UN rights chief seeks help for surge in central Med migrants

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. human rights chief is calling for an expansion in regular migration channels and search-and-rescue operations after a “steep increase” in the number of migrants and asylum-seekers making risky attempts to cross the central Mediterranean to Europe. Volker Türk is also calling for solidarity with Italy, which has traditionally received most of the influx and whose right-wing government this week imposed a six-month state of emergency to deal with the situation. He said Italy’s coast guard had rescued some 2,000 people on the route since Friday.