Mediaboss Marketing

Both countries have ignored EU proposals to relocate 160,000 migrants and the rest of the bloc is set to take action to ensure they share the burden.

Poland has ignored criticism from the European Commission over its handling of the migrant crisis and last week Beata Szydlo, the countrys prime minister, criticised EU plans for a two-speed Europe which would allow more powerful members to develop faster than their poorer neighbours.

GETTY

Meanwhile, Hungary has pushed back against the centralisation of powers in Brussels and eurosceptic leader Viktor Orban called for the countrys borders to be closed during the height of the 2015 migrant crisis.

The two countries will now have to decide if they are willing to maintain their anti-migrant rhetoric if it puts their EU membership under threat, a diplomatic source told the Times.

The source said: They will have to make a choice: are they in the European system or not? You cannot blackmail the EU, unity has a price.

REUTERS

1 of 53

A migrant taunts Hungarian riot police as they fire tear gas and water cannon on the Serbian side of the border, near Roszke

GETTY

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) is expected to look into the legality of the migrant quotas with a judgment, widely expected to be in favour of them, due before the end of the year.

The source added: We are confident that the ECJ will confirm validation, then they [Poland and Hungary] must abide by the decision.

If they dont then they will face consequences, both financial and political.

No more opt-outs, there is no more one foot in and one foot out.

We are going to be very tough on this.

GETTY

The EUs migrant quotas have been widely criticised for being ineffective, with some eastern European members including Slovakia and the Czech Republic waiting for disputes between the EU, Hungary and Poland to be resolved before accepting their share of migrants.

Germany, France and Italy have called for a permanent system of quotas to replace the emergency measures currently in place, which would include fines and penalties for failing to comply.

Read more here:
EU ULTIMATUM: Brussels tells Poland & Hungary to 'accept more migrants or LEAVE the bloc' - Express.co.uk

Image: iStockphoto/Harvepino

Analytics firm SAS wants to use crowdsourcing and data to solve global humanitarian challenges. Its new app GatherIQ, announced at the SAS Global Forum 2017 in Orlando, FL, puts analytics in the hands of the public to address world problems, starting with the migrant crisis.

Thousands of migrants go missing or die on their journey each year, with an estimated 63,000 victims between 2000 and 2016, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Here's how the app can help: First, users read about the issue. Then, the app asks questions about the migrant crisis that the IOM needs assistance analyzing. Using data visualizations and information from the IOM's Missing Migrants Project (including demographics, migrant routes, and locations), users can see patterns and trends take shape. Then, users can post any insights they gain to the GatherIQ community, to share observations and work as a team to validate one another's results, according to the app's website.

Users can also easily share their insights on social media platforms to both bring attention to the crisis and draw others to the GatherIQ effort. "IOM will harness the power of the crowd to better understand what is really happening to these migrants and how the organization can help them," a press release stated.

SEE: Why one business is investing in immigrant entrepreneurs to help create 100,000 jobs for Americans

"The migrant crisis continues unabated. By better understanding the risks facing these people, we can do more to protect them," said IOM spokesperson Leonard Doyle in a press release. "The more people we have analyzing the data and contributing to solutions, the more likely we are to save lives."

SAS plans to use GatherIQ to collaborate with more nonprofit organizations to help them gain new insights from their data, and to encourage citizens to use analytics to help solve global problems, according to the press release.

"We want the public to help us in our mission to improve the world with analytics and data," said I-Sah Hsieh, SAS global manager for international development, in the press release. "You don't have to be a data scientist. Just have a curious mind and a desire to help humanity."

GatherIQ also allows users to integrate data visualization and analysis into research projects and educational coursework, to better help individuals gain needed tech skills for future jobs, the release stated.

SEE: Life, disrupted: Dispatches from a refugee crisis in the digital age (CNET)

"We encourage teachers, professors and students to integrate this project into their learning and research," said Hsieh in the release. "Today's students want to make a difference in the world. With GatherIQ, they also gain data analysis experience that will help fill the looming data skills gap."

