Fifty-three people are dead or missing after a migrant boat capsized in the Mediterranean Sea off the Libyan coast on Friday, according to the UN migration agency. Only two survivors were rescued from the vessel, which overturned north of Zuwara, the International Organization for Migration reported on Monday.
The incident marks the latest tragedy in the central Mediterranean, where hundreds of migrants and asylum seekers have died this year attempting the perilous crossing. The UN agency did not provide details on the cause of the capsizing.
In other news, students and teachers at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia, Canada, went into lockdown on Tuesday afternoon after reports of gunshots outside the school. According to the New York Times, a student who went to the parking lot to fetch his car returned to the auto mechanic shop class and reported hearing gunshots. Principal Stacie Gruntman then announced the lockdown.
Jarbas Noronha, a teacher in the auto mechanic shop, told the New York Times that he and 15 students locked the hallway door and two garage doors, barricading themselves with metal benches. "We were in the safest part of the school," he said in a phone interview.
Meanwhile, Harrods, the luxury retailer, has paid out compensation to more than 50 women as part of a scheme addressing historical abuse by the former owner Mohammed Al Fayed. The company announced that more than 180 survivors are currently "engaged" in the compensation scheme, which opened last March and will close to new submissions on March 31st. Harrods had set aside more than £60 million in October for the compensation plan, which will award eligible claimants £200,000 each, with the potential for up to £385,000 plus treatment costs for those assessed by a consultant psychiatrist, according to BBC Business.
In a separate development, a report by the children's commissioner for England revealed that children are routinely exposed to advertisements for weight loss injections and pills online. The report found that young people were "bombarded" with ads for products claiming to change their bodies and appearance, despite such advertising being banned. Dame Rachel de Souza, the children's commissioner, stated that the posts were "immensely damaging" to young people's self-esteem and called for a ban on social media advertising to children. A spokesperson for the media regulator Ofcom said it did not tolerate "tech firms prioritising engagement over children's online safety," according to BBC Business.
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