UP TO 25 FEARED DEAD IN RAID ON MIGRANT BOAT

ROME: Up to 25 people were missing, feared drowned on Friday after men on a Libyan coastguard speedboat attacked a packed migrant dinghy during a rescue operation off the north African state. German NGO Sea-Watch, which is taking part in the multinational search and rescue operation in the Mediterranean, said the tragedy happened after its boat Sea-Watch 2 and a passing oil tanker were sent to help the distressed dinghy in the early hours. As the rescue operation proceeded just beyond Libyan territorial waters north of the port of Sabrata, a speedboat bearing the Libyan coastguard insignia arrived and tried to steal the dinghy’s outboard engine, spokesman Ruben Neugebauer told Agence France-Presse.

MUSLIMS IN ITALY PROTEST OVER FREEDOM TO WORSHIP

ROME: Several hundred Muslims staged a protest prayer outside the Colosseum in Rome on Friday over what they see as unfair restrictions on their freedom to practice their faith in Italy. Organizers said they had called the demonstration following the recent closure on administrative grounds of five makeshift mosques. Many Italian Muslims suspect local authorities are responding to a climate of mistrust caused by recent Islamist attacks in Europe by closing down the places of worship on the grounds of easily resolved problems such as the number of toilets on a particular premises.