ROME (AP) – The Latest on Europe’s response to the wave of migration from the Middle East and elsewhere (all times local):
7:25 p.m.
The Greek coast guard says 78 refugees have been rescued from crippled smugglers’ boats in two separate incidents in the eastern Aegean Sea.
A patrol vessel from the European Union’s Frontex border agency picked up 56 people off the island of Chios on Thursday, and a Greek coast guard launch rescued another 22 off the nearby islet of Panaghia.
More than 1 million refugees and other migrants have reached the Greek islands from nearby Turkey since the beginning of 2015, on their way to Europe’s prosperous heartland.