Amidst a worsening economic crisis in Tunisia, a widely recognized Tunisian rapper has illicitly relocated to Italy.
Junior Hassen, whose music videos on YouTube have gathered almost 15 million views, embarked on the risky journey across the Mediterranean to Sicily just last week.
As per reports from Mosaique FM, a news outlet, the rapper successfully arrived in Palermo, a city in southern Italy, having undertaken the voyage alongside a group of fellow migrants from his hometown, Sousse.
Footage circulating on social media platforms suggests that Hassen, using his real name Hassen Sassi, traversed the sea with other Tunisian migrants on a small boat. However, the credibility of the video has not been independently verified.
The acute economic crisis in Tunisia has pushed numerous individuals to take drastic measures in the hope of securing better opportunities abroad. Earlier this year, a Tunisian football club suspended its operations after 32 of its players migrated to Europe.
Tunisia has now emerged as a primary departure point for African migrants aiming to cross the Mediterranean and reach Europe. Increasing numbers of Tunisians are also choosing perilous sea voyages, contributing to the world’s deadliest migration route.
“Some are choosing to shelter in place. If you are still in Yellowknife and you are not essential to the emergency response, please evacuate,” Thompson said.
Mr Thomson warned that the highways and airport could be impacted by the wildfires.
In British Columbia, evacuation orders grew from covering 4,000 homes on Friday afternoon to about 15,000 in the space of an hour. Another 20,000 homes are under alert.
Premier of the province, David Eby, said that the situation “evolved rapidly” and officials were braced for “an extremely challenging situation in the days ahead”.
The numbers behind Canada’s worst wildfires season
“This year, we’re facing the worst #BCWildfire season ever,” Mr Eby wrote on Friday in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Given these fast-moving conditions, we are declaring a provincial state of emergency.”
The premier said this would ensure “that we’re in a position to rapidly access any tools we need to support communities”.
He said that more and more people were being evacuated, warning that “emergency orders could include travel restrictions to specific areas if people do not respect our calls to avoid non-essential travel”.
Canada is having its worst wildfire season on record, with at least 1,000 fires burning across the country, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.
Experts say climate change increases the risk of the hot, dry weather that is likely to fuel wildfires.
Extreme and long-lasting heat draws more and more moisture out of the ground, which can provide fuel for fires that can spread at an incredible speed, particularly if winds are strong.
Earlier, West Kelowna fire chief Jason Brolund described the wildfire as “devastating”.
“We fought hard last night to protect our community. We fought 100 years worth of fires all in one night,” he added.
Local officials have already reported “significant structural loss” in the area, including in Trader’s Cove, just north of West Kelowna.
No deaths have been reported so far.
Juliana Loewen lives in Kelowna – a larger twin city of West Kelowna on the eastern shore of Okanagan Lake.
She told the BBC how locals had watched a plume of smoke coming over the mountainside like an “ominous cloud of destruction” and how some on the Trader’s Cove side jumped into the lake as the fire spread and exit routes were blocked.
Her brother and grandmother fled to her house after “the fire jumped very quickly from one tree to an entire area, threatening an entire residential community”.
Local residents are used to the fires because of a “California-style climate” in the area – but the heat, dryness and wind seen in recent days had created the “perfect conditions for a firestorm”, Ms Loewen added.
The airspace around Kelowna International Airport has now been closed to everything other than aerial firefighters.
