Germany's interior minister has fired the head of the country's migration authority amid a scandal over the allegedly improper approval of over a thousand asylum requests.

News agency dpa reported the German Interior Ministry said Friday that minister Horst Seehofer had informed Jutta Cordt of her dismissal.

Cordt, who took over the agency at the beginning of 2017, was caught in the fallout from a scandal centering on the Bremen branch of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees. Last month, Seehofer banned that branch from making asylum decisions.

Germany took in more than a million refugees and migrants in 2015-2016, mostly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Authorities at the time were overwhelmed with a flood of asylum applications.

The agency scandal is separate from a standoff between Seehofer and Chancellor Angela Merkel over migrant policy.

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Italy's transport minister says members of the country's coast guard are rescuing some 500 migrants who set off from Libya aboard four different boats.

Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli said Italy's actions on Friday show that "no one can say we aren't fulfilling our responsibilities, or that we're racist or xenophobic."

Toninelli said Italy is now waiting for a "strong sign" from the European Union that it will help Italy manage the large number of migrants who arrive in the country after attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea.

Italy was criticized — and praised — this week for refusing to let a humanitarian rescue ship dock. The Aquarius is now on a dayslong voyage to Spain with its 629 migrant passengers. The new Italian government's policy apparently bars foreign-flagged rescue ships from docking, but allows entry to Italian vessels.