NEWS IN BRIEF
ROME (PRESS TV) – A study by an umbrella charity group in Italy shows that poverty is growing in the country as the euro region’s third-biggest economy is still in the grip of recession and crisis.
According to the study, recently published by Caritas Europa, one in four people in Italy is at the risk of poverty or social exclusion.
Caritas Europa, an umbrella group for the national Catholic Caritas charities that run kitchens and shelters for homeless people, added that Italy is one of the seven EU countries suffering from high poverty risk, along with Portugal, Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Ireland and Romania.
The worsening economic situation has also led to a rise in the unemployment rate among Italians, which now stands at around 13 percent, with more people seeking help from charities such as Caritas.
"There is an increasing number of Italians who seek a meal a shelter… many of them are very young unfortunately. Some are in their 50s - too old to be reinserted in the labor force,” Mario Urbinati from Caritas Italiana told Press TV, adding, "But what worries me the most is the fact that entire families often come to see us to get a meal.”
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia has recalled its new ambassador to Brazil after the South American country stopped him taking part in a credentials ceremony following the execution of a Brazilian national for drugs trafficking.
Brazil and the Netherlands earlier withdrew their ambassadors from Indonesia, which has some of the strictest drug trafficking laws in the world, after two of their citizens were among six people executed for drugs offences last month.
Indonesia is also involved in a diplomatic dispute with Australia over the fate of two Australian members of the "Bali Nine" drug trafficking ring who are due to be executed this month.
Toto Riyanto, who was chosen as Indonesia's new ambassador to Brazil in October, had been invited to present his credentials at a ceremony at the presidential palace in Brasilia on Friday along with several other new ambassadors, but his participation was postponed at short notice. The ceremony went on without him.
When asked why, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said: "We think it's important there is an evolution in the situation so that we can have clarity over the state of relations between Indonesia and Brazil".
Indonesia's Foreign Ministry responded angrily on Saturday.
TRIPOLI (PRESS TV) – A group of 192 Egyptians have left Libya for Tunisia amid the rising threat of the ISIL Takfiri terrorist group in the violence-wracked North African country.
Reports said on Friday that the Egyptians left Libya from the Ras Jdir border crossing and headed towards the Tunisian island of Djerba.
Cairo said it will send planes to Djerba to transport the Egyptian nationals to their homeland.
Before their departure for the island, the Egyptians were shortly held up by a group of protesters in the Tunisian border town of Ben Guerdane.
The protesters, who demanded the government’s investment in the impoverished city, reportedly released the Egyptians after a while and provided them with food and water.
Earlier in the day, at least 45 people were killed and dozens of others injured in triple bomb explosions that struck Libya’s northeastern city of al-Qubah. The ISIL Takfiri terrorist group claimed responsibility for the deadly blasts.
A brief statement by the terrorist group said the attacks were carried out in revenge for this week's air strikes on the group’s stronghold of Derna, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) east of al-Qubah.
According to the study, recently published by Caritas Europa, one in four people in Italy is at the risk of poverty or social exclusion.
Caritas Europa, an umbrella group for the national Catholic Caritas charities that run kitchens and shelters for homeless people, added that Italy is one of the seven EU countries suffering from high poverty risk, along with Portugal, Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Ireland and Romania.
The worsening economic situation has also led to a rise in the unemployment rate among Italians, which now stands at around 13 percent, with more people seeking help from charities such as Caritas.
"There is an increasing number of Italians who seek a meal a shelter… many of them are very young unfortunately. Some are in their 50s - too old to be reinserted in the labor force,” Mario Urbinati from Caritas Italiana told Press TV, adding, "But what worries me the most is the fact that entire families often come to see us to get a meal.”
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia has recalled its new ambassador to Brazil after the South American country stopped him taking part in a credentials ceremony following the execution of a Brazilian national for drugs trafficking.
Brazil and the Netherlands earlier withdrew their ambassadors from Indonesia, which has some of the strictest drug trafficking laws in the world, after two of their citizens were among six people executed for drugs offences last month.
Indonesia is also involved in a diplomatic dispute with Australia over the fate of two Australian members of the "Bali Nine" drug trafficking ring who are due to be executed this month.
Toto Riyanto, who was chosen as Indonesia's new ambassador to Brazil in October, had been invited to present his credentials at a ceremony at the presidential palace in Brasilia on Friday along with several other new ambassadors, but his participation was postponed at short notice. The ceremony went on without him.
When asked why, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said: "We think it's important there is an evolution in the situation so that we can have clarity over the state of relations between Indonesia and Brazil".
Indonesia's Foreign Ministry responded angrily on Saturday.
TRIPOLI (PRESS TV) – A group of 192 Egyptians have left Libya for Tunisia amid the rising threat of the ISIL Takfiri terrorist group in the violence-wracked North African country.
Reports said on Friday that the Egyptians left Libya from the Ras Jdir border crossing and headed towards the Tunisian island of Djerba.
Cairo said it will send planes to Djerba to transport the Egyptian nationals to their homeland.
Before their departure for the island, the Egyptians were shortly held up by a group of protesters in the Tunisian border town of Ben Guerdane.
The protesters, who demanded the government’s investment in the impoverished city, reportedly released the Egyptians after a while and provided them with food and water.
Earlier in the day, at least 45 people were killed and dozens of others injured in triple bomb explosions that struck Libya’s northeastern city of al-Qubah. The ISIL Takfiri terrorist group claimed responsibility for the deadly blasts.
A brief statement by the terrorist group said the attacks were carried out in revenge for this week's air strikes on the group’s stronghold of Derna, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) east of al-Qubah.