More than 300 migrants have been rescued over the last few days by the private rescue ships Ocean Viking and Geo Barents, run by SOS Mediterranee and Doctors without Borders MSF respectively.
Several pro-migrant organizations are supporting legal challenges to the UK government policy to send asylum seekers to Rwanda. They staged a protest against the policy outside parliament this week, calling for the policy to be abolished.
A new report suggests that migrants and refugees are being pushed back within the European Union from Italy to Greece under what many have described as "inhumane" circumstances. Even though the practice is highly illegal, hundreds of potential asylum seekers seem to have been affected by it in recent years.
The MSF rescue ship in the Mediterranean was racing to help a migrant boat in distress on Monday, but feared doing so might break the far-right Italian government's new law on life-saving missions.
Tunisian authorities say they rescued a group of 108 migrants from their sinking boats on New Year's Eve. The number of migrants attempting the dangerous crossing from North Africa to Italy has been on the rise in recent months.
Tunisian authorities have recovered the bodies of four people believed to be African migrants, including a pregnant woman, off the coast of Kerkennah Island in the Central Mediterranean.
The Italian government appears to be using a new tactic against private sea rescue organizations operating in the Mediterranean. While previously the allocation of ports was often delayed or ships were confiscated, the government is now also asking rescue ships to make longer journeys.
Tunisia is due to hold elections at the weekend, but some young Tunisians couldn’t care less. All they want is a chance to leave the country on a boat bound for Europe.
At least four people have died and about 43 were rescued after a migrant boat ran into difficulty in waters off the English coast of Kent on Wednesday morning.
The British government is reportedly gearing up to get even tougher on those smuggling migrants across the Channel from France. The main target of the latest policy will be Albanian gangs.
The two vessels were allowed to dock amid bad weather despite antagonism from Italian authorities. Dozens of children were among the rescued survivors.
On Wednesday, a baby boy was born on board the migrant rescue ship Geo Barents in the central Mediterranean. The baby’s mother fled Libya with her three other sons. A second woman on board was also nine months pregnant. Both have now been evacuated.