ROME: Rescuers saved 484 migrants from boats in the Mediterranean on Saturday and found the bodies of seven men who had died in the attempt to get to Europe, Italy’s coast guard said.
More than 45,000 people have reached Italy by boat from North Africa this year, a more than 40 percent increase on the same period of 2016, and 1,222 people are known to have died on the route, according to the International Organization for Migration.
The migrants were rescued from four separate rubber boats by the Italian coast guard and navy, an aid group and two private vessels, the coast guard said in a statement.
The coast guard gave no further details. Most sea-borne migrants to Italy are originally from Sub-Saharan Africa or Bangladesh, and pay Libya-based smugglers to organize their passage.
Italy rescues 484 migrants in Mediterranean, finds 7 bodies
Italy rescues 484 migrants in Mediterranean, finds 7 bodies
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Putin says developing Russia’s nuclear forces ‘absolute priority’
- Putin vowed to keep “strengthening the army and navy” and draw on military experience from the nearly four-year conflict in Ukraine
MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin said Sunday that developing Russia’s nuclear forces was now an “absolute priority” following the expiry of its last remaining nuclear treaty with the US.
“The development of the nuclear triad, which guarantees Russia’s security and ensures effective strategic deterrence and a balance of forces in the world, remains an absolute priority,” Putin said in a video message.
His speech came on Russia’s “Defender of the Fatherland Day,” a holiday that is an occasion for military pomp and Kremlin-sponsored patriotism.
Putin vowed to keep “strengthening the army and navy” and draw on military experience from the nearly four-year conflict in Ukraine.
All branches of the armed forces would be improved, he said, including their “combat readiness, their mobility, and their ability to operate in all conditions, even the most difficult.”
Putin’s remarks came just two days before the fourth anniversary of Russia’s assault on Ukraine that sparked a war that has shattered towns, uprooted millions and killed large numbers on both sides.
Moscow and Washington — the world’s two main nuclear powers — are no longer bound by any arms control pact since the New START agreement expired earlier this month.
But Russia said it would continue taking a “responsible” approach to strategic nuclear capability and respecting the limits set on its arsenal.
