LIBYA: France gives opposition $259 million, use of embassy.
France is handing over $259 million in frozen Libyan funds to the country’s opposition and allowing the rebels’ new ambassador to use the country’s mothballed embassy in Paris. The French Foreign Ministry says the money, currently frozen in French banks, must be used for humanitarian purchases, in accordance with European law.
YEMEN: Airstrikes kill 15 suspected militants.
Government airstrikes killed at least 15 suspected al-Qaeda-linked militants Monday in southern Yemen. They also destroyed a tank seized by militants and several artillery positions near Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province. The airstrikes are the latest in a government campaign to try to dislodge al-Qaeda-linked militants from Zinjibar and nearby Jaar.
ITALY: Bodies found in hold of migrant boat.
The Italian Coast Guard found the bodies of 25 young men in the hold of a boat crowded with migrants that was intercepted Monday en route from Libya.
Members of the coast guard found 271 survivors aboard the 50-foot boat. About 90 migrants were traveling below deck and many could not make their way to the deck for air during the crossing, survivors told international migration officials. Some suffocated, and others were allegedly beaten to death by the crew to prevent them from coming topside.
Many of the migrants were from sub-Saharan Africa. Others came from Algeria, Morocco, Syria and Tunisia.
Unrest in northern Africa this year has resulted in a steady exodus of migrants to Europe.
Denver Post wire services
