Briefs | Aid group calls on Libya to end refugee detention
An international medical aid group has called on Libyan authorities to end arbitrary detention of refugees, migrants and asylum seekers, slamming conditions inside detention facilities in the North African country as “dire,” ‘’unhealthy” and “abusive.” Doctors Without Borders said in a statement that medical conditions in detention centers in Tripoli, where the United Nations-backed government is based, are either caused or aggravated by “squalid detention conditions and ill treatment.” The European Union earmarked tens of millions of euros to improve conditions for migrants inside Libyan detention centers. But the group says international funding to Libya is not the solution and fears the narrow focus on improving facilities legitimizes the arbitrary detention system.
60,000 evacuate Frankfurt before bomb disposal
German authorities were making final preparations in Frankfurt yesterday before experts defused a huge World War II-era bomb in an operation that included evacuating more than 60,000 residents. Hospital patients and the elderly were among those affected in what was Germany’s biggest evacuation in recent history. Construction workers found the 1.8-ton British bomb on Tuesday. Officials have ordered residents to evacuate homes within a 1.5-kilometer radius of the site in Germany’s financial capital. Similar operations are still common 72 years after the war ended. About 20,000 people were evacuated from the western city of Koblenz before specialists disarmed a 500-kilogram U.S. bomb Saturday.
Spanish police arrest 12 Britons in drug bust
Spanish police have arrested 14 people, including 12 British nationals, in an operation to bust a drug trafficking ring in a resort town on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca. Spain’s Civil Guard said Saturday that it made the arrests during raids of 12 different residences. Police confiscated three kilograms of cocaine, unspecified quantities of other drugs, more than 100,000 euros (USD118,000), and four vehicles used by the alleged drug dealers. A police video showed officers with weapons drawn breaking down an apartment door while a helicopter hovered overhead. The dealers allegedly sold the drugs in Magaluf, a seaside resort that has become a popular destination for tourists and partygoers seeking nightlife.
