Libyan rebels today recaptured most of a strategic oil town that has repeatedly changed hands in weeks of battles.

ITALY has shipped more than 2,000 migrants to detention camps on the mainland, relieving pressure on a tiny island off Sicily overwhelmed by boats full of illegal arrivals from North Africa.

Italy has shipped more than 2,000 migrants to detention camps on the mainland, relieving pressure on a tiny island off Sicily overwhelmed by boats full of illegal arrivals from North Africa.

PREMIER Silvio Berlusconi has promised to evacuate the thousands of North African migrants who have overwhelmed the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa, earning cheers from residents exasperated by the arrivals.

Italian officials vowed to do whatever it takes to free the crew of an Italian tugboat apparently seized by Libyan officials at Tripoli’s port as US and European airstrikes enforced a no-fly zone over Libya.

Anxious Italian politicians today tried to quash suggestions of an escalating diplomatic rift with the US over the conviction of Amanda Knox for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher.

A key member of Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s conservative government has called for Italy’s soldiers to be withdrawn from Afghanistan, but the Italian defence minister immediately insisted the troops would stay.

LEADERS of the world’s industrialised powers warned yesterday that the global economy remains in danger and backed away from pledges on global warming as they started their annual summit.

ISRAEL’S foreign minister, whose anti-Arab statements have frayed diplomatic nerves, committed himself yesterday to Mideast peace, but did not endorse the idea of a Palestinian state as sought by the United States and the European Union.

A group of tourists and their guides kidnapped at gunpoint in Egypt was freed today.

Sweeping plans for electronic monitoring of all visitors crossing European Union borders could be a “Big Brother” move too far, the European Commission was warned this afternoon.

Plans for tougher controls on immigration into the European Union were announced today.

ALL visitors coming into and leaving the EU will be fingerprinted and have their details kept on an anti-terrorism electronic register under a proposal broadly welcomed by the Union’s justice ministers.

A European Union panel of data protection supervisors has launched an investigation into whether US-based Google Inc.’s Internet search engine abides by EU data privacy rules.

FAMILIES that employ illegal immigrants as domestic or childcare help would be among employers prosecuted and liable to major fines under proposals from the European Commission.

A SYSTEM to recruit essential skilled workers from Third World countries to fill job vacancies in the EU will be unveiled in Brussels today.

European Union justice and interior ministers today debated whether to set an EU-wide age limit on sales of violent video and computer games.

European Union justice and interior ministers will look at ways to protect children from computer games that glorify violence.

The EU’s top justice official today condemned Iran for hosting a conference of Holocaust deniers, saying it constituted “an unacceptable affront” to victims of the Second World War genocide.

CHILDREN need greater protection against increasingly violent video games hitting the market, the European Justice Commissioner warned.

EUROPEAN Union justice ministers were yesterday deeply divided over scrapping the veto on justice issues, despite being told it was essential in the fight against terrorism.

The European Union’s justice chief Franco Frattini today condemned threats made against Pope Benedict XVI and called on European governments to rally around the pontiff’s message.

THE Irish prison population could be significantly reduced if the EU rules that non-nationals can be sent back to their home country to await trial.

A RAPID reaction team of border guards is being created to protect the European Union’s external borders from a sudden influx of illegal migrants.

The European Union’s top justice official today acknowledged some renditions of terror suspects to foreign US intelligence agents have taken place on European territory.

The European Commission will today call on Ireland to remember its missing children.

A BATTLE to ensure female asylum seekers are not sent back to countries that practice female genital mutilation has blown up at the European Commission.

The European Union justice and interior ministers today agreed to organise campaigns to fight forced prostitution and racism during the World Cup soccer tournament in Germany.

The European Commission today presented plans to intensify efforts to set up a joint European Union asylum procedures by 2010, including better sharing of resources and information between EU governments to handle claimants.

IRISH legislation which forces telecommunications companies to retain data on all calls, emails and text messages for three years is illegal, according to Europe’s Data Protection officer.

The European Commission will today submit proposals which would force phone networks in the EU to retain traffic data for a year – and internet access providers for six months – for possible use in investigating organised crime and terrorism.

The European Commission today proposed tighter rules on the sale and control of products used in home-made explosives.

Italy’s European commissioner has called a series of explosions in London a terrorist strike against Europe.

US Attorney Alberto Gonzales today confirmed the US Administration had agreed to delay plans requiring European Union countries and others to adopt new passports with fingerprint and iris scan information by the end of October.

SO if you are from Portugal, your spouse is French, you were married in Rome and you are living in Ireland — where do you get divorced?

A European Commissioner demanding a Europe-wide ban on swastikas has received a threatening letter - posted in Dorset, England.

EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini has received a threatening letter posted in Britain warning him that new anti-racism and anti-Semitism rules would not stop Nazism in Europe.

THE European Union may consider banning Nazi symbols in its 25 member nations after Britain’s Prince Harry wore a swastika armband to a costume party, the bloc’s top justice official said yesterday.

THE EU is to step up the fight against human trafficking gangs, which the new anti-crime commissioner warned yesterday were increasingly targeting children to be sold into sexual slavery.

Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi tonight confirmed his foreign minister Franco Frattini to replace Rocco Buttiglione in the European Commission.

ITALY reacted with horror yesterday at the killing of an Italian journalist in Iraq, but the Italian government insisted it would stay the course in the war-torn Middle Eastern country.

Italy reacted with horror today at the killing of an Italian journalist in Iraq, while the Italian government insisted it would stay the course in the war-torn Middle Eastern country.

Militants in Iraq have murdered kidnapped Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni, who disappeared last week, Pan-Arab television station Al-Jazeera reported.

Italy’s foreign minister appeared on the Al-Jazeera satellite television to appeal for the release of an Italian journalist held hostage in Iraq.