Smugglers are charging anywhere from 3,000 to 7,000 euros ($3,380 and $8,000) to get migrants across the English Channel, according to a web of smugglers, though at times there can be discounts.

Often, the fee also includes a very short-term tent rental in the windy dunes of northern France and food cooked over fires that sputter in the rain that falls for more than half the month of November in the Calais region. Sometimes, but not always, it includes a life vest and fuel for the outboard motor.

And the people who collect the money – up to 300,000 euros per boat that makes it across the narrows of the Channel – are not the ones arrested in the periodic raids along the coastline. They are just what French police call "the little hands.”

Now, French authorities are hoping to move up the chain of command. The French judicial investigation into Wednesday’s sinking that killed 27 people has been turned over to Paris-based prosecutors who specialize in organized crime.

To cross the 33-kilometer (20-mile) narrow point of the Channel, the rubber dinghies must navigate frigid waters and pass cargo ships. As of Nov. 17, 23,000 people had crossed successfully, according to Britain’s Home Office. France intercepted about 19,000 people.

At a minimum, then, smuggling organizations this year have netted 69 million euros for the crossing – that's 2 million euros per kilometer.

"This has become so profitable for criminals that it’s going to take a phenomenal amount of effort to shift it," the U.K. Home Office's Dan O’Mahoney told Parliament on Nov. 17.

Between coronavirus and Brexit, "this is a golden age for the smugglers and organized crime because the countries are in disarray,” said Mimi Vu, an expert on Vietnamese migration who regularly spends time in the camps of northern France.

"Think of it like a shipping and logistics company,” Vu said.

The leg through central Europe can cost around 4,000 euros, according to Austrian authorities who on Saturday announced the arrest of 15 people suspected of smuggling Syrian, Lebanese and Egyptian migrants into the country in vanloads of 12 to 15 people. The suspects transported more than 700 people at a total cost of more than 2.5 million euros, police said. In this network, the migrants were bound for Germany.

The alleged smugglers – from Moldova, Ukraine and Uzbekistan – were recruited in their home countries via ads on social media offering work as drivers for 2,000-3,000 euros a month.

The men handling the last leg are essentially just making the final delivery. If arrested, they are replaceable, Vu said.

Frontex, the European border agency, echoed that in a 2021 risk report that describes the operational leaders as managers who "are able to orchestrate the criminal business from a distance, while mostly exposing low-level criminals involved in transport and logistics to law enforcement detection.”

The chain starts in the home country, usually with an agreed-upon price arranged over social media. That fee tends to shift over the journey, but most willingly pay extra as their destination grows closer, she said. That's precisely when the logistics grow more complicated.

Channel crossings by sea were relatively rare until a few years ago when French and British authorities locked down the area around the Eurotunnel entrance. The deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants in the back of a container truck may also have contributed to a new reluctance to use that route.

But the first attempts were disorganized, using small inflatables and even kayaks bought at the local Decathlon sports store.

"At the beginning, it’s always the pioneers,” said Nando Sigona, professor of international migration and forced displacement at the University of Birmingham. "But once it started to seem that it was working for a number of people, you could see the bigger players came to be involved.”

One migrant from Sudan, who would only give his name as Yasir, had been trying for three years to get to the U.K.

While shaking his head about the tragedy, he pointed out that other methods of smuggling, such as hiding on a truck, were also dangerous.

"You could break a leg,’’ he said. "You can die.’’

And as dangerous as the sea voyage might prove, it seemed to many migrants to be safer than other options. The only thing preventing it is the cost, which he had heard was 1,200 euros.

"We don’t have any money,’’ Yasir said. "If I had money, I’d go to the boat.’’

Police cracked down on local boat purchases, and the larger inflatables started to show up, hauled by the dozens inside cars and vans with German and Belgian tags, police said. France's interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, said a car with German tags was seized in connection with the investigation.

