Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, on a visit to Rome, said on Monday the EU should pay Libya “at least 5 billion euros a year” to stop clandestine immigration and avoid a “black Europe.”
Qaddafi’s visit to mark the second anniversary of a friendship treaty with Italy had already stumbled into controversy after he said Europe should convert to Islam.
Speaking at a ceremony on Monday standing next to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Qaddafi said his plan to “put an end to” illegal immigration was backed by Italy, but Berlusconi stayed silent.
Backing Libya’s request for cash would be in the interests of Europe, which otherwise “tomorrow, with the advance of millions of immigrants, could become [another] Africa,” Qaddafi said.
Libya “is the entry door for unwanted immigration” that should be “stopped at the Libyan borders,” he said.
“Tomorrow Europe might no longer be European and even black as there are millions [of Africans] who want to come in,” Qaddafi argued, describing the migratory movements as “something very dangerous.”
“We don’t know what will happen, what will be the reaction of the white and Christian Europeans faced with this influx of starving and ignorant Africans,” the Libyan leader said.
“We don’t know if Europe will remain an advanced and united continent or if it will be destroyed as happened with the barbarian invasions,” he added.=
However, Qaddafi insisted: “There is also desirable immigration. There are Libyans who have money and I encourage them to come to Italy to invest.”
In earlier controversial comments, Qaddafi said on Sunday that Europe should convert to Islam during a lecture to a group of 500 young women hired and paid by an agency to attend his lecture.
“Islam should become the religion of all of Europe,” one of the women quoted Qaddafi as saying in the Italian press.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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