Germany, Italy reach deal on refugees – Berlin

Germany has reached a deal with Italy to return migrants who have already applied for asylum there, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said in Berlin on Thursday. The German government agreed in August with both Greece and Spain to send migrants back to those countries within 48 hours if they have already applied for asylum there. “I have just heard that the deal with Italy has also been agreed,” Seehofer told the Bundestag lower house of parliament. “We just need the two signatures from the Italian colleague and me,” Seehofer said, adding he expected that to take a few more days. The deals are part of a compromise between Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats and Seehofer’s Bavarian Christian Social Union. The agreement  appears to resolve a dispute over returning migrants that nearly split them and brought down the government, Reuters said.