PARIS: France will invest about ¤20m ($25m) to increase security for diplomats and embassies in the Middle East and Africa after its mission in Libya was targeted by a car bomb in April, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.
Spokesman Philippe Lalliot confirmed an email sent by Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius to staff on Tuesday saying the measure had to be taken following the rising number of serious international crises and threats emanating from them. “This plan takes into consideration the change in threats,” Lalliot told a daily news briefing. “As the minister indicated, a general programme to improve security of our missions has now been established, which will concern primarily Africa and the Middle East.”
Italy cruise ship trial from July 9
ROME: The captain of the Costa Concordia cruise ship will go on trial from July 9 for manslaughter over the January 2012 disaster in which 32 people lost their lives, an Italian judge ruled yesterday.
Francesco Schettino has also been accused of abandoning the giant vessel, which crashed into a Tuscan island and keeled over, before all 4,229 people on board had been evacuated. The trial will be held in Grosseto, the city nearest to the site of the tragedy. Five other suspects in the investigation — four crew members and the head of ship owner Costa Crociere’s crisis unit — have requested plea bargains, which are now expected to be approved.
UK busts human smuggling ring
THE HAGUE: Europol yesterday said 18 people, mostly Sri Lankans, were arrested in joint police raids in Britain and France on suspicion of being part of a human trafficking ring that smuggled South Asian immigrants into Britain.
“During the joint operation, 11 suspects were arrested in the UK and seven in France. All persons arrested, except (for) one Dutch national, were of Sri Lankan origin,” it said in a statement. Agencies
