Emergency services personnel provide medical attention to some of the rescued migrants at sea, upon arrival at the Las Salinas port in Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, Spain. EPA
Emergency services personnel provide medical attention to some of the rescued migrants at sea, upon arrival at the Las Salinas port in Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, Spain. EPA
Emergency services personnel provide medical attention to some of the rescued migrants at sea, upon arrival at the Las Salinas port in Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, Spain. EPA
Emergency services personnel provide medical attention to some of the rescued migrants at sea, upon arrival at the Las Salinas port in Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, Spain. EPA

Spain’s Canary Islands struggle as 1,000 migrants land in 48 hours


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Authorities in the Spanish Canary Islands said they were struggling to cope with the arrival of 1,000 migrants in 48 hours.

After the surge between Thursday and Saturday, local leaders criticised the government in Madrid for its handling of the situation.

Border closures in Morocco to deal with the coronavirus pandemic are believed to have causedthe influx.

About 2,700 migrants were housed in the island's hotels, which were hard hit by a drop in tourist numbers because of the pandemic. Other migrants were put up in temporary shelters.

Spain's migration minister Jose Luis Escriva promised a "comprehensive response" to the rising number of arrivals, The Telegraph reported.

The Canary Islands are becoming a new gateway for migrants trying to reach Europe. Reuters
The Canary Islands are becoming a new gateway for migrants trying to reach Europe. Reuters

But the minister met with protest and criticism in the Canaries because of a lack of concrete proposals.

Blas Acosta, the leader of Fuerteventura’s island council, said Mr Escriva should consider his position after a meeting that the minister cut short.

“If [Mr Escriva] is overwhelmed by the situation and doesn’t wish to co-operate, he should step aside and let other people do the job,” the council leader said.

Residents directed their ire against local officials when migrants were housed in their neighbourhoods. Augusto Hidalgo, the mayor of Las Palmas on the island of Gran Canaria, faced protests after he took Mr Escriva to a temporary migrant shelter in a former primary school.

The rate of migrants to the Canaries has created an influx not seen in at least 10 years, according to the Red Cross, as Africans turned to the islands after agreements between Turkey, Morocco and Libya tightened control over the Mediterranean route to Europe's shores.

Migrants, who are part of a group intercepted aboard a dinghy off the coast, rest upon arriving at port in Arguineguin, in the Canary Island of Gran Canaria, Spain, October 16, 2017. Reuters
Migrants, who are part of a group intercepted aboard a dinghy off the coast, rest upon arriving at port in Arguineguin, in the Canary Island of Gran Canaria, Spain, October 16, 2017. Reuters

Since Thursday, 1,015 people have arrived on 37 vessels, landing on the islands of Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria and Tenerife. The latter two territories are about 300 kilometres from the African coast.

Most of the migrants, from North Africa or sub-Saharan African nations, were in good health, although some were suffering symptoms of hypothermia, a Red Cross spokesman said.

All were tested for the new coronavirus, the official said.

The Red Cross said the rate of arrivals was more or less the same as in 2006, when 30,000 migrants landed in the Canary Islands.

Between January and September 30 this year, more than 6,000 migrants landed in the Canaries, six times the number that arrived in the same period in 2019, according to the Spanish interior ministry.

Border closures in Morocco are being blamed for the return to 2006 levels.

Many of the migrants arriving in the Canary Islands were thought to have started their journey in Senegal. Any hope they might have had of reaching Italy from Libya, for instance, were frustrated by Morocco's border closures.

England's all-time record goalscorers:
Wayne Rooney 53
Bobby Charlton 49
Gary Lineker 48
Jimmy Greaves 44
Michael Owen 40
Tom Finney 30
Nat Lofthouse 30
Alan Shearer 30
Viv Woodward 29
Frank Lampard 29

Some of Darwish's last words

"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008

His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.

Final scores

18 under: Tyrrell Hatton (ENG)

- 14: Jason Scrivener (AUS)

-13: Rory McIlroy (NIR)

-12: Rafa Cabrera Bello (ESP)

-11: David Lipsky (USA), Marc Warren (SCO)

-10: Tommy Fleetwood (ENG), Chris Paisley (ENG), Matt Wallace (ENG), Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR)

Innotech Profile

Date started: 2013

Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari

Based: Muscat, Oman

Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies

Size: 15 full-time employees

Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing 

Investors: Oman Technology Fund from 2017 to 2019, exited through an agreement with a new investor to secure new funding that it under negotiation right now. 

How has net migration to UK changed?

The figure was broadly flat immediately before the Covid-19 pandemic, standing at 216,000 in the year to June 2018 and 224,000 in the year to June 2019.