Police raids on the camps to pull down tents and disrupt operations have given smugglers yet another chance to make money, said Nikolai Posner, of the aid group Utopia 56. Now, the fee includes a short-term tent rental and access to basic food, usually cooked over an open fire.

"There is one solution to stop all this, the deaths, the smugglers, the camps. Make a humanitarian corridor,” said Posner. He said asylum requests should be easier on both sides of the Channel.

In part because of Brexit and coronavirus, expulsions from the U.K. this year dropped to just five people, according to the Home Office. Vu said people who are intercepted at sea or land by British border forces end up in migrant centers, but usually just get back in touch with the smuggling networks and end up working black market jobs.

That's the complaint in France, where the interior minister said British employers appear more than happy to hire under the table, providing yet another financial incentive.

"If they’re in Calais, it’s to get to Britain, and the only people who can guarantee them passage are these networks of smugglers,” said Ludovic Hochart, a Calais-based police officer with the Alliance union. "The motivation to get to England is stronger than the dangers that await.”

On Sunday, ministers from France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and EU officials will meet to search for solutions. But, with France and Britain at sharp odds over migration, fishing and how to rebuild a working relationship after Brexit, there is one notable absence: a British delegation.

For Vu, that's a missed opportunity: "This is transnational crime. It spans many borders and it’s not up to only one country to solve it.”/DS

Kuwait yesterday banned commercial flights with nine African nations over the new COVID-19 variant Omicron but allowed cargo, government spokesman Tareq Al-Mazrem said. The ban begins today and is indefinite. The countries are South Africa, where the new variant was originated, in addition to Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zambia and Malawi.

The Council of Ministers also decided at an extraordinary meeting to ban entry of foreigners from those African countries unless they have spent at least 14 days in a third country. Kuwaiti citizens arriving from those nations must undergo institutional quarantine for seven days with a PCR test done on the day of arrival and a second on the sixth day, Mazrem said. The Council of Ministers also called on citizens to avoid travel out of Kuwait now, unless it is extremely necessary, especially to countries that have reported cases of Omicron.

Fears mounted yesterday that a highly-infectious new coronavirus strain was pushing its way into Europe as the world brought the shutters down to contain the new Omicron variant. Suspected new cases emerged in Germany and the Czech Republic, while Dutch authorities quarantined 61 passengers from South Africa who tested positive for COVID-19. South Africa complained that it was being “punished” with air travel bans for first detecting the strain, which the World Health Organization has termed a “variant of concern”.

Australia and Thailand joined the United States, Brazil, Canada and a host of other countries around the world restricting travel from the region, fearing a major setback to global efforts against the pandemic. Scientists are racing to determine the threat posed by the heavily mutated strain, which is more transmissible than the dominant Delta variant, and whether it can evade existing vaccines.

Anxious travelers thronged Johannesburg international airport, desperate to squeeze onto the last flights to countries that had imposed sudden travel bans. Many had cut back holidays and rushed back from South African safaris and vineyards. “It’s ridiculous, we will always be having new variants,” British tourist David Good told AFP, passports in hand. “South Africa found it but it’s probably all over the world already.”

‘Worrisome variant’
But the virus has already slipped through the net with cases in Europe and Hong Kong and Zionist entity. Germany became the second European country to find a suspected case of the new strain, after Belgium on Friday. “The Omicron variant has with strong likelihood already arrived in Germany,” tweeted Kai Klose, social affairs minister in the western state of Hesse.

The neighboring Czech Republic was carrying out further tests on a woman who had travelled from Namibia and was suspected to have the new variant, prime minister Andrej Babis said. The Netherlands meanwhile found that around one in 10 – 61 out of 600 – people who had arrived at Schiphol airport on Friday from South Africa were positive for COVID-19. The rest tested negative. The infected people, who flew in on two KLM flights that took off before the Dutch government announced a ban on travelers from the region, were being kept quarantined in a hotel near the airport.

