The Italian island of Lampedusa has been swamped by the migrants
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The Italian government has declared a humanitarian emergency after nearly 3,000 migrants have arrived in the country in the last few days.
Officials say most of the migrants are from Tunisia, which has seen continued turmoil since the 14 January overthrow of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
The declaration frees up funds and personnel to deal with the influx.
Most of the migrants have been trying to reach Italy in small boats and have been intercepted by the coast guard.
Italian officials said nearly 3,000 migrants had arrived on the island of Lampedusa in the last three days, swamping facilities there. The island is closer to North Africa than the mainland of Italy.
Ferries and planes have been pressed into service to transport the migrants to detention centres in Sicily and elsewhere in southern Italy so their identities can be checked.
On Friday, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said it was possible that terrorists and al-Qaeda supporters as well as common criminals could be using the confusion of the exodus to enter Europe.
Also on Friday, Mr Maroni and Foreign Minister Franco Frattini requested “the immediate deployment of a Frontex mission for patrolling and interception off the Tunisian coast”.
Frontex is the EU’s border security agency.
The UN’s refugee agency says some of the migrants are seeking asylum from the political upheaval in Tunisia while others are fleeing poverty.
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A heavy security presence contained the protest in Algiers then broke it up
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Anti-government rallies in the capitals of Algeria and Yemen, inspired by events in Egypt, have been broken up.
Riot police in Algiers dispersed thousands of people who had defied a government ban to demand that President Abdelaziz Bouteflika step down.
A similar march in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to leave office was attacked by government supporters.
Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak stepped down on Friday after 18 days of mass protests.
Both Yemen and Algeria, like other countries in the region, have recently witnessed demonstrations for greater freedoms and improved living standards.
Protesters in Algiers evaded thousands of police who were deployed in and around the capital city ahead of the demonstration.
Public demonstrations are banned in Algeria under a state of emergency in place since 1992.
Anti-government protesters took to the streets of Yemen
The protesters gathered at Algiers’ 1 May Square on Saturday morning.
They chanted “Bouteflika out!” – in reference to the country’s president, who came to power in 1999.
The heavy police presence prevented them from marching to Martyrs Square, about 5km (3 miles) away. Rights groups said hundreds of people were arrested.
By late in the afternoon only a few hundred people were left in 1 May Square.
But the protest’s organisers hailed it as a success.
“We’ve broken the wall of fear, this is only a beginning,” said Fodil Boumala, one of the founders of the National Co-ordination for Change and Democracy.
“The Algerians have won back their capital.”
In Yemen, it was supporters of President Saleh, who has been in power since 1978, who forced anti-government protesters from the centre of Sanaa.
Several thousand protesters had gathered chanting: “After Mubarak, it’s Ali’s turn.”
Supporters of the president, armed with traditional Yemeni knives and sticks, turned up and forced the protesters, many of them students, to flee.
It came after protesters celebrating the toppling of Egypt’s President Mubarak on Friday night were driven out from Sanaa’s Tahrir Square by armed men.
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A Taliban raid on the southern Afghan city of Kandahar has left 15 policemen dead, officials say.
Militants armed with suicide bombs, guns and rocket-propelled grenades struck the police headquarters in the city centre around noon.
Explosions shook the area as police and Afghan soldiers fought the attackers for several hours.
Dozens of people were reported injured in the attack on the city, which is the birthplace of the Taliban.
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Trainer Nicky Henderson says the deaths of two horses at Newbury racecourse was “horrific” and speculates that electrocution may have been the cause.
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Two tries by Shane Williams help Wales to victory over Scotland in the Six Nations.
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The government wants other institutions to step in with funding in future years
Hundreds of specialist debt advisers facing redundancy have won a reprieve after the government found £27m to continue the service for a year.
For the past five years, the £27m-a-year Financial Inclusion Fund has been paying for about 500 specialists in England and Wales to give free advice.
Last month, the government said it would axe the fund, and advisers stopped taking new cases.
But Business Secretary Vince Cable said temporary funding could now be found.
Funding for the advisers, who help 100,000 people with complex cases every year, was expected to run out in March.
The decision not to renew the fund led campaigners to express fears that there was a danger that a serious gap could appear in the provision of help to sick or vulnerable people who became trapped in serious debt.
Although there is still free advice available from several bodies, including Citizens Advice, these specialist advisers are trained to deal with complex cases and to represent clients to their lenders.
The debt advisers, who work out of Citizens Advice offices and community halls around England and Wales, had already been sent redundancy letters and been told to stop taking on any new clients, other than those with the simplest problems.
Now, the Department for Business has said it has found the money from a contingency fund to keep the advice going for another year.
“I am very happy to be able to confirm the continuation of this important service,” said Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Mark Hoban.
“Effective debt advice can be the first step towards regaining control of your finances. It can also help people to make the most of their money in the future and avoid unsustainable debts.
“The government intends to put the provision of debt advice onto a more sustainable footing. We want to see a flexible and cost effective response to debt problems, so that people can be helped in a way that works for them.”
Business Secretary Vince Cable said that, after the next year, the government would be looking elsewhere for help in funding advice services, such as the debt advisers.
Some of the most complex cases are dealt with by the advisers
“While the government has maintained funding for this programme, it provides only a small part of the revenue necessary to keep Citizens Advice afloat,” he said.
“I would like to take this opportunity to call on the other funding streams, such as from local authorities, to help provide whatever support they can to keep this excellent service going.”
Delroy Corinaldi, of the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS), welcomed the reprieve amid “current uncertainties over the availability of face-to-face debt advice”.
“We are concerned that any reduction in the amount should not impact on peoples’ ability to get free face-to-face debt advice,” he added.
“This should put free advice in a place where it can continue to take on the fee-charging sector which the recent Office of Fair Trading review found to be unfit for purpose.
“The challenge now is for debt charities to work together to provide free debt advice, face to face, over the phone and online, for those who need it.
“The next few years are likely to be very difficult for many people due to stagnating household budgets and rising costs but given CCCS’s capacity on its helpline and online debt counselling, there is no need for anyone to pay for debt advice.”
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