The number of migrants rescued at sea this year in operations run by Italy's coastguard topped 15,000 Friday after another 900 people were saved, including eight-month-old Syrian twins and five other babies. The latest operations confirm the pattern of a sharp upward spike in winter departures from troubled Libya. Migrant arrivals in Italy from its former colony are up by between 57 and 81 percent this year in comparison to the opening two months of 2015 and 2016, according to Italian interior ministry figures.



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