ROME (AFP) – A one-year-old boy believed to have been sent by his parents to make the dangerous Mediterranean crossing alone has made it safely to the island of Lampedusa, Italian media reports said Saturday. The child, estimated to be barely a year old, was among 500-plus people who arrived on the small island in seven separate landings over the past two days, the Repubblica daily said. He was spotted by rescuers in the midst of some 70 men in a boat which landed Friday, the daily said. “He crossed the Mediterranean before he even learned to walk. He braved the waves alone... too young to reveal his name and his story,” it said. The other migrants had no idea who the child was, but were reportedly begged by his parents to keep him safe during the crossing, possibly because they were prevented from boarding with him, the daily said. Another arrival was a 14-year-old son of a woman who died during a rescue off the island. “She was traveling on a boat with 25 other people, including her son who saw her drown,” Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Twitter. “Another preventable loss on Europe’s doorstep, another life claimed by irresponsible migration policies.” Some 1,340 people have died attempting the perilous Central Mediterranean crossing so far this year, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

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KARACHI (AFP) – At least 12 people were killed and several more injured Saturday by a gas blast in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi, police said. The explosion went off in a bank building in the Sher Shah area and social media and TV footage showed the two-floor structure’s windows and doors blown out, with documents scattered across a wide area. Cars and motorcycles parked nearby were also damaged. Provincial police told AFP a bomb disposal squad was investigating, but “apparently the leakage of gas was the cause.” They said 12 people had been confirmed killed, and 13 were being treated for injuries. Explosions caused by faulty gas cylinders — which are used for cooking as well as in cars — are common in Pakistan. Karachi, which is responsible for 60 percent of Pakistan’s economic output, has long endured creaky infrastructure, illegal construction and failing municipal services.

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BANGKOK (Reuters) – Hundreds of prisoners set fire to a Thai jail during a two-day riot over the handling of a coronavirus cluster, with some inmates wounded as officers sought to restore order. Thai prisons are notoriously overcrowded and have struggled to curb the spread of the virus -- more than 87,000 inmates have been infected with 185 recorded deaths, according to the Corrections Department. Authorities were set to inspect the damage Saturday after some 400 prisoners in the southern Thai jail went on a rampage starting Thursday night, demanding that inmates with the coronavirus be removed. The prison has a population of more than 2100 and roughly 300 have tested positive. Inmates set fire to their sleeping quarters Friday evening, following another fire a day earlier, with 31 people subsequently arrested. They had been taken to a high security prison, deputy national police spokesman Kissana Phathanacharoen said. “There are no fatalities, only minor injuries,” he added, after local media reported 14 of the inmates were wounded with rubber bullets.

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N’DJAMENA (Al Jazeera) – Mali’s foreign affairs ministry has said that Chad planned to deploy 1,000 additional peacekeepers to Mali to reinforce its troops battling armed groups in the former French colony. “The deployment is part of a bilateral framework at the request of the Government of Chad for reinforcing its contingent in Northern Mali following the reconfiguration of the Barkhane force,” the ministry said in a statement on Saturday. Chadian soldiers make up nearly 1,400 of the UN’s 13,000-troop peacekeeping force in north and central Mali, where an armed rebellion has escalated despite a nine-year effort by an international coalition to subdue it. The upcoming deployment will reinforce those and other Chadian troops as France scales back its 5,000-strong regional mission known as Barkhane.

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KHARTOUM (Middle East Eye) – Teargas was fired at thousands of anti-government protesters in Khartoum on Friday night as they gathered to support the Forces for Freedom and Change movement, a civilian alliance that helped to spearhead the overthrow of former president Omar al-Bashir in 2019. It remains unclear who fired the teargas, with witnesses telling Reuters that no police forces were present at the time. Footage posted online showed tear gas being thrown into the crowd with plumes of gas choking protesters who attended the rally, which former ministers from Sudan’s ousted transitional government attended. Protests erupted in Sudan after a military coup in October deposed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who was placed under house arrest. The internet was also cut and protestors faced attacks from security forces. The demonstrations have continued despite Hamdok later being reinstated. Protesters saw the move to bring back Hamdok as a betrayal of the revolution and vowed to continue fighting against the military.