More than 60 Missing in New Mediterranean Shipwreck

Members of the Libyan security forces carry the body of a baby as migrants who survived the sinking of an inflatable dinghy boat off the coast of Libya are brought ashore in al-Hmidiya, east of the capital Tripoli on June 29, 2018. Mahmud TURKIA / AFP
Members of the Libyan security forces carry the body of a baby as migrants who survived the sinking of an inflatable dinghy boat off the coast of Libya are brought ashore in al-Hmidiya, east of the capital Tripoli on June 29, 2018. Mahmud TURKIA / AFP
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More than 60 Missing in New Mediterranean Shipwreck

Members of the Libyan security forces carry the body of a baby as migrants who survived the sinking of an inflatable dinghy boat off the coast of Libya are brought ashore in al-Hmidiya, east of the capital Tripoli on June 29, 2018. Mahmud TURKIA / AFP
Members of the Libyan security forces carry the body of a baby as migrants who survived the sinking of an inflatable dinghy boat off the coast of Libya are brought ashore in al-Hmidiya, east of the capital Tripoli on June 29, 2018. Mahmud TURKIA / AFP

A new shipwreck off the Libyan coast has left 63 people missing in the latest disaster to hit migrants seeking to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe in search for better lives.

The group are feared drowned after the inflatable boat they were on sank, a spokesman for Libya's navy General Ayoub Kacem told AFP, citing eyewitness accounts from survivors.

Kacem said that 41 people wearing life jackets were rescued.

"The coast guards did not find bodies in the area," he said.

According to survivors, there were 104 people on board the vessel, which sank off Garaboulli, east of Tripoli.

Spain's Maritime Rescue Service said Monday it has rescued another 109 people from the Mediterranean Sea as they tried to reach the country's southern coasts from North Africa.

The rescue service said a crew encountered one vessel in the western part of the Strait of Gibraltar on Monday with 52 migrants on board, while a second one carried 49.

A different rescue boat picked up eight people from a dinghy found further east.

The service reported on Sunday that 160 people were rescued from five boats.

The number of people reaching Europe by the so-called Western Mediterranean land and sea route to Spain has surpassed the number arriving to Italy by boat this year.

More than 1,000 people have drowned in the Mediterranean this year sailing from Libya to Europe, with a rush in the past few days to beat an anticipated crackdown by the European Union, the International Organization for Migration said late on Sunday.

IOM spokesman Leonard Doyle said the surge in recent days may be due to factors including weather and the end of Ramadan.

"But also there is a recognition I think worldwide that the European Union is starting to manage the process better so maybe they equally are trying to profit while they can. Smugglers will always put profit before safety.”



UN's Syria Envoy Calls for 'Free And Fair Elections' after Transition

A man lifts an independence-era Syrian flag as passengers disembark in Aleppo, after the first commercial flight since Assad's ouster - AFP
A man lifts an independence-era Syrian flag as passengers disembark in Aleppo, after the first commercial flight since Assad's ouster - AFP
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UN's Syria Envoy Calls for 'Free And Fair Elections' after Transition

A man lifts an independence-era Syrian flag as passengers disembark in Aleppo, after the first commercial flight since Assad's ouster - AFP
A man lifts an independence-era Syrian flag as passengers disembark in Aleppo, after the first commercial flight since Assad's ouster - AFP

United Nations special envoy Geir Pedersen called Wednesday for "free and fair elections" in Syria and urged humanitarian assistance to the war-torn country after Bashar al-Assad's ouster this month.

Addressing reporters in Damascus, Pedersen said "there is a lot of hope that we can now see the beginning of a new Syria", which he expressed hope would also include a "political solution" in the Kurdish-held northeast.

The UN envoy called for "a new Syria that, in line with Security Council Resolution 2254, will adopt a new constitution... and that we will have free and fair elections when that time comes, after a transitional period."

Resolution 2254, adopted in 2015 at the height of the civil war, set out a roadmap for a political settlement in Syria, according to AFP.

After opposition factions captured Damascus on December 8 and toppled Assad's rule, Pedersen expressed his hope the Syrians can rebuild their country and that "the process to end sanctions" imposed under the former government could begin.

"We need immediate humanitarian assistance, but we also need to make sure that Syria can be rebuilt, that we can see economic recovery," he said.

Pedersen noted that "one of the biggest challenges is the situation in the northeast", amid fears of a major escalation between the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Türkiye-backed armed groups.

Türkiye accuses the main component of the SDF, the People's Protection Units (YPG), of being affiliated with Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants at home, whom both Washington and Ankara consider a "terrorist" group.

The United States said on Tuesday it had brokered an extension to a fragile ceasefire in the flashpoint town of Manbij and was seeking a broader understanding with Türkiye.

"I'm very pleased that the truce has been renewed and that it seems to be holding, but hopefully we will see a political solution to that issue," Pedersen said.