Problem: About 150 people were missing Wednesday after a boat capsized in the Mediterranean Sea, the Italian Coast Guard said. The boat was carrying about 200 passengers when it sank about 39 miles (62 kilometers) west off the island of Lampedusa in Maltese waters, the Coast Guard said. Maltese authorities were heading the rescue operation with the Italian Coast Guard assisting. Darkness and poor weather hampered the search when the first rescue boats arrived early Wednesday morning, officials said. Since then, rescue vessels have rescued 48 people and were looking for the rest. The passengers are believed to be of Tunisian descent.

What are highlight points?
Answer: The boat was carrying 200 passengers, the Coast Guard says. 48 have been rescued. Poor weather hampers rescue efforts.

Problem: By. Hayley Peterson. PUBLISHED:. 06:48 EST, 14 August 2013. |. UPDATED:. 16:54 EST, 14 August 2013. The photos have emerged that AOL employee Abel Lenz snapped just before CEO Tim Armstrong publicly fired him during a conference call with 1,000 people listening. Media reporter Jim Romenesko obtained the photos Wednesday as Armstrong apologized in an email to staff for his curt dismissal of Lenz, Patch's creative director, during the all-hands meeting on Friday. The photos, which Lenz posted to the company's internal website on Friday morning, feature Armstrong addressing a couple hundred Patch employees. He was discussing an announcement of severe cutbacks at the hyper-local news organization. This photo taken by Abel Lenz, Patch's former creative director, shows AOL CEO Tim Armstrong addressing employees during an all-hands meeting Friday. AOL CEO Tim Armstrong addresses employees. Abel Lenz took this photo at the meeting just before he was fired. In an audio recording of the meeting, Armstrong is heard abruptly stopping in the middle of his remarks and saying: 'Abel, put that camera down right now. Abel, you're fired.' He is then silent for about 10 seconds before resuming his remarks without explaining the firing. According to Patch employees, Lenz often snapped pictures during conference calls and staff meetings and would later post them to the company's internal website. In his emailed apology for the manner in which he fired Lenz, Armstrong called the outburst an 'emotional response' to a difficult situation. He wrote: 'I am the CEO and leader of the organization, and I take that responsibility seriously,' according to a copy of the email published on Valley Wag. 'We talk a lot about accountability and I am accountable for the way I handled the situation, and at a human level it was unfair to Abel. I’ve communicated to him directly and apologized for the way the matter was handled at the meeting.' Scroll down to listen to an audio recording of the call. AOL CEO Tim Armstrong has apologized to Patch staff after publicly firing creative director Abel Lenz during a conference call with 1,00 staff listening. He added that he reacted that way. because he wanted to an 'open discussion' about cutbacks and did not. want the conference call recorded. Armstrong. wrote: 'As you know, I am a firm believer in open meetings, open. Q&A, and this level of transparency requires trust across AOL. Internal meetings of a confidential nature should not be filmed or. recorded so that our employees can feel free to discuss all topics. openly. 'Abel had been. told previously not to record a confidential meeting, and he repeated. that behavior on Friday, which drove my actions. 'On. Friday I acted too quickly and I learned a tremendous lesson and I. wanted you to hear that directly from me. We have tough decisions and. work to do on Patch, but we're doing them thoughtfully and as openly as. we can.' [caption. The recording of the conference call was obtained by media reporter Jim Romenesko, who tweeted Lenz on Saturday for a comment. on the firing. Lenz replied: 'I appreciate the interest Jim, but I have. nothing to share. Go Patch!' Several hours later, Lenz tweeted, 'No comment,' and attached a photo from inside Old Town Bar in Manhattan. The conference call, held one day after AOL announced major cutbacks at Patch, was meant to boost morale for the employees remaining with the news organization. Armstrong assured the employees on the call that AOL is still committed to Patch's success and asked anyone who does not believe him to leave their jobs. 'If you don’t use Patch as a product and you’re not invested in Patch, you owe it to everybody else at Patch to leave,' he said. 'If you think what’s going on right now is a joke, and you want to joke around about it, you should pick your stuff up and leave Patch today.' Armstrong also complained about leaks to the press, saying they won't change the direction that Patch is going. 'I don’t care what the press says, I don’t care if people leak information... I also want to clear up the fact that leaking information or anything around Patch isn’t going to bother me, doesn’t bother me. I’m not changing direction. 'When you hear about what we’re doing at Patch it’s very serious and it’s very forward-thinking and anything that happens around Patch isn’t going to change that direction.' Several minutes after firing Lenz, however, Armstrong indicated that he does, indeed, care about leaks. He said leaks were making Patch seem like 'loser-ville' in the press, according to Business Insider. He said, 'That's why Abel was fired.' 'We can't have people that are in the locker room giving the game plan away.' Audio Source JimRomenesko.com. 'AOLers - I am writing you to acknowledge the mistake I made last Friday during the Patch all-hands meeting when I publicly fired Abel Lenz. 'It was an emotional response at the start of a difficult discussion dealing with many people's careers and livelihoods. 'I am the CEO and leader of the organization, and I take that responsibility seriously. We talk a lot about accountability and I am accountable for the way I handled the situation, and at a human level it was unfair to Abel. 'I’ve communicated to him directly and apologized for the way the matter was handled at the meeting.'My action was driven by the desire to openly communicate with over a thousand Patch employees across the US. The meeting on Friday was the second all-hands we had run that week and people came to Friday's meeting knowing we would be openly discussing some of the potential changes needed at Patch. 'As you know, I am a firm believer in open meetings, open Q&A, and this level of transparency requires trust across AOL. 'Internal meetings of a confidential nature should not be filmed or recorded so that our employees can feel free to discuss all topics openly. Abel had been told previously not to record a confidential meeting, and he repeated that behavior on Friday, which drove my actions.'We have been through many difficult situations in turning around AOL and I have done my best to make the best decisions in the long-term interest of the employees and the company. 'On Friday I acted too quickly and I learned a tremendous lesson and I wanted you to hear that directly from me. We have tough decisions and work to do on Patch, but we're doing them thoughtfully and as openly as we can. At AOL, we had strong earnings last week and we’re adding one of the best companies in the world to the team. AOL is in a great position, and we’ll keep moving forward. - TA'

What are highlight points?
Answer:
In an email to staff AOL CEO Tim Armstrong said his outburst was an 'emotional response' Armstrong was recorded firing Patch creative director Abel Lenz in a conference call with 1,000 workers listening on Friday. He claims Lenz had been warned not to film confidential meetings.