It then dropped to an estimated 111,000 in the year to June 2020 when restrictions introduced during the pandemic limited travel and movement.

The total rose to 254,000 in the year to June 2021, followed by steep jumps to 634,000 in the year to June 2022 and 906,000 in the year to June 2023.

The latest available figure of 728,000 for the 12 months to June 2024 suggests levels are starting to decrease.

Pox that threatens the Middle East's native species

Camelpox

Caused by a virus related to the one that causes human smallpox, camelpox typically causes fever, swelling of lymph nodes and skin lesions in camels aged over three, but the animal usually recovers after a month or so. Younger animals may develop a more acute form that causes internal lesions and diarrhoea, and is often fatal, especially when secondary infections result. It is found across the Middle East as well as in parts of Asia, Africa, Russia and India.

Falconpox

Falconpox can cause a variety of types of lesions, which can affect, for example, the eyelids, feet and the areas above and below the beak. It is a problem among captive falcons and is one of many types of avian pox or avipox diseases that together affect dozens of bird species across the world. Among the other forms are pigeonpox, turkeypox, starlingpox and canarypox. Avipox viruses are spread by mosquitoes and direct bird-to-bird contact.

Houbarapox

Houbarapox is, like falconpox, one of the many forms of avipox diseases. It exists in various forms, with a type that causes skin lesions being least likely to result in death. Other forms cause more severe lesions, including internal lesions, and are more likely to kill the bird, often because secondary infections develop. This summer the CVRL reported an outbreak of pox in houbaras after rains in spring led to an increase in mosquito numbers.

Islamophobia definition

A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.

Moonfall

Director: Rolan Emmerich

Stars: Patrick Wilson, Halle Berry

Rating: 3/5

Top tips

Create and maintain a strong bond between yourself and your child, through sensitivity, responsiveness, touch, talk and play. “The bond you have with your kids is the blueprint for the relationships they will have later on in life,” says Dr Sarah Rasmi, a psychologist.
Set a good example. Practise what you preach, so if you want to raise kind children, they need to see you being kind and hear you explaining to them what kindness is. So, “narrate your behaviour”.
Praise the positive rather than focusing on the negative. Catch them when they’re being good and acknowledge it.
Show empathy towards your child’s needs as well as your own. Take care of yourself so that you can be calm, loving and respectful, rather than angry and frustrated.
Be open to communication, goal-setting and problem-solving, says Dr Thoraiya Kanafani. “It is important to recognise that there is a fine line between positive parenting and becoming parents who overanalyse their children and provide more emotional context than what is in the child’s emotional development to understand.”
 

UAE SQUAD

UAE team
1. Chris Jones-Griffiths 2. Gio Fourie 3. Craig Nutt 4. Daniel Perry 5. Isaac Porter 6. Matt Mills 7. Hamish Anderson 8. Jaen Botes 9. Barry Dwyer 10. Luke Stevenson (captain) 11. Sean Carey 12. Andrew Powell 13. Saki Naisau 14. Thinus Steyn 15. Matt Richards

Replacements
16. Lukas Waddington 17. Murray Reason 18. Ahmed Moosa 19. Stephen Ferguson 20. Sean Stevens 21. Ed Armitage 22. Kini Natuna 23. Majid Al Balooshi

The biog

Nickname: Mama Nadia to children, staff and parents

Education: Bachelors degree in English Literature with Social work from UAE University

As a child: Kept sweets on the window sill for workers, set aside money to pay for education of needy families

Holidays: Spends most of her days off at Senses often with her family who describe the centre as part of their life too

Coming soon

Torno Subito by Massimo Bottura

When the W Dubai – The Palm hotel opens at the end of this year, one of the highlights will be Massimo Bottura’s new restaurant, Torno Subito, which promises “to take guests on a journey back to 1960s Italy”. It is the three Michelinstarred chef’s first venture in Dubai and should be every bit as ambitious as you would expect from the man whose restaurant in Italy, Osteria Francescana, was crowned number one in this year’s list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.

Akira Back Dubai

Another exciting opening at the W Dubai – The Palm hotel is South Korean chef Akira Back’s new restaurant, which will continue to showcase some of the finest Asian food in the world. Back, whose Seoul restaurant, Dosa, won a Michelin star last year, describes his menu as,  “an innovative Japanese cuisine prepared with a Korean accent”.

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal

The highly experimental chef, whose dishes are as much about spectacle as taste, opens his first restaurant in Dubai next year. Housed at The Royal Atlantis Resort & Residences, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal will feature contemporary twists on recipes that date back to the 1300s, including goats’ milk cheesecake. Always remember with a Blumenthal dish: nothing is quite as it seems.