This effort is not the first collaboration between SAS and IOM, the release noted: After Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines in 2013, SAS analyzed data from IOM shelters to target relief efforts and identify the most critical health problems facing the area. The company also worked with IOM after the 2015 Nepal earthquake, analyzing global trade data to identify sources for tin roofing to protect citizens during the impending monsoon season.

GatherIQ is available for download in Apple's App Store, and will soon be available on Android and as a web app.

1. At SAS Global Forum 2017, SAS unveiled a new app called GatherIQ that combines data and crowdsourcing to help solve global humanitarian problems, starting with the migrant crisis.

2. GatherIQ allows users to analyze data from the International Organization for Migration to identify patterns and trends, and post insights on a community page to help the IOM learn new information.

3. SAS said it plans to use GatherIQ to collaborate with more nonprofits to help them gain new insights from their data, and to encourage citizens to to use analytics to help solve global problems, according to the press release.

Original post:
SAS crowdsourcing app seeks to solve the migrant crisis while teaching data science skills - TechRepublic

SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER

Italys interior ministry said the 60 tribal leaders notably the Tuareg of the southwest, the Toubou of the southeast, and the Arab tribe of Awlad Suleiman had reached the 12-point deal after 72 hours of secret talks in Rome.

SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER

A representative from Libyas UN-backed Government of National Accord, which is based in Tripoli and controls western Libya, was also present.

A Libyan border patrol unit will be operational to monitor Libyas southern border of 5,000 kilometres (3,100 miles), Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti told Italys La Stampa newspaper, one of several Italian media outlets reporting on the deal Sunday.

Securing Libyas southern border means securing Europes southern border, Minniti said.

Southern Libya is criss-crossed by smuggling routes for people, drugs and weapons. Since the 2011 uprising that ousted Moamer Kadhafi, a mosaic of tribal and ethnic forces is fighting for control of illicit trade and oil fields in the region.

Tuaregs control the border with southern Algeria, while further east, the Toubou operate along the borders with Chad and Sudan.

Arab tribes in the region have supported the authorities in western Libya, but they also maintain ties with a rival administration that holds sway in the east and regularly clash with the Toubou.

Fayez al-Sarraj, chief of the fragile GNA, has struggled to impose the governments authority, despite its backing by many political and military leaders.

The accord, whose details have not yet been released, is the latest in a series of deals European countries have sought to reduce migration from Libya, which has increased sharply in recent months.

The deal aims to combat an economy based on illicit drugs, which causes hundreds of deaths in the Mediterranean, thousands of desperate people looking for a better life, a populist push (in Europe) and a jihadist threat in the desert, according to the text of the agreement, quoted in the Corriere della Sera newspaper.

It also calls for job training programmes to keep young people from criminal activities.

Some 24,200 people have been rescued from the Mediterranean and registered at Italian ports so far this year, according to the Interior Ministry.

As part of an earlier agreement with the European Union, about 90 members of the Libyan coastguard are currently completing training under the EU, and Italy is preparing to return 10 coastguard boats to Libya that it seized in 2011. They are expected to be operational by the end of April or in early May.

In March, interior ministers from several EU and North African countries reached a deal with the GNA to stem flow of migrant and human smuggling, which included pledges of money, coastguard training and equipment for Libya.

View original post here:
Italy Brokers Deal Between Dozens of Rival Libyan Tribes To Stem Migrant Crisis - Breitbart News

GETTY

And officials are getting set to send 1.39billion (1.2billion) to countries outside the European Union (EU) as they try to stem migrant flows and increase security.

At a meeting of the Budgets Committee in Brussels on Monday, the parliament agreed to earmark the money which it will attempt to achieve using funds from member states including Britain.

The EU maintains that the UK will have to pay for commitments the EU has made up until the triggering of Article 50.

Unprecedented crises such as the migration crisis required a verification of policies and an adjustment of the budgetary system

Rapporteur Jan Olbrycht

Brussels officials say that commitments Britain made as part of the Multi-annual Financial Framework, which began in 2014 and runs until 2020, will have to be honoured.

But they voted in Brussels on Monday as part of an extraordinary meeting the first stage before sending it for the consent of the full house before the Council can formally adopt it by a unanimous vote.

