ROME (ITALPRESS/MNA) – All the Italians who have asked to leave Sudan have been evacuated. This was announced by the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni late on Sunday evening.
“After a day of anxious waiting, all our compatriots in Sudan who have asked to leave have been evacuated. There are also foreign nationals with them. “Italy leaves no one behind,” said the Prime Minister, adding “I want to thank all those who participated in this very difficult operation, in the middle of a combat zone, my applause goes to Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and to the Farnesina Crisis Unit, to Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, Undersecretary Alfredo Mantovano, the Chief of Staff at the Defense Ministry, Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, the COVI commander, General Francesco Paolo Figliuolo, to our ambassador in Sudan, Michele Tommasi, and to the Security Services. Also on this occasion I want to renew my appeal for an end to the war, for the opening of negotiations that lead to a civilian government. Sudan needs peace”.
Defense Minister Guido Crosetto thanked the effort and professionalism of the Italian Armed Forces. The first 107 Italians aboard one of the C130s landed in Djibouti at 10 pm Italian time, 7 had already arrived a few hours earlier and another 40 returned on an aircraft in collaboration with the Spanish armed forces. “All Italian civilians have been evacuated to Djibouti where a refreshment area has been set up awaiting the subsequent return to Italy”, explained Crosetto.
On Monday, a C130 will take the Italian ambassador to Sudan and the commander of the Extraction Force who implemented the operation back to Djibouti.
“Thanks to the commitment of our air force and our special forces of the army, navy and carabinieri,” the minister reiterated, “the operations will continue until the complete safety of all the Italians. Everything takes place in the closest cooperation with our European partners. To the Operational Command of the Joint Forces Summit and to the soldiers who are carrying out this delicate and risky mission, I want to express the gratitude of the government and of the whole nation”.
“All the Italians who wanted to leave the country are now in Djibouti and will return to Rome with an Air Force flight at around 6 or 7 pm at Ciampino airport. They are all fine. There are some Emergency volunteers left and I think some missionary who did not want to leave the country, it is their free choice”, said the foreign minister Antonio Tajani, upon his arrival at the European Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg.
“I want to thank the Farnesina Crisis Unit and all the soldiers who participated in the evacuation operation. It was a difficult, risky and complicated operation, but everything went the right way. I have remained in contact with the leaders of the two factions that are fighting each other, they have respected their commitment to guarantee the safety of our convoys, I thanked them for this”, explained Tajani.

– foto ufficio stampa Ministero della Difesa –

(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

TUNIS (TUNISIA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – During the last hours, 15 boats full of migrants fled from Tunisia towards Italy, however some of the boats were stopped by the Tunisian authorities. This was confirmed by the international NGO Alarm Phone in an alert via Twitter confirming that it is also aware of more boats are preparing to leave from the Tunisian coasts.
Alarm Phone said that some of the boats were intercepted by the Tunisian authorities, preventing them from crossing the Mediterranean Sea. It added that the Tunisian authorities removed the engines from other boats and migrants left abandoned. The NGO urged the Tunisian authorities to stop this assault on people who are trying to escape from Tunisia which is considered dangerous and safe following the recent political developments and the economic situation which is in a bad state.
Earlier, Alarm Phone confirmed that a group of 38 migrants were adrift off Al Amra. The southeastern coastal town which is around 250 km away from Tunis is one of the departure points for migrants in their attempt to start a clandestine voyage to Italy.
Alarm phone was alerted by a group of people who tried to flee Tunisia but got attacked by the Tunisian National Guard who stole the engine. The NGO urged the authorities to stop this violence and to launch an immediate rescue operation.

