Europe syracuse

CATANIA, Italy (Reuters) - Migrants forced to remain on board the ship that rescued them off the coast of Libya almost two weeks ago stepped onto dry land in Sicily on Thursday, with Italy's government promising to continue to block charity ships from its ports. The Sea-Watch 3, run by a German humanitarian group, docked in the port of Catania to disembark the 47 people, including 15 minors, that it picked up on Jan. 19. After hugging crew members, the minors disembarked first. The migrants then boarded buses taking them to shelters where they would be able to make official asylum requests. It was the second time in a month that the Sea Watch has been forced to spend several days at sea while European Union countries haggled over who would welcome migrants. Italy had been taking in all boat migrants picked up from unsafe and overcrowded boats off the coast of Libya until a populist government took over last year and shut the ports. This latest group will be redistributed among eight … [Read more...] about Migrants disembark in Italy as Rome vows to continue hard line

By Gavin Jones ROME (Reuters) – Italian parties were due to meet on Monday to decide whether to reconvene parliament immediately, with signs that some are trying to thwart far right League leader Matteo Salvini’s attempt to force a new election. Salvini, now deputy prime minister in a year-old coalition with the anti-establishment 5-Star party, declared last week the governing alliance had become unworkable and he wanted elections as soon as October. He is betting his own surging popularity and ebbing support for 5-Star could deliver him an election victory. But the plan could backfire if other parties team up to oppose it, perhaps by luring 5-Star into forming a new coalition. The League has filed a motion of no-confidence in the government with the Senate, and Salvini wants it to be voted on as soon as Tuesday. Parliament is in summer recess and he needs senators to agree to reconvene in order to consider it. Party leaders in the Senate were due to meet from 1400 GMT. … [Read more...] about Italy parties meet as Salvini’s election bid meets resistance

If words were spontaneously combustible, a recent immigration opinion issued by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Philadelphia might have incinerated half of the City of Brotherly Love.“The case now before us exemplifies the ‘severe wound … inflicted’ when not a modicum of courtesy, of respect or of any pretense of fairness is extended to a petitioner and the case he so valiantly attempted to present. Yet once again, under the ‘bullying’ nature of the immigration judge’s questioning, a petitioner was ground to bits.” Cham v. Attorney General of the United States, 445 F.3d 683.And that’s just the second paragraph of Judge Maryanne Trump Barry’s April 28 opinion. Indeed, the judge opens with a quote from a separate case about dignity as the hallmark of the American justice system.Nor was it the first time the circuit court had taken the particular immigration judge, Donald V. Ferlise, to task, as the opinion quickly … [Read more...] about Asylum Ordeals

The driver of a charter bus who police say is from Bethlehem was using a non-commercial GPS device when he crashed into a low-hanging overpass on a Long Island parkway Sunday night, leaving a number of high school students injured, two seriously.Police said Troy Gaston was driving the bus with 38 students and five chaperones who had arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport after a spring break trip to Europe. The bus, operated by Journey Bus Lines of Irvington, N.J., was heading to a drop-off location on Huntington Station when it crashed into the overpass.State police Major David Candelaria said Gaston never slowed down before slamming into the overpass on the Southern State Parkway, where buses, tractor-trailers and other commercial traffic are banned.“There was no signs of braking, stopping, anything like that,” Candelaria said.The driver also didn't have the benefit of a high-tech warning system being installed by the state Department of Transportation that uses … [Read more...] about Police say bus driver in Long Island overpass crash from Bethlehem

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump and European leaders pulled back from the brink of a trade war over autos Wednesday and agreed to open talks to tear down trade barriers between the U.S. and the European Union. But the agreement was vague and the coming negotiations with Europe are sure to be contentious. In a hastily called Rose Garden appearance with Trump, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the U.S. and the EU have agreed to hold off on new tariffs, suggesting that the United States will suspend plans to start taxing European auto imports -- a move that would have marked a major escalation in trade tensions between the allies. Trump also said the EU had agreed to buy "a lot of soybeans" and increase its imports of liquefied natural gas from the U.S. And the two agreed to resolve a dispute over U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum."It's encouraging that they're talking about freer trade rather than trade barriers and an escalating tariff war," said Rufus … [Read more...] about Trump, EU envoy reach trade agreement to stave off car tariffs