Europe's migration crisis
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A person waits to help arriving migrants at a railway station in Vienna, Austria September 6, 2015. Austria and Germany threw open their borders to thousands of exhausted migrants on Saturday, bussed to the Hungarian border by a right-wing government that had tried to stop them but was overwhelmed by the sheer numbers reaching Europe's frontiers. REUTERS/Dominic Ebenbichler
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A young boy leans against the carriage of a train as migrants disembark at a railway station in Vienna, Austria September 5, 2015. Thousands of exhausted migrants streamed into Austria on Saturday, bussed to the border by a Hungarian government that gave up trying to hold them back as Europe's asylum system buckled under pressure from the numbers reaching its frontiers. Austrian police said 2,000 had arrived at the border, with many more likely to follow during the day. Trains were laid on to take them from the border town of Nickelsdorf to Vienna. REUTERS/Dominic Ebenbichler
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PHOTO SLIDESHOW: BUSES FROM BUDAPEST
Hungary's government said it would deliver around 100 buses to pick up migrants in Budapest and another 1,200 striding down the main highway to Vienna.Long lines of buses packed with migrants left Budapest bound for Austria on Saturday as Hungary gave in to determined crowds, including many Syrian refugees, who had set out on foot for western Europe in defiance of a right-wing government vowing to stem their tide.
Migrants gesture on a bus bound for Austria and Germany, next to the Keleti train station in Budapest, Hungary, September 5, 2015.
REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
Migrants walk to a bus, supposed to leave for Austria and Germany, next to Keleti train station in Budapest, Hungary, September 5, 2015. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
Migrants leave the underground station at the Keleti trainstation to enter buses, September 4, 2015. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
Migrants gesture on a bus bound for Austria and Germany, next to the Keleti train station in Budapest, Hungary, September 5, 2015. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
A man holds his child as he sits in a bus, which is supposed to leave to Austria and Germany, at the Keleti trainstation in Budapest, Hungary, September 4, 2015. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger1 of 5
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Hungary won't shoot at migrants crossing fence - Orban
Reuters UKHungary has no plans to shoot at migrants trying to cross its new southern border fence and is open to talks about European quotas for taking in refugees once the frontier is sealed off, Prime -
Syrian migrants run after crossing under a fence as they enter Hungary, at the border with Serbia, near Roszke, August 27, 2015. Hungary made plans in the same week to reinforce its southern border with helicopters, mounted police and dogs, and was also considering using the army as record numbers of migrants, many of them Syrian refugees, passed through coils of razor-wire into Europe. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo -
If Europe's outer border is not blocked off it makes no sense to speak of quotas. When we have sealed the outer border and thus stopped the illegal migration we can talk about any solution."
- Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban -
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Do you know where they are taking us?” a man named Ahmed, from the northwestern Syrian city of Idlib, asked a Reuters journalist.”It’s very cold at night and I am worried how long they will keep us here.”
Read more - Cold War razor wire echoes in Hungarian plan to stop migrants
A tent burns inside a migrant reception centre in Roszke, Hungary, September 5, 2015. REUTERS/Marko Djurica -
Hollande opens French doors to refugees despite opposition
ReutersFrance is ready to take in 24,000 refugees as part of European Union plans to welcome more than 100,000 in the next two years, French President Francois Hollande said on Monday, dismissing opinion -
Slovak president urges government to show more solidarity on migrantsSlovak President Andrej Kiska urged his government to show more solidarity with European Union partners by agreeing to take in hundreds or thousands of the refugees and migrants streaming into the EU.
Prime Minister Robert Fico has dug in his heels against any quota system to redistribute some of the hundreds of thousands fleeing war or poverty in places such as Syria and Afghanistan.
This has led to a clash with Germany, France and other EU members. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is expected on Wednesday to propose to relocate 160,000 refugees from the main entry points of Italy, Greece and Hungary. Slovakia, with a population of around 5.4 million, would be asked to take in just under 2,300.
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Hungary's Orban: migrants crossing Europe are immigrants, not refugees
ReutersHungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the stream of migrants flowing through south-eastern Europe were immigrants, attracted by the prospect of life in Germany, not refugees."If they want -
Amid migrant crisis, poll shows UK's anti-EU camp taking lead: http://t.co/rs1EEbucRd http://t.co/9pHTPMjm7Q
9:13 AM - 07 Sep 2015- Reply
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Pressure on Merkel grows as flow of refugees continues
Reuters UKThousands more refugees were expected to arrive in Germany on Monday after 20,000 came in over the weekend, piling pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel whose open-door policy has made the country a -
Analysis - Migration crisis tears at EU's cohesion and tarnishes its image: http://t.co/nZOBfebga4 http://t.co/WVh5h83a2S
11:14 AM - 07 Sep 2015- Reply
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Stories in pictures and babes in arms. The children making treacherous EU journey: http://t.co/fWMqhs85Nr http://t.co/Zryzj3bCy5
4:59 PM - 04 Sep 2015- Reply
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Austria plans to end measures allowing migrants from Hungary and move 'towards normality'
ReutersAustria said on Sunday it planned to end emergency measures that have allowed thousands of refugees stranded in Hungary into Austria and Germany since Saturday and move step by step "towards -
France to take 24,000 migrants under EU refugee plan: HollandeFrance is ready to take in 24,000 refugees as part of EU plans to welcome more than 100,000 in the next two years, French President Francois Hollande said at a news conference on Monday.Hollande repeated that he and German leader Angela Merkel wanted the 28-country European Union to back a plan under which each country would be obliged to take its fair share of a total of 120,000 migrants.
