NPR: Italy Becomes A Leading Destination For Migrants, Matching Greece
Rome's Via Ramazzini is a residential street with a sprawling park that belongs to the Italian Red Cross. That's where newly arrived migrants are being sheltered in a tent camp.
Outside on the sidewalk, three young African men say they're from Eritrea, here for the past two weeks after making a dangerous sea crossing.
Yarid Hailah, 25, says his boat, with 190 people aboard, was filling up with water. Ten hours after they left Libya, they were rescued. "Nobody died," he says.
With close to 160,000 arrivals this year, Italy could surpass Greece as Europe's major migrant and refugee point of entry. The country has been on the migrant crisis frontline for more than a decade and it's now taking the lead in combating smuggling and trying to identify the growing number of people who die in the Mediterranean crossing.
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WNU Editor: Even though it is becoming very dangerous to cross the Mediterranean because of the approach of winter, many are still trying to reach Europe .... More than 2,200 migrants rescued in Mediterranean, 10 bodies recovered (Al Jazeera). My prediction .... I will not be surprised if this policy will be implemented by the EU next year .... German ministry wants migrants returned to Africa - report (Reuters).
Update: European terrorism concerns are rising .... Italy says it’s established 'a direct link’ between migrant traffickers and Islamic terrorist groups (Reuters).