By Ebi KesienaThe Nigeria Immigration Service, (NIS) have rescued eleven victims rom being trafficked to ligya by human traffickers. The victims who were all young women, were apprehended in the Niger Republic on their way to Libya and repatriated back to Nigeria and handed over to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, (NAPTIP), in Sokoto for further action. ADVERTISEMENTADVERTISEMENTADVERTISEMENTA statement from the Public Relations Officer, (PRO), of the service, Tony Akuneme, stated that the victims were brought in by the NIS Ilela command before being handed over to NAPTIP. Comptroller of Immigration, Illela Border Command, Ado Rano Sabo, explained that the young women are from different parts of the country and of ages ranging from 19 to 37 years. Sabo advised Nigerians to desist from undertaking such perilous journeys, noting that most victims end up being used for labour exploitation, prostitution, or organ harvesting.

Seventeen survivors were rescued in an operation about 100 miles off the Libyan coast Sunday partially coordinated by the Italian Coast Guard. The incident comes two weeks after another shipwreck off the coast of southern Italy left at least 79 people dead. Italian authorities brought more than 1,000 rescued migrants to Italian shores over the weekend. Regarding Sunday's shipwreck, the Italian Coast Guard said it asked three merchant vessels to respond to the emergency after Libyan authorities notified them that they were not able to. Commercial ships are continuing the search for the missing migrants, assisted by aerial surveillance flights operated by the European border control, Frontex, the Italian Coast Guard said.

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British banking giant HSBC has inked a deal to buy up Silicon Valley Bank’s (SVB) British subsidiary for just a pound, it announced on Monday. The news comes after the US-based parent bank collapsed on Saturday, the second collapse after Silvergate Bank the week before. A statement from @thebankoflondon regarding @SVB_UK (Silicon Valley Bank UK Limited) pic.twitter.com/OHXx7kmpRY — The Bank of London (@thebankoflondon) March 12, 2023The Bank of London acts as a clearing back and worked with the Bank of England and UK Treasury to negotiate the terms of SVB’s acquisition on Sunday. Significance of SVB CollapseDemond Cureton, Senior Journalist, XR Today, analysing the ongoing crisis at Silicon Valley Bank. However, lending practices faced setbacks after clients could no longer access money from the bank, leading to knock-on effects for companies paying their employees, the Financial Times reported.

A charity monitoring migrant boats in the Mediterranean said Sunday some of the 47 people on a boat it had earlier warned Italian authorities was in distress off the coast of Libya had drowned. Alarm Phone, a hotline used by migrants in distress, tweeted that it had first alerted Italian authorities early Saturday morning to the "urgent distress situation" of a boat northwest of Benghazi. According to different sources, dozens of people from this boat in distress have drowned," tweeted Alarm Phone Sunday. AFP was unable to immediately confirm the report. The statement from Alarm Phone comes exactly two weeks after a shipwreck off the southern Italian coast of Calabria in which at least 76 migrants drowned.

Share:TRIPOLI- The Libyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation welcomed the agreement of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Iran to resume diplomatic relations between them, after the success of continuous rounds of dialogue with the support of China, and Omani and Iraqi diplomatic endeavors. The Libyan Foreign Ministry said on Saturday, “This progress in the relations of the two countries reflects the commitment of all parties to prefer dialogue and peaceful means.”It also praised this agreement, which serves the interests of the Kingdom and Iran as well as the whole region, and opens a new chapter to move forward towards developing bilateral relations between the two countries, in which mutual respect and good neighborliness prevail.

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Libyan authorities, citing “lack of naval assets availability," contacted the Rome-based maritime aid coordination center, which sent a satellite message about an emergency to all ships in the area, according to the Italian coast guard statement. For example, many migrants in Libya come from Niger and Chad, two African nations on Libya's southern border, and eventually return to their homelands, he said. Some 105,000 migrants reached Italy by sea in 2022. On Sunday, three more bodies were found from a Feb. 26 shipwreck just offshore the Italian peninsula, raising the known death toll in that disaster to 79 migrants, Italian state TV said. However many migrants actually set out from Libya on smugglers' boats, it "is a worrisome humanitarian flow because people die at sea,'' said IOM spokesperson Di Giacomo.