This is a crisis, and it is a grave and dramatic one. It can be brought under control and it will be," he said.
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Cyprus says it could take up to 300 preferably Christian refugees
ReutersEuropean Union member Cyprus said on Monday it would be willing to take in up to 300 migrants fleeing upheaval in the Middle East under new EU quotas, but would prefer them to be Christians.The -
Merkel presses for European refugee response after weekend flood
Chancellor Angela Merkel thanked helpers who dealt with a "breathtaking" influx of exhausted migrants over the weekend but stressed on Monday that a European response to the refugee crisis was urgently needed.
"We have a weekend behind us that was moving, at times breathtaking," Merkel said, adding that efforts by average Germans to support thousands of arriving refugees had "painted a picture of Germany which can make us proud of our country".
She and Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel noted at a news conference however, that it could not fall on a few countries in Europe to shoulder most of the burden, and both pressed for a European solution.
The gray streets of rainy Wakefield in northern England are not considered a paradise by many, but for one adopted son of Yorkshire they represent everything he dreamed about when he was growing up in Iraq.
REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch -
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EU needs more legal ways in for refugees
Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said on Monday he would propose that the European Union introduces more legal ways for refugees into the bloc.
"Our two countries that take our responsibility need to make sure more countries also take their responsibility," Lofven told a news conference ahead of a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday.
Lofven said the EU must introduce a permanent and obligatory redistribution mechanism for when disasters trigger drastically higher numbers of refugees seeking entry into the bloc and that the EU should increase its number of quota refugees to about 100,000.
(Reporting by Johan Sennero; writing by Daniel Dickson)
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I appeal to the parishes, the religious communities, the monasteries and sanctuaries of all Europe to ... take in one family of refugees."
- Pope Francis, after his Sunday address in the papal enclave, September 6.
Pope Francis attends a special audience with members of the Parish Evangelisation Cell System in Paul VI hall at the Vatican September 5, 2015. REUTERS/Tony Gentile -
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Slovakia insists on voluntary approach in accepting asylum-seekersBRATISLAVA
Slovakia insists on a voluntary approach to taking in asylum seekers and rejects any system of compulsory quotas to redistribute migrants around the European Union, the Slovak Interior Ministry said on Monday.
The EU executive has drawn up a new set of national quotas under which 160,000 asylum-seekers should be relocated from Italy, Greece and Hungary, an EU source said earlier on Monday.
According to the plan, Slovakia would be asked to take in 2,287 people. So far, Slovakia has said it would take in 200 and that it would prefer them to be Christian.
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LIVE NOW: Prime Minister David Cameron addresses MPs on migration crisis: http://t.co/ndRvCdFant http://t.co/WednzAkJJ5
3:32 PM - 07 Sep 2015- Reply
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THE LONG MARCH TO AUSTRIAHundreds of migrants set off on foot from Budapest for Austria
Migrants march along the highway towards the border with Austria, out of Budapest, Hungary, September 4, 2015. Hundreds of migrants broke out of a Hungarian border camp on Friday and others set off on foot from Budapest as authorities scrambled to contain a migrant crisis that has brought Europe's asylum system to breaking point. REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh
Migrants march along the highway towards the border with Austria, out of Budapest, Hungary, September 4, 2015. REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh
Migrants march along the highway for the border with Austria, out of Budapest, Hungary, September 4, 2015. REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh
Migrants march along the highway towards the border with Austria, out of Budapest, Hungary, September 4, 2015. REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh
Migrants force their way through a police cordon as they march along the highway for the border with Austria, out of Budapest, Hungary, September 4, 2015. REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh
Migrants set off on foot for the border with Austria from Budapest, Hungary, September 4, 2015. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo
A young girl holds up a picture of German Chancellor Angela Merkel as migrants set off on foot for the border with Austria from outside Keleti station in Budapest, Hungary, September 4, 2015. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo1 of 7
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It's "vital" to distinguish between "economic migrants" and "refugees" - David Cameron3:32 PM - 07 Sep 2015
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Breaking news: UK PM David Cameron says Britain will resettle up to 20,000 Syrian refugees direct from refugee camps.3:36 PM - 07 Sep 2015
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EU commissioner presses member states to back Juncker refugee plan
ReutersEurope's migration commissioner said on Monday he was counting on European Union member states to support proposals the bloc's chief executive will present on Wednesday to tackle the refugee crisis -
EU-sceptics in Finland's ruling coalition reject EU asylum seeker quotas
Finland's co-governing, nationalist Finns party on Monday rejected a European Commission plan to have member states take in assigned quotas of asylum-seekers among an influx of hundreds of thousands of migrants into Europe this year.
