Survivors told aid workers that most of the migrants on board were Pakistanis, who form a growing group heading to Italy from North Africa.
An estimated 90 migrants are feared to have drowned off the coast of Libya after a smugglerâs boat capsized early on Friday, leaving three known survivors and 10 bodies washed up on shore, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said.
Continue reading 90 migrants feared dead in shipwreck off Libya coast
Mihir Garh, RajasthanÂ
“The fort sits in splendid isolation amid the Thar Desert near Jodhpur. It looks like an enormous sandcastle, a mirage, and is not just a unique place to stay; itâs a shrine to the artistic and architectural traditions of Rajasthan in general and Jodhpur in particular.”
Planet Baobab, Botswana
“Botswanaâs Makgadigadi Pan comprises the worldâs largest network of salt pans â a thirsty, mirage-inducing landscape of flat, shimmering expanses under hard blue skies. Halfway along the sole tarred road through this arid moonscape, a statue of an anteater towers at the dusty verge. It is a surreal sight, and an appropriate signpost for the distinctive Planet Baobab.”
Prendiparte B&B, Bologna, Italy
“A medieval high-rise turned romantic hideaway, the Torre Prendiparte is unlike anywhere else youâll ever stay. The living area is on the first two floors and comprises a snug, classically-furnished living room, mezzanine bedroom, and kitchen. Above this is the former jail where you can still see graffiti left by prisoners on the 2m-thick walls.”
Qasr al Sarab, UAE
“Rising from the shifting sands, Qasr Al Sarab appears like a mirage on the edge of the vast Empty Quarter desert. Outside high crenellated walls echo fortresses of old. Inside rooms continue the dream of Arabian Nights with sumptuous fabrics, carved Islamic designs, woven rugs, wooden doors and metalwork lanterns.”
Peppers Cradle Mountain Lodge, Tasmania, Australia
“A stay at Peppers Cradle Mountain Lodge plunges you into the heart of Tasmaniaâs wilderness, with luxury that feels as organic as your surrounds. The cabins are nestled privately in the bushland, with wallabies bounding past the windows and wombats shuffling amid the trees.”
Free Spirit Spheres, British Columbia, Canada
“Suspended in the trees on sturdy guide ropes, Vancouver Islandâs Free Spirit Spheres look like giant eyeballs peering deep into the British Columbia woodlands. Step inside and the handmade orbs â accessed via spiral rope staircases or slender steel bridges â are lined like comfy boat cabins with built-in beds and cabinets.”
Taskonak Hotel, Goreme, Cappadocia, Turkey
“GĂśreme has dozens of beautiful cave-hotels but TaĹkonak manages to dish up the cave-suites and stupendous views Cappadocia is famous for without breaking your budget.”
Thonga Beach Lodge, iSimangaliso Wetland Park, South Africa
“One of few such lodges within the extraordinary 328,000 hectare iSimangaliso Wetland Park, a Unesco world heritage site.”
Saugerties Lighthouse, New York state, USA
“Saugerties Lighthouse is a historic 1869 landmark that makes a wonderful base for exploring the scenic Hudson valley. It is 100 miles north of New York City, and the red brick building has played a pivotal role in safely guiding steamboats, barges and other vessels safely along the Hudson river over the years. More recently (in the mid 1990s), the lighthouse was transformed into a two-room B&B, providing safe haven of a different sort.”
The Gibbon Experience Treehouse, Bokeo Reserve, Laos
“The tree houses erected by conservation group Animo are a thing of architectural wonder, straddling the giant trunks of strangler fig trees. But more extraordinary still is that to reach these vertiginous eyries youâll have to trek through the fecund realm of the tiger, then catch a series of exhilarating zip lines strung across the forest canopy, before flying into your nightâs accommodation.”
TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Survivors from a boat that foundered off Libyaâs coast on Tuesday said about 50 people who had embarked with them were feared dead, while the coastguard said the number of missing might be as high as 100.
Libyan coastguard vessels picked up nearly 300 migrants from three boats off the coast of the North African country on Tuesday, but one rubber boat was punctured and the coastguard only found 16 survivors clinging to its wreckage.
âWe found the migrant boat at about 10 oâclock this morning, it had sunk and we found 16 migrants. The rest were all missing and unfortunately we didnât find any bodies or (other) survivors,â said Nasr al-Qamoudi, a coastguard commander.
Continue reading Survivors, coastguard say 100 migrants missing off Libya
Jewellery belonging to the Qatari royal family’s collection has been stolen from a Venice exhibition.
Several items of jewellery were stolen from a case at the exhibition at the Doge’s Palace on Wednesday morning, police said.
The items are believed to be worth several million euros, police said, but they may be difficult to sell on the black market because of their fame.
Police have launched an investigation into the theft.
The exhibition, entitled Treasures of the Mughals and the Maharajahs, brought together hundreds of Indian gems from the 16th to 20th Centuries. It was due to close on Wednesday evening.
Continue reading Qatari royals’ jewels stolen from Venice exhibition
The World Economic Forum (WEF)Â recently published its annual Global Competitiveness Report, which looks at dozens of measures of economic and institutional health to compile a ranking of countries.
One of the subcategories used by the WEF is the prevalence of organised crime â listed under the “security” index. Extortion, racketeering, theft, violence, and property damage are all factors that could hold back a country’s development.
We took a look at the worst performers on the list. The majority of countries with the worst gang problems are in south and central America but there is one European country that makes the list.
Each country is given a score from 1 to 7 indicating how bad the problem is. 1 indicates that it’s a big problem that imposes huge costs; 7 means no problem at all.