“The positive test results will be examined as soon as possible to determine whether this concerns the new worrisome variant,” the Dutch Health Authority said in a statement. The Netherlands on Friday became the latest in a series of European countries to tighten its COVID restrictions. The WHO said it could take several weeks to understand the variant, which was initially known as B.1.1.529, and cautioned against imposing travel curbs while scientific evidence was still scant.

‘Draconian’ measures
South Africa has called the travel curbs “Draconian” and yesterday said the flight bans were “akin to punishing South Africa for its advanced genomic sequencing and the ability to detect new variants quicker.” “Excellent science should be applauded and not punished,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The main countries targeted by the shutdown include South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini (Swaziland), Lesotho, Namibia, Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe. US President Joe Biden meanwhile said richer countries should donate more COVID-19 vaccines and give up intellectual property protections to manufacture more doses worldwide to stem the spread of the virus. “The news about this new variant should make clearer than ever why this pandemic will not end until we have global vaccinations,” he said.

But with memories still fresh of the way global air travel helped the spread of COVID after it first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019, countries clamped down on the new variant. Australia became the latest to act, banning all flights from nine southern African countries. Thailand meanwhile restricted flights from eight countries, as did the United States, Brazil, Canada and Saudi Arabia. EU officials agreed in an emergency meeting to urge all 27 nations in the bloc to restrict travel from southern Africa, with many members having already done so.

The World Trade Organization called off its ministerial conference, its biggest gathering in four years, at the last minute Friday due to the new variant. Vaccine manufacturers have held out hope that they can modify current vaccines to target the Omicron variant. Germany’s BioNTech and US drugmaker Pfizer said they expect data “in two weeks at the latest” to show if their jab can be adjusted. Moderna said it will develop a booster specific to the new variant.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia was among countries in the Middle East and North Africa to ban travelers from several African nations due to fears over a new coronavirus variant. The Saudi interior ministry and authorities in the United Arab Emirates said visitors from seven African countries were barred from entry. They listed the countries as South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho and Eswatini.

The Saudi ban comprises flights to and from those countries, the official Saudi Press Agency said, quoting an interior ministry official. It said, however, that foreign nationals from the seven countries could enter the kingdom if they had spent the previous 14 days in another country and comply with Saudi health protocols. The official Emirati news agency WAM said the UAE ban would go into effect on Monday and was only for travelers coming from those African countries, regardless of the airline, and included transit passengers.

Bahrain announced similar measures targeting six African countries, including South Africa, the official BNA news agency said. Jordan’s interior ministry, acting on recommendations from the health ministry, also announced a ban for non-Jordanian travelers coming from South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho and Eswatini. The North African kingdom of Morocco banned travelers from those same countries due to fears over the new coronavirus variant detected in South Africa./KT

  The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense and Chairman of the Ministerial Committee for Corona Emergencies Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Ali Al-Sabah said that “There will be no closure of Kuwait International Airport, nor Kuwaiti land and sea borders”, following the emergence of a new mutant Omicron of the Corona virus in some African countries.

Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Ali told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) after the meeting of the Ministerial Committee for Corona Emergencies, that the committee studied the steps related to the developments of the emergence of the new mutant in some African countries and the recommended decisions in this regard, stressing that there are steps that everyone must take, whether those inside Kuwait or outside and they will return to it.

He stated further that “the mutated virus is dangerous and all countries have taken measures to close and stop flights to some countries in the African continent, which is what the committee recommended,” He stated that “The health situation in the country is above excellent, thanks to God Almighty and the efforts of our heroes at the Ministry of Health for what they are doing.”

Turkish Airlines carried out evacuation flights from South Africa on Saturday because of the Omicron strain of the coronavirus after Turkey implemented travel restrictions on the country.

As many as 41 passengers were evacuated in flights from South Africa’s largest two cities, Cape Town and Johannesburg, to the Turkish metropolis of Istanbul, an official with the airline told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity.

Passengers will spend 14 days in quarantine regardless of their vaccination statuses or recent infection with the virus. A negative PCR test will be required to end isolation in places determined by the local governorate.

