11 Sudanese migrants killed a car crash in the Libya desert, authorities say
The crash between the migrants' vehicle and a truck happened early Friday in the desert, 90 kilometers (56 miles) north of the Libyan town of Kufra, the town's Ambulance and Emergency Service said in a statement.
The dead included three women and two children, the service's director Ibrahim Abu al-Hassan told The Associated Press.
A 65-year-old man and his 10-year-old son were also wounded in the crash, he added.
It was the latest deadly incident involving Sudanese migrants in the Libyan desert.
Earlier this month, seven Sudanese were found dead after their vehicle broke down in the desert. The vehicle broke down in a path used by traffickers between Chad and Libya, leaving 34 migrants on board stranded for several days in the desert.
Libya was plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
It has become a main transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East to seek better lives in Europe. The country shares borders with six nations and has a long coastline along the Mediterranean.
Human traffickers have benefited from more than a decade of instability, smuggling migrants across Libya's borders with six nations, including Chad, Niger, Sudan Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia.
Thousands of Sudanese have fled to Libya since April 2023 after simmering tensions between the Sudanese military and a powerful paramilitary group exploded into street fighting across the country.
The conflict in Sudan has turned into a civil war that killed thousands people, displaced over 14 million, and pushed parts of the county into famine.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
2 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Lawyers for Epstein's former girlfriend say she's open to interview with Congress, if given immunity
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ghislaine Maxwell, the imprisoned former girlfriend of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, is open to answering questions from Congress — but only if she is granted immunity from future prosecution for her testimony, her lawyers said Tuesday. A spokeswoman for the committee that wants to interview her responded with a terse statement saying it would not consider offering her immunity. Maxwell's lawyers also asked that they be provided with any questions in advance and that any interview with her be scheduled after her petition to the U.S. Supreme Court to take up her case has been resolved. The conditions were laid out in a letter sent by Maxwell's attorneys to Rep. James Comer, the Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee who last week issued a subpoena for her deposition at the Florida prison where she is serving a 20-year-prison sentence on a conviction of conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse underage girls. The request to interview her is part of a frenzied, renewed interest in the Epstein saga following the Justice Department's July statement that it would not be releasing any additional records from the investigation, an abrupt announcement that stunned online sleuths, conspiracy theorists and elements of President Donald Trump's base who had been hoping to find proof of a government coverup. Since then, the Trump administration has sought to present itself as promoting transparency, with the department urging courts to unseal grand jury transcripts from the sex-trafficking investigation and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche interviewing Maxwell over the course of two days at a Florida courthouse last week. In a letter Tuesday, Maxwell's attorneys said that though their initial instinct was for Maxwell to invoke her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, they are open to having her cooperate provided that lawmakers satisfy their request for immunity and other conditions. But the Oversight Committee seemed to reject that offer outright. 'The Oversight Committee will respond to Ms. Maxwell's attorney soon, but it will not consider granting congressional immunity for her testimony,' a spokesperson said. Separately, Maxwell's attorneys have urged the Supreme Court to review her conviction, saying she dd not receive a fair trial. They also say that one way she would testify 'openly and honestly, in public,' is in the event of a pardon by Trump, who has told reporters that such a move is within his rights but that he has not been not asked to make it. 'She welcomes the opportunity to share the truth and to dispel the many misconceptions and misstatements that have plagued this case from the beginning,' he said.
