capsizing
August 29, 2022 GMTCAIRO (AP) — A boat carrying Egyptian migrants capsized off Libya's coast, leaving two people dead and 19 more missing and presumed dead, the Libyan agency that combats illegal migration said Monday, in the latest migrant tragedy in the Mediterranean Sea.
Lebanese submarine finds 10 bodies on sunken migrant ship
August 26, 2022 GMTBEIRUT (AP) — A Lebanese submarine has found the remains of at least 10 migrants who drowned when their boat sank earlier this year off the coast of Lebanon with about 30 people on board, the navy announced Friday.
Ship that Ukraine alleges has stolen wheat likely off Syria
August 18, 2022 GMTDUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Russian cargo ship that Ukraine alleges holds stolen wheat from territory seized by Moscow appears to have reached the Syrian port of Tartus, according to satellite images analyzed Thursday by The Associated Press.
Scientists warn of dire effects as Mediterranean heats up
August 17, 2022 GMTMADRID (AP) — While vacationers might enjoy the Mediterranean Sea's summer warmth, climate scientists are warning of dire consequences for its marine life as it burns up in a series of severe heat waves.
Scenes of desperation as migrant ship sinks during rescue
August 11, 2022 GMTABOARD THE ASTRAL (AP) — A Spanish maritime rescue group and the Italian coast guard helped pull some 40 people from the Mediterranean Sea to safety after their overcrowded wooden boat capsized during a rescue operation Thursday.
Hezbollah warns Israel over border dispute with Lebanon
August 9, 2022 GMTBEIRUT (AP) — The leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group issued a warning Tuesday to archenemy Israel over the two countries’ maritime border dispute, saying that “any arm” that reaches to steal Lebanon’s wealth “will be cut off.”
Ukraine grain headed for Lebanon under wartime deal delayed
August 7, 2022 GMTBEIRUT (AP) — The scheduled arrival Sunday of the first grain ship to leave Ukraine and cross the Black Sea under a wartime deal has been delayed, a Lebanese Cabinet minister and the Ukraine Embassy said.
Italy’s Salvini pledges to move migrant centers to N. Africa
August 4, 2022 GMTMILAN (AP) — Italy’s firebrand former interior minister, Matteo Salvini, put migration at the center of his electoral campaign during a visit Thursday to Italy’s southernmost island of Lampedusa, a gateway for tens of thousands of people crossing the perilous central Mediterranean Sea to Italian territory each year.
Lebanon, Israel closer to deal in maritime border dispute
August 1, 2022 GMTBEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon and Israel are getting closer to reaching a deal in a more than a decade-old maritime border dispute between the two neighbors, a U.S. envoy and Lebanese officials said Monday.
Hezbollah airs video of Israeli barges in disputed gas field
July 31, 2022 GMTBEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon's Hezbollah on Sunday aired drone footage of Israeli ships in a disputed gas field in the Mediterranean Sea, highlighting the tension at the center of U.S.-mediated maritime border talks between Lebanon and Israel.
Rescue ship gets OK to bring 438 rescued migrants to Italy
July 29, 2022 GMTROME (AP) — A German humanitarian organization's maritime rescue ship was sailing Friday to the Italian mainland to disembark 438 migrants who were rescued in the Mediterranean Sea off Libya, where many people smugglers are based.
Lebanese PM criticizes Hezbollah over drone provocation
July 4, 2022 GMTBEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon's caretaker prime minister on Monday criticized the militant group Hezbollah for sending three unmanned aircraft over an Israeli gas installation last week, saying it was an unnecessarily risky action.
Israel shoots down Hezbollah drones over Mediterranean
July 2, 2022 GMTJERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military on Saturday said it shot down three unmanned aircraft launched by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah heading toward an area where an Israeli gas platform was recently installed in the Mediterranean Sea.
Sea, land tragedies claim lives of 50 migrants in Libya
June 29, 2022 GMTCAIRO (AP) — A flimsy rubber boat collapsed and sank in the Mediterranean Sea off Libya’s coast, leaving at least 30 people including women and children missing and feared dead, an international charity said Wednesday.
Hezbollah leader threatens to hit Israel’s offshore gas rig
June 9, 2022 GMTBEIRUT (AP) — The leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group threatened Thursday to strike a gas rig Israel is setting up in the Mediterranean Sea and that Lebanon claims is in a disputed maritime area between the two countries.
Japan, NATO step up ties amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
June 7, 2022 GMTTOKYO (AP) — Japanese and NATO officials agreed Tuesday to step up military cooperation and joint exercises as they shared concerns that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is causing a deterioration of the security environment in Europe and Asia.