Human migration

A boat capsized off Sicily when the migrants aboard rushed to meet rescuers, killing at least 10 people, the Italian coastguard said on March 4.
      
"The migrants, as they frequently do, all rushed to one side of the boat which then capsised," Italian coast guard spokesman Filippo Marini told TV station SkyTG24,  adding many of the passengers did not know how to swim.        

Bulgaria will simplify visa requirements for Russian tourists in 2015, according to Boyko Kotsev, Bulgaria's Ambassador to Russia.

Russians account for the fourth largest group of tourists in Bulgaria, according to reports of Russian news agency RIA Novosti, as cited by Sega daily.

In 2014, some 650 000 Russian tourists visited Bulgaria, just 1% up from 2013.

More immigrants and asylum seekers were released from detention centers across Greece on Thursday as the government seeks to make good on a campaign pledge to close down such facilities, citing ?inhuman? living conditions.

AGERPRES special correspondent Florentina Peia reports: German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday said that there mustn't be "an undifferentiated" attitude concerning the migration from Romania to Germany and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said that "poverty migration" isn't significant from a numeric point of view, showing that our country is confronted with a difficult phenomenon, namely

BELGRADE - The Serbian Interior Ministry has managed to significantly reduce the number of Albanian illegal immigrants trying to cross the border, and no such case was recorded in the last two days, Marija Obradovic, chairperson of the parliamentary Committee on Defence and Internal Affairs, stated on Thursday.

The number of asylum seekers in the EU from five Balkan countries - Albania, Bosnia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia - rose by a massive 40 per cent in the first nine months of 2014 compared to the same period in 2013.

On February 25, the Commission wrote that the vast majority of applications had been rejected as unfounded.

Serbian citizens top list of asylum seekers in EU

BRUSSELS -- Serbia is still ranked first when it comes to the number of its citizens seeking asylum in Western Europe, a recent report by the European Commission has said.

It is necessary to take a series of measures to stop it, the report added.

BRUSSELS - Serbia is still ranked first when it comes to the number of its citizens seeking asylum in Western Europe and it necessary to take a number of steps to put a stop to that, according to the latest report by the European Commission.

Asylum abuse by citizens of the visa-free countries in the Western Balkans remains a considerable concern for the EU, the European Commission said in a report on Wednesday.

16,500 people sought asylum in Serbia last year

BELGRADE -- Deputy Commissioner for Refugees and Migration Ivan Gerginov said on Wednesday that 16,500 people have sought asylum in Serbia in 2014.

11,300 of them found shelter in asylum centers, he revealed.