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
German zoo kills 12 baboons that it didn't have enough space to house, despite protests
BERLIN — A zoo in the German city of Nuremberg said it killed 12 baboons on Tuesday despite protests, capping a saga rooted in concerns that the zoo had too little space to house a growing group of the animals. The Tiergarten Nurnberg zoo first announced plans to kill baboons it didn't have space for in February 2024. It has said that it examined offers to take in some of the animals but was unable to make any of them work. The plans drew criticism from animal protection groups. They also drew protests at the zoo, which said on Monday that it would have to start preparing to kill baboons. On Tuesday morning, it announced that it was closing for the day for unspecified 'operational reasons.' On Tuesday afternoon, police said seven activists climbed over a wall into the zoo, and one woman glued her hands to the ground. The group was detained a few meters (yards) inside the entrance. Shortly afterward, the zoo said it had killed 12 baboons. The deputy director, Jörg Beckmann, said the zoo had chosen animals that weren't pregnant females or part of studies, and that they were shot. Samples were taken for research purposes, and the bodies were then to be fed to the zoo's predators. Zoo director Dag Encke told a news conference that the killings followed 'yearslong consideration.' He argued that they had become necessary to maintain a healthy population because having a group that had outgrown its accommodation and couldn't be reduced by other means was pushing the zoo into conflict with animal protection laws. Animal rights groups said they filed a criminal complaint against the zoo's management, arguing that the killings themselves violated animal protection laws and that the zoo had failed in its breeding management. Laura Zodrow, a spokesperson for the Pro Wildlife group, said in a statement that 'this killing was avoidable and, from our point of view, is unlawful.' The zoo's population of Guinea baboons had grown to 43 and was too big for a house opened in 2009 for 25 animals plus their young, leading to more conflicts among the animals. The zoo has said it did take steps in the past to address the issue, with 16 baboons moving to zoos in Paris and China since 2011. But those zoos, and another in Spain to which baboons were previously sent, had reached their own capacity. An attempt at contraception was abandoned several years ago after failing to produce the desired results. Animals are regularly euthanized in European zoos for a variety of reasons. Some past cases have caused an outcry; for example, one in 2014 in which Copenhagen Zoo killed a healthy 2-year-old giraffe, butchered its carcass in front of a crowd that included children and then fed it to lions. The Associated Press
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
‘All travellers were entering Canada': CBSA seizes guns, ammunition
Vehicles move across the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron, Mich., to Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, Wednesday, March 18, 2020. (AP / Paul Sancya) July has been a busy month for Canada Border Services agents. Over three days earlier this month, CBSA officers at southern Ontario ports of entry seized 12 firearms, 18 magazines and 254 rounds of ammunition from U.S. residents entering Canada. In the Niagara region, items were seized from the Queenston Bridge and the Peace Bridge, and in this area, items were seized from the Blue Water Bridge in Point Edward, the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor and the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel. A total of $13,000 in fines was paid. List of crossings and offences July 11 - at the Queenston Bridge, officers seized a firearm from a U.S. resident. The subject was arrested under the Customs Act and paid a penalty of $1,000. July 11 - at the Peace Bridge, officers seized a firearm, a magazine and ten hollow point bullets from a U.S. resident. The subject was arrested under the Customs Act, paid a penalty of $2,000 and returned to the United States. July 11 - at the Ambassador Bridge, officers seized a firearm and two magazines from a U.S. resident. Constance Dickerson, 41, of Illinois, has been charged by CBSA criminal investigators under the Customs Act. July 11 - at the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel, officers seized a firearm, a magazine and 15 rounds of ammunition from a U.S. resident. The subject was arrested under the Customs Act, paid a penalty of $1,500 and returned to the United States. A Female, 41, of Illinois, has been charged by CBSA criminal investigators under the Customs Act, sections 12, 153(a) and 155. July 13 - at the Peace Bridge, officers seized four firearms and five magazines from a U.S. resident. The subject was arrested under the Customs Act, paid a penalty of $5,500 and was returned to the United States. July 14 - at the Peace Bridge, officers seized 2 firearms, 9 magazines and 229 rounds of ammunition from a U.S. resident. The subject was arrested under the Customs Act, paid a penalty of $3,000 and returned to the United States. July 14 - at the Blue Water Bridge, officers seized 2 firearms, and 47 ml of liquid and 301 tablets of steroids from a U.S. resident. The subject was arrested under the Customs Act, paid a penalty of $2,740 and returned to the United States.