– photo Agenziafotogramma.it –

(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – According to Eurostat, Malta registered the lowest increase in average hourly wages and salaries in the euro area during 2022. However, the hourly wages and salaries grew within every member state of the European Union, an average increase of 4.4% in the EU and 4% in the euro area. But among the Eurozone members, Malta was one of three countries, including Italy and Finland, where the hourly wages increased the least, by just 2.3%. Within the EU, only Denmark just barely registered a lower growth in average hourly wages and salaries, registering a growth of 2.2% last year. The biggest increase in hourly wages and salaries was recorded in Hungary (16.4%), followed by Bulgaria (15.5%) and Lithuania (13.4%). Lithuania is the country that registered the fastest growth within the euro area. Within the EU, hourly wages and salaries grew by 3.2%, mainly in the non-business economy and by 4.9% in the business economy, with a 4.6% increase in industry, 5.2% in construction and 5% in services. (ITALPRESS).

Photo Credits: www.agenziafotogramma.it

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – An earthquake of magnitude 5.3 on the Richter Scale caused fear among several people around Malta and Gozo, with several people telling how this tremor was much stronger than they had ever felt. Several people who commented on social media explained how the tremor lasted for a few seconds, others said that objects in their house started moving and there were those who said they were asleep and woke up startled. The tremor was felt around 00:19 of Saturday, a little more than 110 kilometers south east of Malta, in the area of ??the Central Mediterranean where there have been several other tremors in recent months. The tremor was also felt in Sicily and Libya. On Friday evening, at around 8:13pm, another tremor occurred in the same area, but with a lower power that marked 4.4 on the Richter Scale.

Foto: screenshot da Ingv

(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

TRIPOLI (LIBIA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Libya faces being badly affected by the conflict in Sudan if urgent actions are not taken by the authorities. Sudan is Africa’s third biggest country and what happens there matters, to its neighbours and to the wider world. The stern warning came from the Head of the Military Organization and Administration Authority in southern Libya, Abdelsalam Al-Busaifi. He said that the ongoing clashes in Sudan will have an impact on the situation in Libya unless quick and serious steps are taken to avoid such repercussions. Al-Busaifi appealed to the authorities in the east and west, to quickly contain the situation now, close the borders and assign military forces to protect them and prevent any infiltration, in addition to using reconnaissance planes at Al-Kufra Airport. He also pointed out that the southeastern region adjacent to the northern regions of Sudan would be the most affected if the clashes extended to Libya. He said there is fear that the current military clashes in Sudan may result in a long-term war, and stressed that Libya should follow Chad’s decision to close all borders. The Sudanese capital Khartoum has been witnessing fierce clashes since Saturday morning between the Sudanese army, which is under the authority of the head of the Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces, which are under the control of Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemetti. The two military men at the centre of the crisis both served under the previous president, Omar al-Bashir, until they turned on him in 2019, after months of pro-democracy protests. They have large numbers of troops; Burhan has the regular military – around 120,000 strong – while the RSF has as many as 150,000, with a fearsome reputation for violence. They were part of a transitional administration that was supposed to pave the way for a democratic government. But in 2021 Gen Burhan staged a military coup, putting all that on hold.

photo credits: www.agenziafotogramma.it

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – The inflation rate in Malta has increased slightly and it is highest than the average in the Eurozone. According to the National Statistics Office, , the inflation rate was 7.1 percent last month, an increase of 0.1 percent compared to last February. Meanwhile, official statistics confirmed that the inflation in EU countries was 8.3 percent and 6.9 in the Eurozone. The biggest increase in the annual inflation rate in March was in the food and non-alcoholic drink price index at 2.3%. This was mainly due to higher meat prices. Meanwhile, the Governor of the Central Bank of Malta Prof Edward Scicluna declared that tough decisions may be needed to fight what he described the “inflation monster”. During the launch of Malta’s Central Bank 2022 annual report, Scicluna warned that “inflation is likely to remain too high for too long”.  While declaring that the Central Bank’s mandate is to fight inflation, he declared “if interest rates need to rise, we will raise them, even if it comes at the cost of the Central Bank’s finances.” As a consequene of a series of interests raise implemented by the European Central Bank throughout 2022, local banks ended up under increasing pressure to raise their own interest rates, with potentially problematic consequences for home loan holders. However, the Governor of Malta’s Central Bank remarked that the Maltese banks have high liquidity, and this factor allowed them to limit the impact of inflation, without passing the costs on to their customers. Meanwhile, the President of the European Central Bank Christine Lagarde praised Malta’s “extraordinary economic growth” and congratulated the Central Bank on the “great confidence” it demonstrated throughout the years in transforming Malta into a modern economy.

