German crisis talks falter as 13 more migrants drown off Greece

At least 13 migrants seeking to reach Europe drowned off Greece on Sunday as political talks in Germany, the EU's top destination for refugees, failed to produce a consensus on how to handle the influx.

 Two boats making the hazardous crossing from Turkey capsized in the Aegean Sea off the Greek islands of Samos and Lesbos, leaving at least 13 dead including six children, with many more missing, officials said.

 In Berlin on Sunday, Germany's ruling coalition failed to resolve major differences over the country's refugee policy as it grapples with the biggest wave of arrivals since the aftermath of World War II.

 Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said the talks would resume on Thursday, after two rounds of weekend negotiations between Merkel and the leaders of her CDU party's two coalition partners ended without a breakthrough.

 "Several points... still need to be resolved including the issue of 'transit zones'," he said, referring to a proposal to create airport-style processing points on Germany's borders to allow would-be refugees who do not fulfil asylum criteria to be moved out quickly.

 Merkel called the emergency talks after her Bavarian ally, Horst Seehofer of the Christian Social Union (CSU) party, threatened her with unspecified consequences if she did not take action to limit the number of newcomers arriving into Germany by Sunday.

 The vast majority of the up to one million people expected to arrive in the country this year are crossing the border from Austria into Bavaria.