Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Italy has reacted angrily after France stopped trains at the Ventimiglia-Menton border for several hours Sunday 17 April, to prevent North Africans entering the France. Italy has given temporary visas to thousands of Tunisians, according to the BBC, in the wake of the overthrow of Tunisia’s government, despite both Italy and France stepping up measures to stem the flow of immigrants from North Africa. The visas issued by Italy allow them to travel throughout the Schengen area, Italy says, under European Union rules, but France argues that they must show they can support themselves.

The Italian ambassador in Paris was instructed by his foreign minister to tell the French government of the “strong” protest by Italy to the halt, undertaken by the prefecture in France’s Alpes-Maritimes region. Italy insists the temporary visas are in line with EU regulations.

Italy has been negotiating with Tunisia over terms for repatriating illegal immigrants, including how to keep the returns low key to avoid too much publicity.

16 refugees drowned, 5 went missing just 2km from Yemen’s shores

The UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) in Geneva last Friday issued sharp words to ships at sea who ignore troubled refugee boats, after the latest incident in which 16 people drowned and five went missing after an overcrowded boat from Somalia sank off the coast of Yemen. The survivors say they appealed to a passing cargo ship that ignored them. The UNHCR has previously said the number of such incidents, in the Gulf of Aden but also in the Mediterranean, may be increasing and Friday it appealed to shipmasters “to uphold the longstanding tradition of rescue at sea and helping vessels in distress.”

Links to other sites: BBC, Le Monde, Courriere della sera (Eng) and Courrierre front page (Ita)

Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Rougemont (canton Vaud) Videmanette cablecar will remain closed while federal authorities investigate what may have caused a gondola to break loose and fall 30 metres Sunday. The gondola was empty and there were no injuries, although 70 people were on the system when the gondola fell, causing the cable to come off its rails. Bern says the cablecar was built in 1959 and renovated in 1984, and that the company running the system will decide when it can re-open.

Update 01:00  Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - An accident involving a person on the rails near Roche-Aigle in canton Vaud stopped most train traffic between Martigny and Sion late Saturday night, according to a 21:45 CFF notice. Several trains were cancelled: update – service has been resumed. Link to CFF alerts