Photo credits: www.agenziafotogramma.it

Source: medNews

VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – The Maltese government spent over €60.8 million in public funds in 2022 on the early retirement scheme and the voluntary retirement scheme which were offered to Air Maltàs staff as the national airline, Air Malta, sought to downsize its workforce in a bid to survive.
Maltàs Finance Minister Clyde Caruana said in Parliament that 351 workers received a payout under both schemes, and received €60.8 million – an average of over €173,000.
Air Maltàs Chairman David Curmi declared that a new airline would be replacing Air Malta by 2023, as had happened in Italy when Alitalia made way for ITA in 2021. However, this was not confirmed officially by the Maltese government and declared that there are still ongoing discussions on pending issues with the European Commission. However, the Commission is reported that it did not accept Maltàs request for state aid of around 300 million euro to make Air Malta viable.
Unions representing the workers are asking for urgent meeting with the government.

– photo press office Air Malta –

(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

ROME (ITALPRESS/MNA) – “Italy will provide Ukraine with support as long as it is necessary and requested from every point of view, because not only the independence of the country is at stake, but also the future of peace in Europe. Other aggressions and attacks would follow We cannot allow this.” This was stated by the President of Italy Sergio Mattarella, in Bratislava, after the meeting with the Slovak President Zuzana Caputova.
Mattarella also answered a question about disinformation “which is fueled by a constant activity of the Russian Federation”. “It affects all countries, even in Italy,” explained the Italian Head of State, describing it as “an insidious action that must be countered more effectively and with more efficient tools than those put in place up to now”.
“This requires an awareness and responsibility of law enforcement instruments on the part of the European Union and NATO in an effective manner”, added Mattarella.

– photo press office Quirinale –

(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

KRAKOW (ITALPRESS/MNA) – “Today, once again, the European perspective is precious for the states close to us, which they find in the accession to the EU a reason for hope and strength to claim justice, rights, and peace, and to widen the circle of countries that testify their adherence to the values ​​of people’s rights and of the nations. It is the realization of the evocative power and transformative European perspective that led to a historic decision to grant the candidate status to Kyiv and Chisinau, whose peoples must know that Europe will not leave them alone to face the challenges ahead of them.” This was stated by the Italian President Sergio Mattarella who was speaking at the University of Krakow. “The rapid conclusion of the EU accession process of our Balkan neighbors, which started many years ago, is a goal that Italy fully supports, to secure their aspirations and not to give space to forces hostile to the values ​​of coexistence and who are ready to degenerate the democratic system. A step that must be taken without any delay, an indispensable step in order not to create dangerous instability for the continent,” he added.
– photo Quirinale –
(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – 69 human rights organisations from various countries, including Tunisia, Italy and, Malta are urging the European Union to stop cooperation with Tunisia on migration control, insisting the north African state should not be considered safe. The EU is being requested to provide safe routes for people wanting to leave Tunisia and stop border control funding to the country. Between 2016 and 2020, more than €37 million from the EU Trust Fund for Africa were granted to Tunisia for the “management of migration flows and borders”, the groups said, adding that more millions were earmarked for the process. They raised concerns over Tunisiàs treatment of sub-Saharan immigrants and Tunisian citizens opposed to the current regime, which is increasingly becoming authoritarian. The statement comes amid an increase in irregular boat departures from Tunisia towards the Italian island of Lampedusa. There are two main concerns as Tunisian immigrants who actually make it to the EU are not afforded international protection and are repatriated back to their country while the Tunisian coast guard intercepts boats and forces them to return back. The organisations claimed that people rescued at sea and returned back to Tunisia are at “high risk” of being subjected to human rights violations and detention, irrespective of whether they are Tunisian citizens or not.
(ITALPRESS).
-photo credit agenziafotogramma.it-

Source: medNews