"The Finns party will not support this proposal, as it didn't back the previous so-called voluntary necessity," Sampo Terho, the head of the party's MP group told STT news agency.
He noted that Finland's new governing coalition parties had agreed before the summer that any EU plan to apportion asylum seekers country-by-country should be based on voluntary participation.
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In rich Gulf Arab states, some feel shamed by refugee response: http://t.co/KDPb9Bq8yc http://t.co/0AnwMaiCJ9
1:41 PM - 07 Sep 2015- Reply
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As Europe handles waves of Syrian refugees, U.S. is slow to help
As Europe grapples with a flood of refugees from the Syrian war and the pope urges Catholics to help them, the U.S. government may lack the political appetite to offer American soil as a safe haven to more than the current trickle of Syrians.
Refugee and immigrant groups had urged the United States to admit more Syrian refugees long before the crisis erupted this summer in Europe.
Some hoped global outrage over images of a drowned Syrian toddler in Turkey last week, and Pope Francis' call on Sunday for European parishes to take in refugees - coming just two weeks before a trip to the United States - might help prod the United States into action.
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Wendie Wilson-Miller, 40, of Studio City, California, said she had signed the petition since the Syrian crisis seemed endless and the plight of refugees increasingly urgent.
The United States, and her family, could afford to help out, said Wilson-Miller, a fertility specialist and mother of two.
"If the United States did open their doors and say, 'Yes, we're going to allow more refugees,' and they needed more families, then I know mine would step up," she said.
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Danish PM rejects border controls, calls emergency meeting on refugeesDenmark said imposing border controls with Germany was not the solution to a refugee crisis which spilled into the country over the weekend and called an emergency meeting of political parties for Monday.
More than 400 refugees have crossed into Denmark from Germany since Saturday. Some people ran from police as they plan to head for Sweden but Denmark said they must register as per the European Union's Dublin agreement on asylum seekers.
The Danish People's Party has called for border controls while the immigration ministry launched an advertising campaign in Lebanon to discourage refugees from travel to Denmark.The gray streets of rainy Wakefield in northern England are not considered a paradise by many, but for one adopted son of Yorkshire they represent everything he dreamed about when he was growing up in Iraq.
"I think it is clear for everyone that the European asylum system is under huge pressure and in fact broken in some cases," Rasmussen told journalists, adding that not all countries were adhering to the Dublin agreement.
Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen attends a press conference at the chancellery in Berlin, August 28, 2015. REUTERS/Axel Schmidt -
For one Syrian migrant, a hefty price buys a '5-star' journey to Europe
The affluent United Arab Emirates is not a normal jumping off point for Syrians fleeing war. But this is where Tareq began a "five-star" journey to a new life in Sweden, paying a high price to avoid the grave risks and hardships that most refugees face.
Aided by human traffickers who operate a network of agents across the Middle East and Europe, the 26-year-old made it from the Gulf emirate of Dubai to Sweden in just three weeks, and in relative comfort.
Migrants typically pay 700 euros ($780) for the sea crossing to Europe, a fee that buys them space on a packed, often unseaworthy boat run by the traffickers.
But last year Tareq took a 3,000 euro "package", funded by his concerned, middle class Damascene family. They were also able to pay many thousands more for other expenses such as fake identity documents as he headed for Sweden, which gives automatic residency to Syrian refugees.
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Hit by new wave of refugees, Germany warns EU partners
ReutersStruggling to cope with a record influx of asylum seekers, Germany told its European partners on Monday they must take in more refugees too, saying the burden could not fall on just a few -
Britain to take in 20,000 Syrian refugees over five years, says PM Cameron
Reuters UKBritish Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday pledged to take in up to 20,000 refugees from camps in Syria over the next five years, responding to a growing public clamour for his government to help -
A migrant girl plays in the Keleti subway station after most migrants have left for buses bound for Austria and Germany, in Budapest, Hungary, September 5, 2015. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
Belongings of migrants are pictured in an underground station at the Keleti train station in Budapest, Hungary, September 4, 2015. REUTERS/Bernadett SzaboThe gray streets of rainy Wakefield in northern England are not considered a paradise by many, but for one adopted son of Yorkshire they represent everything he dreamed about when he was growing up in Iraq. -
Child refugees suffer accidents, beatings, rape on way to Sweden
ReutersAround 700 refugee children are arriving every week without their parents in Sweden, many injured in accidents and some bearing the physical and psychological scars of beatings or rape by their
UAE's Israel deal met with Arab dismay but quiet welcome in Gulf
JERUSALEM From cries of "betrayal" to fears about "falling dominoes", the deal making the United Arab Emirates the third Arab state to forge ties with Israel stirred anger and dismay around the Middle East, but a cautious welcome from the UAE's Gulf allies.