TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Some 300 Africans including women and children are feared to have drowned after their boats capsized off Libya, part of a new upsurge of illegal migration to Europe, officials said Tuesday.

At least 23 bodies were recovered by Libyan coastguards near the wreckage of three rickety boats which sailed from near Tripoli, Libya's Oea daily said, quoting security officials. A similar number were rescued, officials said.

The incident was part of what aid agencies see as a growing trend for poor Africans to seek a better life in the West, whatever the dangers of the journey.

One of the boats was carrying 365 people although it was only supposed to hold 75, Libyan officials said. It was one of four migrant ships which sailed from Libya between Saturday and Sunday, apparently heading for Italy.

Italy had reached an agreement with Libya on joint sea patrols to try to stem the flow of illegal migrants and that might have prompted migrants to attempt to sail before the accord becomes effective on May 15.

"That (agreement) may have been a push factor which people smugglers exploited telling would-be migrants: 'it is now or never'," said Laurence Hart, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) representative in Tripoli.

There are an estimated 1-1.5 million African irregular migrants in Libya, drawn by the need for unskilled labor, according to IOM. It is both a transit and a destination country for migrants

"After more than two days of searching, we have found no more bodies or survivors or the boat," a Libyan official said.

Among those missing were Somalis, Nigerians, Eritreans, Kurds, Algerians, Moroccans, Palestinians and Tunisians, officials said.

A Libyan security official quoted a Tunisian survivor as saying: "I was on board the boat with 13 other Tunisians among the 365 migrants. I'm the only survivor. All my fellow Tunisians drowned."

A fourth ship crammed with more than 350 migrants broke down near Libya's offshore Buri oilfield but Libyan coastguards towed the vessel to the port of Tripoli and rescued all the migrants, including women and children.

THREE BOATS SUNK

"Up to three boats appear to have sunk off the Libyan coast. These boats have no life-saving material on board. It would seem that more than 300 people have disappeared at sea," an IOM spokesman in Geneva said.

The IOM said later that it had scaled down the number of missing to more than 200.

"There's no safety equipment on those boats -- no buoys, dinghies or anything -- because the purpose is to cram as many people on those boats as possible with total disrespect for their safety and dignity," the spokesman said.

There had been "massive departures" from Libya in the past 36 hours, hampered by sandstorms in the area, according to IOM.

"Some people reached Italy, some were intercepted and brought back to Libya and some were among the people feared dead," said an IOM spokeswoman.

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said the incident marked the beginning of "smuggling season" in the Mediterranean, his spokesman said.

Guterres described it as "the latest tragic example of a global phenomenon in which desperate people take desperate measures to escape conflict, persecution and poverty in search of a better life."

This year, at least 60 Africans have drowned in the Gulf of Aden after traffickers pushed them overboard. In Asia, 550 Muslims fleeing Myanmar are feared to have died after they were allegedly set adrift in boats towed out to sea by Thai forces.

"You've also got this problem in the Gulf of Aden. You've got it in the Caribbean, you've got it in the Atlantic and you've got it in the Mediterranean. You've got it off Australia," Guterres' spokesman said.

Stricter enforcement against illegal migration in the west Atlantic -- where Africans from countries like Senegal had targeted Spain's Canary islands in past years -- has compelled smugglers to use Libya, whose borders IOM says are "still very porous," as a departure point for Europe.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Additional reporting by Lamine Ghanmi in Rabat; Editing by Richard Meares)

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An Egyptian mathematics teacher has appeared in court in Alexandria accused of beating an 11-year-old to death because he did not do his homework.

After using a ruler, Haitham Nabeel Abdelhamid, 23, allegedly took the boy outside the classroom and hit him violently in his stomach.

Islam Amr Badr fainted and later died in hospital of heart failure.

Observers say the case has been seen as a shocking reminder of the failings of Egypt's state education system.

The incident, at Saad Othman Primary School on the outskirts of Alexandria in October, caused national outrage.

'Discipline'

Islam Amr Badr's classmates gave evidence on Saturday, describing how the boy was hit by his teacher during a maths lesson.

They said he was being punished for not having done his homework.

The court also heard from medical staff who examined the boy in hospital and a doctor who carried out a post-mortem examination.

The boy had two broken ribs, and stomach injuries which caused a sharp drop in his blood pressure and heart failure, says the BBC's Yolande Knell in Cairo.

Mr Abdul Hamid has said he only meant to discipline his pupil and did not mean to hurt anyone.

Reform 'on way'

The Egyptian education minister is expected to be called as a witness during the trial, which has been adjourned to Sunday.

Islam's father, Amr Badr Ibrahim, says others should stand trial with his son's teacher.

"The problem is the teaching and the teachers because they cannot find good teachers," he said.

"The minister of education should be the first person to be accused - how can he agree to let such a young man teach children?"

In the state education system, young, inexperienced and under-resourced teachers often struggle to control classes of 60 to 100 children.

The Egyptian government says it is bringing in education reforms - including new teacher testing.

It is also trying to tackle violence in schools and has issued new statements on the prohibition of corporal punishment.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7793156.stm

Even though Akon has a birth certificate, he says his age is still a mystery — and he'd rather keep it that way.

"All it's going to do is depress me," he told The Associated Press in a recent interview. "I don't want to know I'm getting older. Then I'll start to think about getting checkups and insurance. I don't want that."

Numerous reports have put his age between 25 to 35 years old. In 2006, he gave his age as 25. But now, he claims his birth certificate shows he was born on April 16, 1977, which would make him 31.

Some have accused Akon of trying to push back his age. But the singer, who was born in the United States but spent his early life in Senegal, where his family is from, says he never knew it.


"In Africa ... age is not important over there. They don't care. People only focus on it here (America) and in Europe."Akon says when people ask, he just gives him a figure that comes to mind.

"I feel like I'm 21 right now," he says. "And I'll be 21 for the next 10 years."

Akon went multiplatinum with his 2006 CD "Konvicted," which included hits such as "Smack That" with Eminem and "Don't Matter." His most recent album, "Freedom," was released in December.

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