European migrant crisis

Europe should come up with a common asylum and migration policy that is humane and realistic, Martin Schulz warned EU leaders on Thursday, the same day as an extraordinary EU summit to deal with the situation.

Schulz spoke before the summit, roughly a week after hundreds of people died trying to cross the Mediterranean.

By Alastair Macdonald & Philip Pullella

European Union leaders will effectively reverse a cutback in rescue operations the Mediterranean on Thursday to try to prevent record numbers of people drowning as they try to flee war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa.

Thirteen people allegedly operating human trafficking activities were arrested in the western province of ?zmir early April 23, after many migrants were rescued illegally en route to the European Union. 

A total of 13 of 17 people who were detained on April 22 on allegations of human smuggling have been arrested by a ?zmir court after being interrogated at the prosecution office.

European Union leaders gathering for an extraordinary summit are facing calls from all sides to take emergency action to save lives in the Mediterranean, where hundreds of migrants are missing and feared drowned in recent days.

EU heads of state or government meet in Brussels to discuss ways to alleviate migration pressures and prevent new Mediterranean migrant tragedies.

The summit follows the European Union (EU) Foreign and Home Affairs ministers' meeting on Monday after which a 10-point plan was announced envisaging measures such as enhancing search and rescue operations.

European governments came under increasing pressure April 21 to tackle the Mediterranean's migrant crisis ahead of an emergency summit, as harrowing details emerged of the fate of hundreds who died in the latest tragedy.

Turkey's coastguard rescued 30 Syrians from a boat heading towards Greece after their vessel began to take on water in the Aegean Sea, state media said April 21.

The rescue operation came amid a surge in the numbers of migrants seeking to reach Europe, following the Mediterranean's worst migrant disaster in which as many as 800 people drowned off Libya.

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA - The UN refugee agency on Tuesday urged European leaders to do more to help Greece and Italy cope with the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean and to put protection of people at the center of debate.

By James Mackenzie & Robin Emmott

The European Union proposed doubling the size of its Mediterranean search and rescue operations on Monday, as the first bodies were brought ashore of as many as 900 people feared killed in the deadliest known shipwreck of migrants trying to reach Europe.

Bulgarian Border Police registered a triple increase in the number of illegal migrant crossings of the border with Turkey in the first three months of 2015.

A total of 956 people were detained as they attempted to cross the border illegally, which is almost a triple increase compared to the same period in 2014.