The Turkish Embassy in Pretoria said on Twitter that Turkish Airlines flights would mark the last from South Africa to Turkey until further notice.

Turkey announced Friday it would impose travel restrictions from South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe beginning Nov. 27 due to the Omicron strain./aa

A Turkish graduate student studying in Germany and his German friend developed an AI camera system capable of determining a driver's fatigue by analyzing facial gestures.

Tolga Varol and Roman Prytkov received $1.5 million of EU funding for their invention, according to a statement by the Izmir University of Economics, where Varol pursued his undergraduate degree in Turkey.

Varol said in the statement that a majority of the car accidents were the result of driver error and the camera system sought to remedy that problem.

According to Varol, facial expressions and gestures, or the length of time that a driver's eyes are closed may vary while traveling, reflecting fatigue. The camera system observes such variance and warns the driver.

While in use, the system accumulates a significant database on a driver's common driving habits, to help reduce the risk of human errors, he said./aa

After scientists in South Africa detected a new coronavirus variant, the country reported a rise in infections with the positivity rate jumping from the seven-day average of 4.3% to 9.1% on Friday evening, health authorities said.

"About 2,828 new COVID-19 cases have been identified in South Africa, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to nearly 3 million. This increase represents a 9.1% positivity rate," the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said in a statement on Friday night.

The institute also reported 12 more deaths related to COVID-19 on Friday, bringing total fatalities to 89,783.

Gauteng province, which includes the largest city Johannesburg and the capital Pretoria, reported the majority of new cases, contributing 77% of all new infections, followed by the resort provinces of Western Cape accounting for 5% and KwaZulu-Natal for 4%.

This week, South African scientists announced they had discovered the Omicron variant, which has several mutations that may carry the risk of reinfection. The same variant was also detected in neighboring Botswana, as well as Hong Kong, and was first detected on Nov. 12-22, and announced on Thursday.

Scientists said epidemiological data suggest that the sustained increase in COVID-19 cases across Gauteng was possibly fueled by the new variant.

According to an expert in infectious diseases, the new variant was detected in multiple samples tested at both public and private laboratories in Gauteng province.

Several countries around the world have now banned flights from half a dozen Southern African nations, including South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho, and Eswatini over fears of the new variant.

President Cyril Ramaphosa will convene the National Coronavirus Command Council on Sunday to assess developments in the pandemic, including scientific updates on the newly detected variant.

The National Coronavirus Command Council is one of several structures of the government -- which include the President's Coordinating Council and Cabinet -- where scientific evidence and submissions by different economic and social sectors inform executive decision-making.

Businesses fear another COVID-19 lockdown will have a heavy economic toll, especially as the holiday season approaches./agencies

The oil rig count in the US rose this week, according to the latest data released by oilfield services company Baker Hughes on Friday.

The number of oil rigs, an indicator of short-term production in the country, increased by 6 to 467 for the week ending Nov. 26 from 461 the previous week.

The number of US oil rigs rose by 266 compared to one year ago.

At Friday's trading close, the price of international benchmark Brent crude stood at $72.72 per barrel, while American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was at $68.15 a barrel./agencies

Iran on Saturday imposed a ban on travel from seven African countries after the emergence of a new coronavirus variant.

Travel bans for South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho, and Eswatini took effect immediately, said the head of Iran's Center for Disease Control, Mohammad Mehdi Gouya.

Moreover, noting that no passengers from these countries will be accepted to Iran, he stated that Iranians who are arriving from the seven African countries must have two negative PCR tests, otherwise they will be kept in quarantine for up to 14 days at the border gates.

The new heavily mutated variant that might be able to evade vaccines was first identified on Nov. 11 in Botswana.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared Friday that the new variant is a "variant of concern," and named it Omicron.

The declaration came after the Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution, an independent group of experts, met to assess the variant that was initially named B.1.1.529./aa