European migrant crisis

A court in Cyprus has ordered that two Syrian men remain in police custody for seven days on suspicion of people smuggling after authorities rescued a total 45 Syrian migrants aboard two rickety vessels off the island nation's southern coast.

Dozens of children were among 145 asylum seekers who were rescued off an islet in the Evros River on the Greek-Turkish border on Thursday morning.

They had reportedly been stranded on the islet for several days after apparently trying to cross into Greece from Turkey. How they became stranded was not clear.

Thursday's resolution was passed with the support of MPs of the governing Law and Justice Party (PiS) and the far-right Confederation alliance. During the vote, PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski announced that the country would hold a referendum on the issue of relocating asylum seekers, which according to local media could take place on the same day as the autumn general election.

The interior ministers of EU member states agreed on Thursday in Luxembourg on a common position to revamp the bloc's migration and asylum policy, although staunchly anti-migration countries Hungary and Poland voiced strong opposition.

European Union countries have reached a long-delayed agreement on a fair distribution of refugees and migrants. The decision was reached last night in Luxembourg by interior ministers.

The reform is in two directions - on the one hand with the countries under pressure, and on the other - an accelerated procedure for some of the migrants' applications.

European Union countries have made a breakthrough in migration talks, sealing agreement on a plan to share out responsibility for migrants entering Europe without authorization, the root of one of the bloc's longest-running political crises, officials said late Thursday.

Ten illegal migrants from Syria were caught on "Trakia" highway - near the village of Tsaratsovo, Plovdiv region, announced the prosecutor's office.

Detained and charged are two women, both aged 29. They are charged with helping refugees cross the country illegally.

European Union countries are expected this week to agree on how to share out the responsibility of hosting refugees and migrants, a top EU official has said of what would mark a breakthrough after years of bitter feuds within the bloc.

Authorities rescued 91 migrants from a river islet and transferred them to a processing center near the border with Turkey, police said Sunday.

Police said that the group included 32 men, 25 women and 34 children. The Red Cross was present at the operation. Several migrants told police they were from Syria.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has stated that it is irrational to make a promise to send all Syrian refugees back to their homeland as they are needed for the workforce in the relevant sectors of Türkiye.

"If we say that we will send all of them 100 percent, it would not be appropriate. There is a need for employment in some jobs," he said in a televised interview on May 21.