• Suicide bombing near Aden palace, Yemen kills seven

Germany has unveiled plans to add Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia to its list of safe countries, as it tries to curb growing numbers of migrants.

Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said nationals from those countries would now be unlikely to be granted asylum.

The move is part of new measures aimed at tightening rules in a country which last year received more than 1.1 million asylum seekers.

Earlier, 26 migrants drowned off a Greek island after their boat capsized.

The migrants died near the island of Samos, near Turkey. Ten of the victims were children.

In other developments:

Six bodies were discovered by the Italian navy in a sinking dinghy off the Libyan coast

The Netherlands proposed sending migrants reaching Greece back to Turkey by ferry

Sweden said as many as 80,000 people who arrived to the country last year could fail in their requests for asylum and face deportation

Mr Gabriel’s comments came after his Social Democrats held talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats and their Bavaria-based sister party, the Christian Social Union.

“The mood is good,” Mr Gabriel was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.

Morocco has already responded to the proposal, saying it would repatriate any of its nationals who had arrived illegally in Germany.

The German coalition partners also agreed that migrants with restricted asylum status would be unable to bring relatives into the country for two years.

The deportation of failed asylum seekers would also be speeded up.

The migrant issue has been straining the coalition, with the CSU threatening to take Mrs Merkel’s government to court if the party’s demand to stem the flow of asylum seekers is not dealt with decisively.

The coalition proposals still need to be approved by the government and parliament.

Meanwhile, at least seven people have been killed in a suicide car bomb attack near the presidential palace in Yemen’s southern port city of Aden, officials say.

The bomber is reported to have struck a checkpoint between 500m and 1km (0.3-0.6 miles) from the residence. The dead included soldiers and civilians.

Officials told the Reuters news agency President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi was inside the palace, but was unharmed.

The jihadist group Islamic State (IS) has said it was behind the attack.

Last month, IS claimed responsibility for a bombing that killed Aden’s governor, Jaafar Mohammed Saad. It also bombed a hotel in the city that was used by Prime Minister Khaled Bahah in October.

IS and the rival jihadist group al-Qaeda have taken advantage of the chaos in Yemen caused by the conflict between the Houthi rebel movement, which controls the capital Sanaa, and pro-government troops and militiamen, who are backed by a Saudi-led multinational coalition.

Mr Hadi and his cabinet have been based in Aden since July, when loyalist forces drove the rebels out of Sanaa following months of fierce fighting.

The president was forced to flee abroad in March after the Houthis and allied security personnel advanced on the city, prompting coalition air strikes.

More than 5,800 people have been killed since then, according to the UN, while 80% of the population is now in need of some form of humanitarian aid.

BBC