by Eric J. Lyman

ROME [url=http://www.jordan5prmbordeaux.com/air-jordan-5-retro-3lab5-metallic-silver-black-retail-price.html]Air Jordan 5 Retro 3Lab5 Metallic Silver Black Retail Price[/url] , Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- The number of migrant arrivals in Italy has dropped precipitously since the beginning of July, but opinions of officials and experts were split over whether the drop-off is temporary or part of a long-term trend.

The numbers tell a stunning tale. Over the first 10 days of August, for example, 1,572 migrants landed on Italy's shores -- most of them from Libya -- a dramatic 76-percent drop compared to the 6,554 in the same period a year ago.

In July, 11,459 arrived, a little less than half the 23,552 migrants who came to Italy in July 2016.

Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti said the drop off is part of a trend as Italy and -- to a lesser extent -- other European Union states, invested cash and manpower in Libya to help stabilize the country that had fallen into chaos since 2011. The money was used to stabilize the country's economy and institutions and, most importantly, to beef up the country's coastguard.

Minniti told Italian journalists,"The idea of reinforcing the Libyan coast guard seemed like a fantasy, but it is already paying dividends."

The Interior Ministry said that during the first weekend in August, Libyan ships rescued 1,180 migrants, compared to just 130 by all non-Libyan vessels.

The move comes after the efforts to better patrol the waters between Turkey and Greece -- which until last year had been the most used entry path into the European Union for migrants -- produced similar results.

In recent weeks, Italian government officials have said there is no reason the number of arrivals will not continue to drop if efforts in Libya and other ports of departure for the migrants continue.

Minniti said that after the August summer break, he plans to lobby the rest of the European Union to funnel more resources into the initiatives like the one that Italy started to reinforce the Libyan coast guard.

But others aren't so sure the plan will have the intended effect."If you close one door, it doesn't take long for someone looking to get in to find another one," Maurizio Ambrosini, a sociologist and commentator on migrant issues in the school of political science at the University of Milan, told Xinhua.

"It's too early to call this a trend. After all, who is to say that the migrants who were stopped won't end up arriving in Spain or elsewhere?" Other commentators echoed that view in the local press.

Ambrosini said that as long as life in the African and Middle Eastern countries providing the bulk of the migrants remains so difficult, there will be those willing to take risks to seek a better life.

"As long as there is war and extreme poverty, there will be people who will want to become migrants," the professor said, "In that context, enforcement efforts can only have a limited success."

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BUDAPEST, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese swimmers Sun Yang and Xu Jiayu jumped into the spotlight at the 17th FINA World Championships with their respective breakthrough gold medal here on Tuesday, a day with three world records beaten in the Hungarian capital.

Xu, who finished atop in Monday's heats and semifinals, built his leading position from the start and claimed men's 100m backstroke champion with 52.44, the first ever victory in this event for Chinese male swimmers at worlds.

Xu said a higher target crossed his mind before the final.

"I performed quite well in the semifinals, so it was normal for me to have some ideas in my mind. Actually I aimed at rewriting the world record," he said.

Xu beat Matt Grevers and Ryan Murphy, two Olympic gold medalists from the United States. The 2012 champion Grevers finished runner-up with a deficit of four hundredths of a second, while the 2016 champion Murphy was placed third at 52.59.

Sun, fresh from his 400m freestyle win here, claimed his first ever men's 200m freestyle world champion with 1:44.39. He only ranked seventh after 50m, then sixth after 100m, before making an aggressive charge for his personal breakthrough with a new Asian record.

With his titles in the 800 and 1500m from previous worlds, Sun now has completed the sweep in all men's middle and long distance events and is also the Olympic gold medalist in 200m, 400m and 1500m freestyle.

"I feel happy about the gold medal. Actually I didn't expect such a result, and just wanted to work on every detail. Today my dream has come true," said Sun, who will appear in 800m free final on Wednesday evening.

Townley Haas of United States and Aleksandr Krasnykh of Russia finished second and third respectively.

Three swimmers became spotlight of the night in Duna Arena as they managed to renew the world records.

Britain's Adam Peaty improved his own 50m breaststroke record to 25.95 in the semifinals, from 26.10 he created in the heats on Tuesday morning.

"It was not really in my radar to swim below 26 seconds but I felt good tonight. Let's see what comes out tomorrow," commented Peaty.

China's Yan Zibei failed to secure a final berth with his 15th position in the semifinals.

With a new world record of 58.10 seconds, Canadian swimmer Kylie Masse met little challenge en route to becoming women's 100m backstroke world champion.

Olympic champion Lilly King also beat women's 100m breaststroke world record by 0.22 in 1:4.13. Chinese swimmer Shi Jinglin didn't finish on podium ranking 5th.

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