The Secret Service report: “Ready mass arrivals from Libya”A new wave of immigration is coming. The Corriere della Sera writes it, based on the reports of the Italian Secret Services. Like the 998 migrants who landed in Lampedusa in just 24 hours, a number not seen for some time. But the real problem is that this migratory wave, albeit substantial and dramatic, risks representing only an advance, a warning of what could happen in the next few days”, reads the Corriere della Sera. Meanwhile, the decree law on migrants, approved on Thursday by the Council of Ministers in Cutro, is in force.

ROME, MARCH 12 – “We have lost contact with the 47 people and we are very worried! The so-called Libyan coastguard told us that the Italian authorities would coordinate the rescue but did not give any information. People need to be rescued and brought to safety in Europe now.” Alarm Phone, an NGO created by a network of activists to alert sea rescue, writes it during the night, about the boat adrift among the waves in the central Mediterranean since yesterday.

Tripoli, March 12 (IANS) The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) for Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily, has stressed the importance of holding national elections in the country to achieve peace, stability, and prosperity. "Giving the Libyan people the opportunity to choose their leaders through the ballot box is, without doubt, the way towards peace, stability, and prosperity in the country. Elections are needed to restore and rebuild legitimate public institutions that represent and serve the people of Libya," he said. Bathily also urged all Libyan leaders to "seize this opportunity to commit themselves to this vision and meet the aspirations of their great people". Libya failed to hold general elections in December 2021 as previously scheduled due to disagreements over election laws among the Libyan parties.

Lebanese cleric urges choice of female candidate for the presidencyBEIRUT: A Lebanese clergyman has expressed his support for a woman candidate for the presidency. The names of Chamoun and Rihani were absent during the 11 parliamentary sessions held for the presidential elections. Although Lebanese women won the right to vote in 1952, and despite the presence of an active feminist movement, women’s representation in political affairs remains below expectations. Eight women won parliamentary seats in the 2022 elections, some of whom were active protesters during demonstrations in 2019. It is undecided whether municipal elections will be held next May, or if the terms of the current councils will be extended amid the presidential vacuum.

Terrorist groups take advantage of the weaknesses of states - such as instability or the absence of strong political authorities - to expand and gain influence. "Despite the current border-related security coordination between Egypt and Libya - resulting in numerous seizures - the issue requires greater intelligence sharing between the two sides," he said. From this area, in addition to transporting arms to Egypt, weapons are also supplied to other bordering countries such as Chad and Niger. Due to instability in the neighbouring country, Cairo has conducted numerous operations along the border to protect national security. "We are eager to achieve security and stability for the residents of Sinai," Al-Sisi said, according to Egypt Today.

GUJRAT: Six more bodies of victims of Libya boat wreck were brought to their native areas on Thursday. The Federal Investigation Agency’s Gujrat circle has so far registered 10 cases against human traffickers involved in sending the victims illegally to Italy via Dubai and Libya. Sources in the families of victims said that the bodies were flown to Lahore from Saudi Arabia. As per the cases lodged with the FIA, the human traffickers had reportedly received Rs 1.5mn to 2 million from each client. “The Government of Pakistan and our embassies are in contact with the families and are in the process of transportation of bodies back to Pakistan.

Senegalese diplomat Abdoulaye Bathily told the UN Security Council last month he planned to create a panel tasked with delivering presidential and legislative elections in conflict-torn Libya later this year. But his blunt criticism of the North African country’s two houses of parliament for failing to agree on a legal basis for elections has sparked a backlash that threatens to derail Bathily’s plans. Last month, the eastern-based House of Representatives passed an amendment to the country’s Constitutional Declaration — an interim constitution — which it said would provide a legal basis for elections. Western Libyan efforts to prevent Haftar, a US citizen, from standing in presidential polls have been a key factor in the stalemate over the legal basis for polls. Dbeibah summed up the fears of many in western Libya in a recent speech.