[Kristie Lu Stout:] And welcome to News Stream where news and technology meet. Now another dramatic rescue in the Mediterranean as desperate migrants attempt the risky sea crossing to a better life. Plus, where is Washington? American families trapped in Yemen ask why their government has not come to help them. And a closer look at wearable technology. What companies are doing to put their gadgets on your body. And we begin with two search and recovery missions for migrant shipwrecks in the Mediterranean. The bodies of at least 24 victims have arrived in Malta along with some survivors. Maltese officials say about 50 passengers have been rescued. One survivor says that there were almost 1,000 people on that boat and smugglers locked passengers inside, leaving them trapped on the sinking ship. Now meanwhile at least three people have died in another migrant ship disaster off the Greek island of Rhodes. And Greek officials say that the ship was carrying at least 83 people when it sank. Now 57 passengers have been saved. And rescue crews, they continue their search. European officials say the boat that sank 100 kilometers north of Libya could be the worst migrant disaster in the Mediterranean in years. Now John Ray from ITN has more from the Sicilian port of Palermo.
[John Ray, Itv News:] It is a desperate search that becomes more futile as each hour passes. Hundreds are feared lost to the sea. This is less a rescue and more like an operation to recover bodies. A boat packed with what is thought more than 700 migrants overturned 60 miles from the Libyan coast. Those on board reportedly rushed to one side to draw the attention of a passing merchant ship, causing it to capsize. Better weather has brought an upsurge in numbers making the hazardous crossing. Earlier this week, 400 migrants were feared to have drowned when their boat sank. More than 13,500 have already been rescued in the past week alone. Italy's prime minister called for concerted international efforts and asked for an emergency meeting of European leaders to discuss the crisis. And the pope prayed that the victims and urged the world to respond.
[Pope Francis:] They are men and women like us, our brothers seeking a better life, starving, persecuted, wounded, exploited, victims of war. They were looking for a better life. They were in search of happiness.
[Ray:] The deaths have prompted fresh demands for Europe to reinstate fullscale search and rescue operations as the human cost continues to grow, Europe's leaders are once again facing calls for urgent action.
[Lu Stout:] And that was ITN's John Ray reporting from Sicily. Now for more on the story, let's go straight to Rome and journalist Barbie Nadeau joins me now. And Barbie, we have right now at least two rescue and recovery efforts taking place in the Mediterranean Sea. What's the latest?
[Barbie Nadeau, Cnn Contributor:] Well, the victims of the disaster Saturday night have been taken to Malta. 24 bodies were taken there. And the survivors, 27 of the 28 survivors are on their way to Sicily to the we're not sure quite where, likely the port of Catania. At this point, one survivor was airlifted. And he gave a lot of information about that boat, including that there may have been as many as 950 people, he says, on that ship and many of them were locked in the lower hauls of the ship and lower compartments to balance the weight to try to avoid people moving around the ship too much. Then of course we've got this situation off the coast of Greece where a ship has was very close, hit rocks and sank. And then AFP is reporting that the IOM office here in Rome received a call that as many as three boats are in trouble right now, one with 300 people, we understand, could be sinking as we speak right now. So this problem is just chaos in the Mediterranean right now. It's just both are obviously still coming, both are in distress and the authorities are just trying to rescue as many people as possible at this time.
[Lu Stout:] They're trying to rescue as many people as possible, but still too many lives have been lost at sea. This year alone, at least 900 migrant lives have been lost. We know that officials in the Eurozone, they're going to meet soon to discuss these migrant deaths at sea. What are officials, especially where you are right now in Italy, what are they doing now to save the lives of migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to Italy? And are they doing enough?
[Nadeau:] Well, that is the big question. Today, the prime minister of Malta is here in Rome meeting with prime minister Matteo Renzi to try to discuss what they need to ask from the European Union in terms of assistance and help. We understand, as well, that Frontex may be bringing in more vessels to try to help with the search and rescue operation. But really I think everyone agrees that what they need to do is stop the human traffickers and they need to stop people from leaving the port in Libya and try to just offer some sort of safe corridor, some sort of other alternative for these people who are fleeing such desperate situations. Right now their only way out is by sea. And especially the officials here in Italy and those in Malta want them to stop in Libya and perhaps provide, you know, a way for people to get to Europe safely, because this just isn't working as an escape route from these destitute areas, Kristie.
[Lu Stout:] OK. And also for those migrants who do survive the harrowing journey, when they touch ground, when they reach Italy, how are they treated, how are they being looked after?
