Breaking: Italy Rescues 6,500 Migrants From Mediterranean

Migrants, most of them from Eritrea, jump into the water from a crowded wooden boat as they are helped by members of an NGO during a rescue operation at the Mediterranean sea, about 13 miles north of Sabratha, Libya.

Some 6,500 migrants, most believed to be Africans, were saved off the Libyan coast in 40 separate rescue missions on Monday, the Italian coast guard said on Twitter, in one of the largest influxes of refugees in a single day so far this year.

The migrants were packed on board scores of boats that were not fit to weather the dangerously unstable high seas.

Data from the International Organization for Migration released on Friday said around 105,000 migrants had reached Italy by boat so far in 2016, many of them setting sail from Libya.

An estimated 2,726 men, women and children have died over the same period trying to make the journey.

About 1,100 migrants were rescued from boats in the Strait of Sicily on Sunday as they tried to reach Europe, the coast guard said. More refugees were expected to set sail this week because of favourable weather conditions.

Italy has been on the front line of Europe’s migrant crisis for three years, and more than 400,000 have successfully made the voyage to Italy from North Africa since the beginning of 2014, fleeing violence and poverty.

It was also reported that the international communities need to put pressure on some of these African countries to enforce laws and perform better to make their country more appealing to its citizens. Nigeria was cited as example: there have been much talk about corruption but nothing is actually been done about it.

The Lantern of the Photuris Firefly

THE lantern, or light organ, of a particular Photuris firefly is covered with jagged scales that dramatically enhance the brightness of the light that the insect produces. * Jagged scales Consider: Researchers have found that tiny scales on the lantern surface of some fireflies form a corrugated pattern, somewhat like overlapping shingles or tiles. The scales tilt up at one end by just 3 micrometers —less than one twentieth the thickness of a human hair. Yet this tiny tilt lets the lantern shine almost 50 percent more brightly than it would if the scales formed an even surface!

An Overview of Indonesia

Land Straddling the equator between Australia and continental Asia, Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelago. Most of its more than 17,500 islands feature rugged mountains and dense tropical forests. With more than 100 active volcanoes, it is also the most active volcanic region on earth.

PORTRAITS FROM THE PASTIgnaz Semmelweis

IGNAZ SEMMELWEIS may not be a household name, yet his work has benefited most modern families. Born in Buda (now Budapest), Hungary, he received his medical degree at the University of Vienna in 1844. On taking up his post as assistant to a professor at the First Maternity Clinic of Vienna’s General Hospital in 1846, Semmelweis faced an appalling reality —more than 13 percent of the women giving birth there died from a disease called childbed fever. Various theories as to the cause of this disease had been proposed, yet no one had solved the mystery. All attempts to reduce the mortality rate proved futile. Troubled by the spectacle of numerous mothers suffering a slow, agonizing death, Semmelweis determined to find the cause of the disease and prevent it.

Rielyn Co

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