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EU Naval Mission Rescues Over 4,200 Migrants in 24 Hours

By Gavin Jones

ROME (Reuters) - More than 4,200 migrants trying to reach Europe have been rescued from boats in the Mediterranean in last 24 hours, the Italian coastguard said on Saturday.

In some of the most intense Mediterranean migrant traffic of the year, a total of 4,243 people have been saved from fishing boats and rubber dinghies in 22 operations involving ships from nations including Italy, Ireland, Germany, Belgium and Britain.

On Friday the Italian navy said 17 dead bodies had been found on one of the boats off Libya. Details of the nationalities of the victims and how they died have not yet been released.

Migrants escaping war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East this year have been pouring into Italy, which has been bearing the brunt of Mediterranean rescue operations. Most depart from the coast of Libya, which has descended into anarchy since Western powers backed a 2011 revolt that ousted Muammar Gaddafi.

Calm seas are increasingly favouring departures as warm spring weather sets in.

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Migrants wait to disembark from the Irish navy ship LE Eithne as they arrive in the Sicilian harbour …

Last month around 800 migrants drowned off Libya in the Mediterranean's most deadly shipwreck in living memory when their 20-metre long fishing boat capsized and sank.

That spurred the European Union to agree on a naval mission to target gangs smuggling migrants from Libya, but a broader plan to deal with the influx is in doubt due to a dispute over national quotas for housing asylum seekers.

Around 35,500 migrants arrived in Italy from the beginning of the year up to the first week of May, the UN refugee agency estimated, a number which has swelled considerably since. About 1,800 are either dead or missing.

Most of those rescued on Friday and Saturday are expected to reach ports around southern Italy during the weekend. The British naval vessel HMS Bulwark offloaded more than 740 early on Saturday at the southeastern Italian port of Taranto.

European Union authorities have pressed member states to share the burden of housing refugees more fairly through a resettlement quota system.

However, an EU plan to disperse 40,000 migrants from Italy and Greece to other countries met with resistance this week. Britain said it would not participate and some eastern states called for a voluntary scheme.

European politicians -- including Swedish MEP Anna Maria Corazza Bildt (pictured) -- who discovered they were on a previously confidential Russian travel blacklist said Saturday they were proud of being included (AFP Photo/Jonas Ekstromer)

Brussels (AFP) - The European Union hit out Saturday at a travel ban imposed by Russia on 89 European citizens -- many of whom are outspoken Kremlin critics -- calling it "totally arbitrary and unjustified".

The formerly undisclosed list was revealed to European diplomats on Thursday, and includes past and serving parliamentarians and ministers who have openly criticised President Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine.

Military figures and secret service chiefs are also thought to be on the list.

European politicians who discovered they had been banned from travelling to Russia wore the badge proudly, as Brussels took aim at Moscow for the decision.

Beyond releasing the names of the blacklisted individuals to diplomats, Moscow has failed to provide "any other information on legal basis, criteria and process of this decision," the EU's foreign service said.

"We consider this measure as totally arbitrary and unjustified, especially in the absence of any further clarification and transparency," it added.

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Russia's President Vladimir Putin (R), accompanied by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, attends a …

Blacklisted politicians were nevertheless proud about being banned by Russia.

"Those who try to censor us and make us scared for standing up for values deserve even more criticism. For me it's about being very committed to standing up for peace and freedom in Ukraine," one of those banned, Swedish MEP Anna Maria Corazza Bildt, told AFP.

"I'm more proud than scared and this gives me more determination to continue... If the Kremlin takes me and my colleagues seriously it means we're doing a good job," the centre-right politician, married to Sweden's former foreign minister Carl Bildt, added.

She was among eight Swedes and several MEPs confirmed on the list, which was drawn up in response to the EU's own sanctions and travel bans on Russia citizens over Moscow's annexation of Crimea in Ukraine last year.

- 'Does not help' -

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Former British Deputy Prime Minister and former Liberal Democrat party Leader Nick Clegg leaves afte …

Former Czech foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg, a staunch critic of Russia's policy towards Ukraine, also confirmed he was on the list and welcomed it.

"When I saw the other names (on the list), I found out I was in a very decent club. I consider this a reward," he was quoted as saying by news agency CTK.

Other names have since been made public including Guy Verhofstadt, head of the Liberal group in the European Parliament and a former Belgian PM, and Sweden's former centre-right culture minister Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth.

Nine Britons are thought to be on the list, including the head of the MI5 domestic intelligence agency, Andrew Parker, the head of the armed forces Nick Houghton, former foreign secretary Malcolm Rifkind and former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg.

"I have read the reports in the media but not a word from the Russians!" Rifkind told AFP via email as the Foreign Office said there was "absolutely no justification for this list"

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Netherlands' Prime Minister Mark Rutte looks on during his weekly press conference on April 24 2 …

According to German daily Bild seven German nationals have been targeted including Michael Fuchs, vice-president of the national parliament's conservative CDU-CSU group and Franco-German former MEP Daniel Cohn-Bendit.

The German government also complained about the secrecy surrounding the measures and said it expected Russia to publish the list along with an explanation of how to contest it legally.

"At a time when we are trying to defuse a bitter and dangerous conflict in the heart of Europe, this does not help," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in a statement during a visit to Ukraine.

Polish media reports suggest that as many as 18 Poles have been targeted, including Deputy Minister of National Defence Robert Kupiecki and the Senate Speaker Bogdan Borusewicz.

