Italy’s right-wing government closes ports to NGO rescue ships

Almost 1,000 migrants are stranded off the coast of Italy after the country’s new right-wing government closed its ports to NGO rescue ships.

The country's new right-wing coalition has taken an increasingly hardline stance against rescue ships and non-governmental organizations that help refugees.

That has left three NGO vessels from Norway and Germany sitting off the coast, waiting for permission to disembark.

The Norwegian government has reiterated that it bears no responsibility for migrants rescued in Italian waters – but Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Piantadosi has insisted that those vessels are the responsibility of the country's flags they fly.