Day: March 22, 2017

European and North African nations will step up military operations to target human traffickers in a bid to stymie migration flows, according to a deal reached on Monday. The deal could see European militaries operating along the North African coast, and deep into the Libyan desert. Interior ministers from Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Libya, Malta, Slovenia, Switzerland and Tunisia reached the agreement after a two-day summit in Rome. The European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship was also part of the discussions aimed at putting in place a coordinated Euro-Mediterranean…

Twenty people were injured and four were reported dead in London on Wednesday after a car crashed into pedestrians near the British parliament and an assailant stabbed a policeman in what police called a terrorist incident. The knifeman was then shot by police in the shadow of Big Ben, where he had tried to force his way into a courtyard just outside the Houses of Parliament. The incident appeared to have unfolded in several locations, including on nearby Westminster Bridge where eyewitnesses said a car had crashed into pedestrians. Reuters…

Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) and Head of United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), Martin Kobler, warned of dangerous escalation across Libya emanating from the deteriorating security situation in Tripoli and events in Misrata and Benghazi. This comes as the Prime Minister of the international-supported Government of National Accord Fayiz al-Sarraj began his visit to Italy. He partook in the Euro-Moroccan meeting to reach an agreement on a deal to block Libya’s migrant smugglers. “I call for all parties to put Libya and the unity of Libya ahead…

A memorial to the victims of terrorism will be unveiled in Brussels on the first anniversary of the attacks that killed 32 people and injured more than 320. “Wounded but still standing in the face of the unthinkable” is the name of the memorial sculpture, a pair of stainless steel slabs bending to the sky in a gesture of hope. The Brussels-born sculptor Jean-Henri Compère said he wanted the work to evoke hope and pay tribute to public resilience in the face of the attacks. The monument is dedicated to…