Borusewicz is a key Communist-era dissident who was denied entry to Russia in March to attend the funeral of outspoken opposition activist Boris Nemtsov who was shot dead in central Moscow.

- 'No surprise' -

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte was the first to reveal that a list of blacklisted figures had been shared with European diplomats.

He said Friday that he would let "Moscow know... in no uncertain terms" that the Netherlands rejected it as the bans were "not based on international law".

Western governments have suspected the existence of a list for some time and several prominent politicians and officials have been stopped from entering Russia in recent months.

Finland's new Foreign Minister Timo Soini commented in a blog post on the inclusion of Finland's only known name on the list -- Green Party MEP Hiedi Hautala -- and said it was "not a big surprise".

"This is an expected reaction to the (EU) travel ban against Russian citizens."

His Swedish counterpart took another view.

"It is very striking behaviour which unfortunately does not improve Russia's image and we have asked for a clarification for this conduct," Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstroem told news agency TT on Friday.

Methodist Church in child sexual abuse scandal spanning decades
BY THE EVENT CHRONICLE ON MAY 29, 2015 ·

People magazine reports that Annie Leibovitz will shoot Jenner as a woman — a first for a celebrity athlete who has posed for his share of magazine covers over the years, from Sports Illustrated toGQ.

Reps for Vanity Fair, Liebovitz, and Jenner have not yet responded to requests for comment.

Jenner’s Vanity Fair pictorial is set to hit stands this summer.

Also Read: Bruce Jenner Fires Back in Wrongful Death Lawsuit Over Malibu Car Crash

During a recent Keeping Up with the Kardashians: About Bruce special, taped earlier this year, Jenner told stepdaughter Khloé Kardashian he was planning to fully transition "probably in the spring."

Jenner will chronicle his new life as a woman in an eight-part docuseries premiering in July on E!

If Jenner indeed reveals himself as female for the first time, it could net record-breaking newsstand sales for the Conde Nast title — whose best-selling cover, in September 2005, featured Jennifer Aniston‘s first interview after separating from Brad Pitt.

Also Read: Bruce Jenner Special Edition of 'Kardashians' Soars 40 Percent in Ratings

Leibovitz, a veteran photographer, most recently photographed the Star Wars: The Force Awakenscast for Vanity Fair’s June cover and has chronicled the world’s biggest celebrities over her 40-plus year career, including Michael Jackson, George Clooney, Queen Elizabeth II, Johnny Depp, and Lady Gaga.

'Transparent' Creator Says Bruce Jenner's Family Watched the Show (video)

Associated Press Videos
Raw: Powerful Quake Strikes Off Japan

TOKYO (AP) — A powerful earthquake struck near remote Japanese islands and shook most of the country Saturday evening, but it occurred well beneath the earth's surface and did not trigger a tsunami warning. Several people suffered non-life-threatening injuries, and there were no reports of deaths or major damage.

The magnitude-8.5 offshore quake struck off the Ogasawara islands at a depth of 590 kilometers (370 miles), the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a magnitude of 7.8 and a depth of 678 kilometers (421 miles).

The temblor was powerful enough to rattle most of Japan, from the southern islands of Okinawa to Hokkaido in the north. It caused buildings to sway in Tokyo — about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) north of the Ogasawara islands — and temporarily disrupted some train services in the city. About 400 houses in Saitama prefecture, just north of the capital, were without power, according to the Tokyo Electric Power Co.

On Sunday morning, a strong magnitude-6.4 earthquake struck off of Japan's Izu islands, which are north of the Ogasawara islands, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It struck at a depth of eight miles (13 kilometers) with its epicenter 390 miles (630 kilometers) south-southeast of Tokyo.

The earthquake was not strong enough to generate a tsunami warning or close enough to the islands to cause any significant damage or injuries, said John Bellini, a geophysicist with the U.S.G.S. in Golden, Colorado. He said it is considered a separate seismic event and not an aftershock to the magnitude-8.5 quake that struck hours earlier.

Late Saturday, at Tokyo's Roppongi Hills shopping and business complex, elevators stopped soon after the magnitude-8.5 earthquake struck the area, forcing hundreds of visitors to climb down the stairs. Among them were about 200 people who came to see the Star Wars exhibit on the 52nd floor.

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Japanese soccer fans react to a strong earthquake as they watch a J-League soccer match between the …

In Saitama, a woman in her 70s sustained a minor head injury when a ceramic plate fell from a cupboard, local police said. In Kawasaki, just south of Tokyo, a 56-year-old office worker fell down when the quake caught him by surprise and suffered a rib injury, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK.

Yoshiyuki Sasamoto, a municipal official on Chichijima island, which is part of the Ogasawara island group, told NHK that he initially felt a mild tremor, but when he thought it was over "there was a violent shaking and I couldn't even stand on my feet."

At an inn on the Ogasawara island of Hahajima, furniture shook violently, although nothing fell or broke, innkeeper Michiko Orita told NHK. "It was so frightening. The entire house shook and a Buddhist altar violently swayed like I have never experienced before," she said, adding that all her guests were safe.

The meteorological agency did not issue a tsunami warning because the quake struck so far beneath the earth's surface. Deep offshore earthquakes usually do not cause tsunamis, and generally cause less damage than shallow ones.

In March 2011, a magnitude-9.0 earthquake rocked northeastern Japan, triggering a tsunami that killed more than 18,500 people and ravaged much of the northern Pacific coast. The depth of that quake was just 24 kilometers (15 miles), according to the meteorological agency.