ROME: Italy has authorized the Ocean Viking migrant rescue ship to dock in Sicily after the group urged EU members to allow 572 people picked up in the Mediterranean Sea over three days to be brought ashore.
“The Ocean Viking received from the Italian maritime authorities a long-awaited news: The 572 survivors will disembark in Augusta, in Sicily,” the Marseille-based NGO said on Twitter.
The announcement came after the NGO vessel carried out one of its largest rescues in years on Sunday night, involving a boat that set off from Libya with 369 men, women and children and that was at risk of capsizing.
“Such large unseaworthy wooden boats launched from the coast of Libya had not been encountered by our teams in several years,” the Ocean Viking’s operator, SOS Mediterranee, said earlier in a statement.
The operation was Ocean Viking’s sixth rescue within days and brought the total number of migrants onboard to 572.
Since the start of the summer the number of crossings have increased as migrants take advantage of the good weather and calmer seas, but the number of people lost at sea has also risen.
So far this year, more than 880 migrants have died trying to reach Europe from North Africa, according to the International Organization for Migration.
SOS Mediterranee says EU governments are neglecting coordinated search-and-rescue action in a bid to discourage migrants from attempting the crossing from war-torn Libya, where they are often victims of organized crime and militia violence.
Italy allows rescue ship with 572 migrants to dock
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Italy allows rescue ship with 572 migrants to dock
- So far this year, more than 880 migrants have died trying to reach Europe from North Africa
White House to present plans for Trump’s East Wing ballroom in January
- The new ballroom, which Trump has said would cost $400 million and would dwarf the adjacent White House building
PALM BEACH, Florida: The White House will unveil new details on President Donald Trump’s planned East Wing ballroom during a hearing early next month, according to a federal commission tasked with reviewing the project.
The new ballroom, which Trump has said would cost $400 million and would dwarf the adjacent White House building, has been challenged in court by preservationists, while Democratic lawmakers have called it an abuse of power and are investigating which donors are supporting it.
The National Capital Planning Commission, chartered by Congress to manage planning for Washington-area federal lands, said on its website that the White House will provide an “information presentation” on plans to rebuild the East Wing during a commission meeting on January 8.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The commission, chaired by a White House aide and onetime personal lawyer to Trump, Will Scharf, has declined to review the demolition of the former East Wing, preparation activities at the site, or potential effects to historic properties, in what would mark the biggest change to the historic property in decades.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a nonprofit organization chartered by Congress, is suing to halt the construction, arguing that the proposed 90,000 square foot (8,360 square meter) ballroom would dwarf the rest of the White House, at 55,000 square feet.
The judge in the case earlier this month declined to issue a temporary restraining order against work on the project, noting among other things that the size, scale and other specifications had not been finalized. Another hearing is scheduled for next month. The president, a one-time real estate developer, has taken a hands-on role in what he has described as sprucing up the White House and the US capital city ahead of celebrations next year marking the Declaration of Independence’s 250th anniversary.
He has also proposed a new grand arch near Washington, while decorating the Oval Office extensively in gold leaf and installing plaques there offering his personal take on his predecessors’ legacies.
The former East Wing was largely demolished in October, with comparatively little public notice or consultation.
In a recent notice posted online, the planning commission said a formal review taking place this coming spring will consider topics including lines of sight, public space and landscapes. Members of the public will be allowed to submit comments or testify during the review, it said.
