The Italian government is pressing for an emergency EU summit this week to address the worsening migrant crisis, after a boat carrying around 700 people capsized in the Mediterranean sixty miles north of Libya. Late on Sunday night, most of those on board were still missing.
(image: NBC News)
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi called the growth of human smuggling “a plague in our continent,” the BBC reports, as increasing numbers of people “attempt to flee violence and economic hardship in Africa and the Middle East.”
The weekend’s tragedy is the latest in a series of deadly accidents involving attempted migrants in the region, with the exact number of lives lost unknown, although the UNHCR estimates that 900 people have died since the start of this year, and the numbers of incidents are rising.
Pope Francis, meanwhile, called on the international community to help Italy deal with the recent influx of migrants. “It’s evident that the proportions of the phenomenon require much broader involvement,” the Pope said.
EU foreign ministers were already due to meet on Monday in Luxembourg to discuss options for combating oil and arms smuggling in the area, including possibly sending a naval mission to the coast of Libya, but Reuters reports there are fears that such a move might encourage more migrants to take to the sea.
In a frank reference to EU concerns that saving more lives could mean trafficking gangs dispatch more people in unsafe craft, the paper drawn up before Sunday’s mass drowning, warned of a “pull-factor risk” from a naval mission — the risk more migrants would head for Europe.
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* WORLD * This weekend saw the 20th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, which killed 168 people, including 19 children. At a memorial service, former President Bill Clinton said:
“I prepared for this day yesterday, in New York, by taking Hillary to see our daughter and son-in-law and my about-to-be 7-month-old grandchild,” he said. “And Hillary and I bathed her and fed her and put her to bed, and I looked at her in that crib so I could remember how you felt, those of you who lost your loved ones.”
USA Today tells the story of the iconic photograph that came to symbolize the tragedy.
Two dissidents failed on Sunday in their efforts to be the first open opposition candidates elected to Cuba‘s Municipal Assembly.
(image: KONA/Mashable)
North Korean leader Kim Jung-Un has reportedly climbed the country’s highest mountain. State-run media said the 32-year-old scaled the 2,750-feet Mount Paektu, to be greeted by cheering crowds of soldiers. Sky News reports:
The story is the latest run by state media on the feats of the Kim dynasty, which has ruled for more than six decades with an iron fist and pervasive personality cult.
Just last week the regime insisted Mr Kim could drive by the time he was three years old.
Among the claims made about his late father, Kim Jong-Il, was the suggestion he had scored an incredible 11 holes-in-one the first time he ever played golf.
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* POLITICS * The GOP field of actual and hypothetical Presidential candidates wrapped up their New Hampshire weekend gathering, taking turns attacking Democrat Hillary Clinton, who arrives in the state on Monday. Politico has six takeaways.
A North Carolina man’s last wish – or at least, a wish inserted by his family in his obituary in the Concord-Kannapolis Independent Tribune – was for a specific political outcome.
“In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to Shriners Hospital for Children,” the obituary continues. “Also, the family respectfully asks that you do not vote for Hillary Clinton in 2016. R.I.P. Granddaddy.”
Amy Chozick at the New York Times trails a new book that looks at donations to the Clinton Foundation by foreign entities, saying it is “proving the most anticipated and feared book of a presidential cycle still in its infancy.”
Matea Gold at the Washington Post writes how big money in politics is emerging as an increasingly significant issue in the campaign.
Turning disgust with billionaire super-PAC benefactors into a platform that moves voters has been an elusive goal for activists seeking to curb the massive sums sloshing through campaigns. But five years after the Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision — which held it was unconstitutional to ban independent political spending by corporations and unions, and helped set off a financial arms race — there are signs that politicians are beginning to confront a voter backlash.
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* BRITISH ELECTION *
(Daily Mirror/Tomorrow’s Papers Today)
Monday is the last day to register to vote before the May 7 election, with the fight for Scotland – where the balance of a new parliament could be decided – heating up. The SNP launches its manifesto on Monday, and leader Nicola Sturgeon tells The Guardian:
“With fixed-term parliaments, it gives parties in a minority-government situation – [where] hopefully the SNP will be in a position of influence – huge ability to change the direction of a government without bringing a government down.
“There are very limited circumstances in that act where you can trigger a general election, but what you can do is build alliances to change the direction of a government on particular issues and that is what the SNP would seek to do.”
How would economists fix the economy? Tim Harford asks some, and the FT publishes the results, in The Economists’ Manifesto.
Alternatively, Russell Brand’s movie, The Emperor’s New Clothes, opens this week, with advance screenings beginning on Tuesday.
(StudioCanal)
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* CULTURE * Jon Stewart tells The Guardian‘s Hadley Freeman why he quit The Daily Show.
“Honestly, it was a combination of the limitations of my brain and a format that is geared towards following an increasingly redundant process, which is our political process. I was just thinking, ‘Are there other ways to skin this cat?’ And, beyond that, it would be nice to be home when my little elves get home from school, occasionally.” […]
If anything, it was the prospect of the upcoming US election that pushed him to leave the show. “I’d covered an election four times, and it didn’t appear that there was going to be anything wildly different about this one,” he says.
This weekend saw this year’s induction ceremony at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Here’s a rundown of who joined the ranks, including this guy…
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* SPORTS * Tim Tebow is about to sign with the Philadelphia Eagles, according to Jay Glazer at Fox Sports. ESPN says:
Football’s most interesting team this offseason, the Eagles, just got even more interesting — if that were possible. Tebow now will attempt to jumpstart an NFL career that has been on hold since he played his last NFL game in 2012.
USA Today calls it Tebow’s “last best chance at an NFL career.”
Aston Villa will play Arsenal in the FA Cup Final on Steven Gerrard’s birthday.
Kris Bryant’s first weekend as a major leaguer provided more of a mystery story than a fairytale narrative. It took him until his second game to get his first hit, while in Bryant’s debut on Friday, the Cubs blew a four-run lead but won in extra innings. In typical Wrigley fashion, though, there was probably more attention on a fan…
Finally, this is a beautiful – and beautifully written – story by the Washington Post’s Rick Maese about love, loss and the Baltimore Orioles.
The Overnight Note 