Two Italian officers accused of delaying the response to a 2013 shipwreck in which some 260 migrants drowned will stand trial for manslaughter, a court in Italy ruled on Monday.
Spain and Portugal on Tuesday offered to take in most of the 141 migrants on board the Aquarius after it was given permission to dock in Malta, resolving a new standoff over the rescue ship.
Over 100 migrants were stranded for nearly two days in the central Mediterranean after being rescued in by an NGO over the weekend, with Italy and the United Kingdom undergoing a back-and-forth over their fates.
A three-month-old baby has died after being picked up by rescuers at sea off Libya, because bad weather and a lack of boats made a medical evacuation impossible, aid organizations said on Thursday.
More than 900 migrants have been rescued off the coast of Libya during the past 48 hours while trying to reach Italy, the Italian coastguard said on Friday.
The Italian coastguard and other boats rescued some 3,000 migrants from unseaworthy boats off the Libyan coast on Saturday, as the good weather pushes the numbers up, a participating NGO said.
Rescue vessels in the Mediterranean worked flat out on Friday to rescue over 2,000 people from flimsy dinghies as exhausted saviours accused the EU of turning a blind eye to the crisis.
About 1,350 migrants were rescued on Thursday during a dozen separate operations in the Mediterranean, with the body of one migrant also recovered, the Italian coastguard said.
About 146 migrants are feared missing after their boat capsized after leaving Libya, according to a Gambian man who was rescued following the disaster, the United Nations' refugee agency said on Wednesday.
An Italian prosecutor has stepped up his investigation into charity-funded migrant rescue boats in the Mediterranean after claims they are acting as a de-facto taxi service for people traffickers.
Interior ministers mainly from the central Mediterranean region met in Rome on Monday to ramp up efforts to curb migration from Libya amid a sharp rise in the number of people trying to cross to Europe.
Around 3,000 migrants were rescued off the coast of Libya on Sunday as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to Europe, the Italian coastguard told AFP.
Five people remained missing on Sunday after scores of migrants in an inflatable boat were rescued in turbulent waters off the coast of Libya overnight.
Some 970 migrants were rescued off the coast of Libya on Thursday, Italy's coastguard said, as the numbers attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Europe continue to rise.
About 730 migrants were rescued off the Libyan coast on Wednesday after seven rescue operations mounted by the Italian coast guard and the SOS Mediterranee aid group.
Rights groups on Friday blasted EU plans to help Libya stem migrant departures as a recipe for children being sent back to squalid detention centres in the north African country.
More than 1,750 migrants have been rescued in the Mediterranean within 24 hours, Italy's coast guard said Thursday, as EU leaders prepared for a summit on stemming the flow of boats from North Africa to Europe.
More than 1,400 migrants have been rescued in the Mediterranean within 24 hours, Italy's coast guard said on Thursday, as EU leaders prepared for a summit on stemming the flow of boats from North Africa to Europe.
After a difficult few months working flat-out to assist people in the areas affected by earthquakes, extreme snowfall and a deadly avalanche, the Italian fire service finally has something to celebrate.
Two of the men who died when an emergency services helicopter crashed in the central Italian mountains had been part of the rescue effort at avalanche-hit Hotel Rigopiano.
Videos shared by Italy's fire service have shown how rescue teams have tackled the challenge of searching for survivors and victims of the avalanche in unforgiving conditions.
Two groups of volunteer firemen from the Swiss canton of Ticino headed to the earthquake and avalanche hit area of Abruzzo in Italy on Saturday to help Italian rescue teams.