Here are the fifteen countries with the worst gang problems:
Continue reading The 15 countries with the worst organised crime problems in the world
Notorious Sicilian Mafia boss Salvatore “Toto” Riina has died from cancer, Italian media reports say.
Riina, 87, former boss of the feared Cosa Nostra, was jailed in 1993.
He was serving 26 life sentences and is believed to have ordered more than 150 murders.
Continue reading Salvatore ‘Toto’ Riina, feared Mafia boss, dies aged 87
Sometimes the best way to explore is by water. Travelers adventurous enough to sail around a country are often afforded a view of their destination that few others will ever appreciate. Here are three unique sailing vacations worth a look.
Continue reading 3 Luxury Sailing Vacations to Go On Before You Die
One of Italyâs most-wanted mob bosses has been arrested in Uruguay after 23 years on the run from convictions for mafia association, drug trafficking and other serious crimes, the Italian interior ministry has said.
Continue reading ‘Cocaine king of Milan’ arrested in Uruguay after 23 years on the run
Italian police have detained 15 volunteer firefighters in southern Sicily accused of starting fires in order to get paid to put them out.
In the alleged fraud, the volunteers rang the emergency 115 number themselves or got friends or relatives to do it. Their commander allegedly skipped shifts in order to start fires.
Hiking by most accounts involves nothing more than putting one foot in front of the other over and over until you reach your final destination. However, some of the most dangerous adventures in the world involve simply navigating a trail with nothing more than a healthy dose of fear and a desire to push your self to the edgeâjust not over it.
Continue reading Four of the Worldâs Most Dangerous Trails for the Adrenaline Junkie
A call by the British foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, for targeted sanctions against senior Russian and Syrian figures has been rejected by fellow G7 foreign ministers.
At a meeting at Lucca in Italy, the group said there must be an investigation into last weekâs chemical weapons attack in a rebel-held town before new measures could be adopted.
Continue reading G7 rejects UK call for sanctions against Russia and Syria
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A Russia-backed Libyan warlord could start a âcivil warâ in Libya, increasing refugee flows to the EU, Malta has warned.
The danger comes as the Libyan commander, Khalifa Haftar, advances on Tripoli, the seat of the UN-recognised government, Maltaâs foreign minister, George Vella, told press in Valletta on Friday (12 January).
Several years ago, Munich-based photographer Bernhard Lang vacationed at a seaside resort in Adria, Italy and was struck by the perfectly uniform arrangements of colored umbrellas used by each hotel.
Last month he returned, this time by air, and shot for several hours on the coastline between Ravenna and Rimini.
Lang is well known for his aerial photography of locations around Germany including coal mines, residential life, and industrial sites.
You can see more over on Behance, and all of his work is available as fine art prints. All photos courtesy the photographer
The biggest gang in Mexico right now is the Sinaloa, whose leader, JoaquĂn GuzmĂĄn Loera, known as “El Chapo” or “Shorty”, is considered the most powerful drug lord in the world, perhaps ever. The Sinaloas smuggle cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine and heroin by land or through tunnels into the US, often via Arizona.
The largest of Japan’s Yakuza groups, the Yamaguchi has its base and origins in Kobe, but works on a global scale. With a membership running into tens of thousands, they deal in drugs, weapons, gambling, extortion rackets and prostitution.
The term “Russian Mafia” describes a range of criminal bratvas, or brotherhoods, the largest of which is from Solntsevo district on the southern outskirts of Moscow. The group is known to have links to Semion Mogilevich, Europe‘s and perhaps the world’s, most powerful criminal.
The ‘Ndrangheta from Calabria has now eclipsed the nearby Sicilian Cosa Nostra and the Neapolitan Camorra syndicates to become one of the biggest drug gangs in the world. Its annual income from cocaine importation and other businesses is estimated in the tens of billions of dollars.
The imprisonment last year of brothers Itzhak and Meir Abergil has done little to curtail the activities of the huge organisation they led. IThe Abergils have been one of the world’s largest exporters of ecstasy, into the US and elsewhere, and prolific in gambling and embezzlement too.
Italy’s beach culture is not the most serious thing threatened by climate change.
But it would be sad to see this go.Â
Fifty years ago, the umbrella-lined beaches along Italy’s Adriatric coast used to be a popular place for Europeans to go for summer vacations.
Then came cheap flights, and now the younger generation might be more likely to fly thousands of miles than take the train to the beach.
But even as the tourist crowd starts to dwindle to elderly Germans, the local beaches face a bigger threat than lost business: climate change washing them away.
By the end of the century, the narrow stretches of sand may slowly begin to disappear.
In a new series of photos, German photographer Bernhard Lang captures what the beaches near Rimini, Italy look like now.
Lang, an aerial photographer who has also documented a massive port in Germany and one of the largest coal pits in the world, was most interested in the patterns of each beach.
“A few years ago, I was on a short holiday in the area, and seeing these endless rows of sunshades from the ground, I started thinking this might look interesting from above,” he says.
“I preferred the distance and freedom of the aerial view, compared to lying in between the masses of geometrically arranged canvas chairs on the ground.”
If rising water starts to reclaim the sand decades from now, the photos will show the area as it once was.
“If these beaches eventually disappear, the images will be evidence of the Adriatic beach culture in Italy,” Lang says.
Of course, like other coastal regions, Italy faces more dire challenges than just lost vacation spots–seawater, for example, is likely to contaminate drinking water and water used to irrigate local farms.
And when nearby Venice eventually goes underwater–something that scientists now believe is inevitable, despite new barriers to block the water
that’s obviously a greater loss than some hotels and beach umbrellas. Still, it would be sad to see this go.
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