[Nadeau:] Well, the big problem right now is where to put the migrants. People are distributed all the way up to the north of Italy right now. And the Italians would really like other countries within the European Union to volunteer to take some of these migrants. Many of them don't have any intention of staying here in Italy. A lot of them join family in France and in Germany and would love to go up to the UK or go to some of the Scandinavian countries. But for the present time they are in camps in Italy. And these camps are overcrowded. Many of them are divided up by regions from where they came. Many are divided families are put together, men are put together, some people find jobs, you know, with the harvest in the fields in Sicily and things like that. But there's just not enough work to support the people while they try to rebuild their lives. And there's a lot of movement. And it's a difficult situation for the Italians because there's an economic crisis here as well. There's high unemployment here for the Italians. They don't want to give up their jobs to the migrants who are coming.
[Lu Stout:] Barbie Nadeau reporting on the ongoing migrant tragedy in the Mediterranean. Many thanks indeed for your reporting. The latest migrant ship disasters, they are just a few in a long string of tragedies in the Mediterranean Sea. The International organization for migration says that more than 900 migrants have died trying to make that treacherous, dangerous journey so far this year. But that figure is now higher, because it came out before these latest shipwrecks. The United Nations says 219,000 people made the journey across the Mediterranean last year, but 3,500 did not survive. Now turning now to a new and disturbing video released by ISIS. It appears to show the militants slaughtering Ethiopian Christians in Libya. Now one group of victims is beheaded and the second group appears to be killed by gunfire. Now this video raises concerns that ISIS may be expanding its presence in Libya as CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson has details. He joins me now. And Nic, in this new video, the brutality of ISIS again on full display. But this footage, it was shot in Libya. So what does it say? What does it reveal about ISIS and its operations there?
[Nic Robertson, Cnn International Correspondent:] Well, it's a multi- layered message. The principle message of this 39 minute video is that Christians can live under ISIS control as long as they subjugate themselves to ISIS, pay a non-Muslim tax, convert to Islam. And if they don't do that, then they'll be killed. And that's the bloody and barbaric part of this message here. You have those group of 15 men who ISIS say are Ethiopian Christians. They're beheaded on the Mediterranean beach in the north of Libya. Meanwhile, the other 15 Ethiopian Christians are gunned down hundreds of miles away this is what ISIS says on the southern borders of Libya. The indication that ISIS is trying to create here is that they are spread all across Libya. That is not the case. That's what the that's the impression that they're trying to create. And the other layer to this sort of multi-layered propaganda message is because ISIS here in Libya has used the same media group that ISIS in Libya ISIS in Syria and Iraq uses, they're trying to promote the idea here that they are much stronger, bigger, that they're expanding across the Middle East. It's all part of the same group, all part of the same branding. So, it's a multi-layered message from ISIS, Kristie.
[Lu Stout:] Now, what is the situation inside Libya right now. How vulnerable is Libya to ISIS taking route? We know that they're able to shoot and produce videos from Libya, but will they be able to take route and to expand in a meaningful way their operations there?
[Robertson:] They are. They have been. And they are expanding. And this is what we've seen over the past few months. It's been quite a rapid expansion. They sort of supplanted to a greater degree al Qaeda in the eastern city of Dernah, which was known to be somewhere where al Qaeda at least could relatively easily and quickly put down roots. ISIS has expanded beyond there. They put down a foothold inside Sirte, which is on the Mediterranean coast that they're able to conduct attacks on the outskirts of the capital Tripoli, even claiming that attack right in the on the hotel in the center of Tripoli just within the past few months. So, what we have seen from them in Libya is an expansion of the number of attacks and things that they do, an increase of their propaganda from there. And at the same time, you have this sort of the Islamist-based government in Tripoli, the capital, and the internationally recognized more secular government in the east of the country trying to or at least the UN would like them to get together, bury their differences, and rule the country together, run the country together, to stop groups like ISIS growing. But at the moment, those two different governments are not doing that. And ISIS is fully taking advantage, just the same way we've seen it do in Syria and Iraq. It knows it can put down roots and grow while the rest of the country is in chaos.
[Lu Stout:] Nic Robertson on the story for us. Many thanks indeed for that, Nic. And now to Somalia where the militant group al Shabaab has claimed responsibility for a deadly bombing on a United Nations van. Authorities say that six people were killed, most of them UN workers. UNICEF says four of its staff were among the dead and four others were wounded and are in serious condition. Now the blast hit a vehicle carrying UN workers in northern Somalia. The al Qaeda affiliated al Shabaab killed some 150 people when it attacked a Kenyan university earlier this month. Now, Americans are part of the exodus from Yemen, but some who have gotten out wonder why didn't Washington help us?
[Unidentified Female:] I want to ask my president, Mr. Obama, how come we are a third third class citizens? How come our country did not come and rescue us?
[Lu Stout:] Still ahead right here on News Stream, the extreme measures that one American resorted to, to free her family from the war zone in Yemen. Also ahead, a business man's suicide note sends a chill through the highest levels of South Korean politics. And whether it's a FitBit or an Apple Watch, more of today's gadgets can be only worn and not just carried around. We ask our resident tech expert if wearable technology is something we should all buy into.