Rapporteur Jan Olbrycht (EPP, PL) said: Parliament demanded this revision of the Multiannual Financial Framework because it considered it highly necessary due to a change of circumstances in Europe.

"And the Parliament was right.

"Unprecedented crises such as the migration crisis required a verification of policies and an adjustment of the budgetary system.

GETTY

"The enhanced flexibility we agreed to means more possibilities of action in European policies.

"This is the first step towards enabling the EU budgetary system more to adapt faster to needs within the seven-year period, which should be also one of the main mottos of the next financial framework.

But UKIP Home Affairs spokeswoman Jane Collins MEP said the EU is not being clear with member states on where the money will go.

GETTY

She said: "It looks like the EU is giving 1.39billion of taxpayers' money to third countries hoping they will stop migrants from coming into the EU.

"This policy of paying other countries to compensate for the EU's weak external border and open door policy for anyone saying they are from Syria has already failed with Turkey.

"What's more, I suspect that the money will be given to overseas organisations and we won't have any audited details of what happened to it - it could well go into the hands of people traffickers who already make millions trading in human lives.

"There is one policy which will stop another summer of misery and that is turning back boats filled with migrants in the Mediterranean. Frontex's policy of rescuing boats at sea is doing the trafficker's work for them.

"It demonstrates that the EU's external border policy and their new coastguard doesn't work.

"The Government needs to confirm that not one penny of UK money goes into this scheme. We need investment in our own border forces and coastal patrol."

GETTY

In January the European Border and Coast Guard became fully operational creating rapid reaction pools for 1,500 border guards and equipment and new pools for return intervention teams.

They also agreed to allow member states to maintain temporary controls for another three months.

In February they approved a facility for refugees in Turkey, handing more than 270million for the education of 70,000 Syrian refugee children.

EPA

1 of 10

Firemen try to extinguish fire set by leftist demonstrators who burned trash bins during a protest march over the police raid of a squat in the area of Zografou in Athens, Greece

They also allocated 2.2billion out of the 3billion foreseen for 2016/17 allocated, 1.46billion contracted and 750million disbursed so far.

While earlier this month the Commission presented a new Action Plan on Return and a Recommendation to Member States on the efficient implementation of return procedures.

Go here to see the original:
EU announces 3.9 BILLION to tackle migration crisis and Britain could be FORCED to pay - Express.co.uk

GETTY

Joseph Walker-Cousins, former head of the British Embassy in Benghazi, accused the EU of doing too little, too late in regards to the migrant crisis.

Giving evidence at the House of Lords EU External Affairs Sub-Committee, the diplomat said the officials should have been patrolling Libyas land borders 1,400km to the south.

But instead, he claimed, they chose to deal with migrants only when they were a stones throw from Europe.

Ultimately, the breakdown of border control is down to the collapse of the functioning government in Libya, he remarked.

Now a senior fellow at the Institute for Statecraft think-tank, Mr Walker-Cousins was critical of the failure of Western governments, including Britain, for failing to offer "leadership" after prompting the collapse of the Gadaffi regime.

1 of 11

According to the Mail, Mr Walker-Cousins said: Up to a million migrants, if not more, are in the pipeline. They will take a long time to work their way through that pipeline but it is well-established.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it was working to end the Libyan smugglers businesses, with 414 boats destroyed and 109 traffickers arrested.

Mr Walker-Cousins said he didnt want to completely blame the EU for the crisis, but maintained there was a lack of care.

He added: Then we can begin to restore border security along the land borders and achieve the desired results in terms of stemming the flow of migrants and prevent them putting themselves at the mercy of those gruesome, merciless traffickers.

I dont want to say there is a vacuum of ownership and leadership at the political level but that sort of engagement and that appetite to own what is going on in Libya does not seem to exist now in a way it did then.

GETTY

No one really wants to own it it is someone elses mess.

The diplomats remarks follow a fierce argument involving four EU leaders who claimed Brussels officials threatened to cut their aid funding if they refused to accept more asylum seekers.

View original post here:
ONE MILLION more migrants to come to Europe as EU action 'too little too late' - Express.co.uk