Sicily

Barbed bulbs of taste, they are?  Spiny, spiky, threatening outside; succulent honey-like flesh inside? One of the most underestimated late summer Mediterranean fruits must surely be the cactus fruit. The ripened fruits are sold in street carts in southern towns like Adana, Antalya, Mersin, Tarsus and others.

More than 1,000 migrants were rescued trying to cross the Mediterranean over the weekend, Italy's coastguard said on August 9, with further tragedies narrowly averted.

Over 200 migrants attempting the perilous journey across the Mediterranean were feared to have drowned on August 5 after their overcrowded fishing boat capsized off Libya.

Hundreds of migrants attempting the perilous journey across the Mediterranean are feared to have drowned after their overcrowded fishing boat capsized off Libya, Italy's coastguard said Aug. 5.
 
The boat had run into difficulty some 15 nautical miles off Libya and sent out a distress call, picked up by the coastguard in Catania in Sicily.
 

More than 550 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean arrived in Sicily on August 3 aboard a ship operated by Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which also carried the bodies of five people who died at sea.

Italian police on August 3 arrested 11 suspects linked to the fugitive head of the Sicilian Mafia, including a former boss who ran a secret message system for the mobster using a sheep-based code.

Countries such as Italy and Greece dealing with an influx of asylum seekers should receive more support from other member states, MEPs said on a delegation visit to the Italian island of Sicily from July 22-24. “Italy spends over €1 billion every year just to take care of those who make it across the Mediterranean.

At least 10 migrants who were seeking to reach Europe are feared dead after their inflatable dinghy capsized off the coast of Libya, a local prosecutor on the Italian island of Sicily said July 23.

A UNHCR spokesman had earlier said that the potential toll could reach up to 40, but prosecutor Francesco Paolo Giordino said it would be closer to "about a dozen".    

Chinese artist Xu Hongfei's upcoming Istanbul exhibition, 'Chubby Women,' will be held under tight police measures, due to attacks against Far East tourists in Turkey With his famous fat women sculptures, Chinese state-approved artist Xu Hongfei will be in Istanbul between July 23 and 29.

Italy's battle against the mafia has provoked an unusual problem for the government - the headache of managing a staggering portfolio of assets and cash seized from mobsters.