Ban compares Italy to Fiat 500 car

(ANSA) - Rome, October 15 - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday Italy is on the front lines of European migrant rescue efforts. These are necessary in the face of "thousands of deaths, which have transformed the Mediterranean into a sea of tears," he told the Lower House as Italy celebrated its 60th anniversary as a UN member nation. He added the ongoing Syrian civil war "is the worst humanitarian crisis" in the world and that he is working on it closely with his special envoy, Italian-Swedish diplomat Staffan de Mistura.