Human migration

A group of 18 illegal migrants has cut through a wire fence that Hungary is building on its border with Serbia, the Hungarian M1 TV channel has reported.

The incident happened near the town of Asotthalom on Thursday when the migrants attempted to cross into Hungary, but were detained by the police.

Around 224,000 migrants and refugees have crossed the Mediterranean to Europe in the first seven months of the year, the UN refugee agency said on Thursday.

That number already exceeds the total of 219,000 people who made the perilous journey during all of 2014, which has been the highest number on record until now.

Greek police arrested 4 human traffickers and 24 illegal immigrants while they were attempting to cross the river Evros in a rubber boat in Orestiada, Northern Greece. The special illegal immigrants unit in a planned operation initially detected two of the human traffickers and later their other two accomplices and proceeded to arrest all.

2,976 new illegal migrants have been discovered in the territory of Hungary during the past weekend, according to reports.

Most of the migrants were found in the border area of the Csongrad district - 2,491 people, among them 432 children.

The two countries have stepped up joint efforts this week to stop Albanian migrants heading for Germany after more than 20,000 arrived over the past few months.

On Wednesday, about 70 asylum-seekers from Albania landed at Tirana International Airport after being deported from Germany.

An ongoing investigation by Corruption Prosecutor Konstantinos Sargiotis into a ring of human trafficking has revealed the involvement of a high-ranking Police officer, an official from the Greek National Intelligence Services, a lawyer as well as some immigrants.

The Turkish Coast Guard Command has rescued more than 20,000 migrants in multiple operations in the Aegean Sea since the beginning of this year, according to figures from the body.

The number of displaced people fleeing from war, conflict or persecution and looking for a better future in other countries has exceeded 59 million, the highest number since World War II, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

Six Syrian migrants died after their boat to Greece sank in the Aegean Sea on July 16, while 10 others were rescued. 

A migrant boat, which set sail from the northwestern province of Çanakkale on its way to Greece's Lesbos Island, sank off Çanakkale's Ayvac?k district on July 16, killing six people. 

Another riot broke out amongst the third country nationals, mostly Pakistanis and Afghans, over food deliveries at a temporary migrant shelter on the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos (Lesbos) on Thursday.