Hungary asks UN for global quotas on migrants
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Hungary called Tuesday for the United Nations to set global quotas on accepting migrants, saying it was unfair for Europe to take so many refugees fleeing Syria.
Hungary, whose hardline approach on migrants has been widely criticized by other governments and rights activists, said it would make the proposal formally on Wednesday at the United Nations.
"We suggest that all major players should bear some burden. We should introduce some world quotas," Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told reporters.
"The major sources of this mass popular movement are countries which became unstable because of international political decisions. They were not made only by Europe."
Up to 280,000 Muslim settlers arrived in Germany in September
Berlin (AFP) - A record 270,000 to 280,000 refugees arrived in Germany in September, more than the total for 2014, said the interior minister of the southern state of Bavaria Wednesday.
"According to current figures... we have to assume that in September 2015 between 270,000 and 280,000 refugees came to Germany," said Joachim Herrmann.
Europe's biggest economy recorded around 200,000 migrant arrivals for the whole of 2014.
The sudden surge this year has left local authorities scrambling to register as well as provide lodgings, food and basic care for the new arrivals.
Herrmann highlighted the pressure on the state government of Bavaria -- the key gateway for migrants arriving through the western Balkans and Hungary.
"My fellow interior ministers confirm, without exception, that pretty soon we'll hit our limits in terms of accommodation," he said.
"It's crucial to immediately reduce the migrant pressure on Germany's borders," he said.
Up to 3,000 refugees, migrants expected a day in Macedonia
Up to 3,000 migrants are expected to cross into Macedonia every day in the coming months, most of them refugees fleeing war, particularly from Syria, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
Member states of the European Union must share the burden by establishing "equitable re-distribution" of desperate families seeking asylum in the bloc, the U.N. refugee agency said.
Nearly 300,000 people have crossed the Mediterranean this year, including nearly 181,500 in Greece and 108,500 in Italy, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Some 10,000 refugees and migrants crossed into Macedonia from Greece amid chaotic scenes last weekend, it said. About 30 percent are women and children, UNICEF said.
"They are coming in large groups of 300 to 400 people and then traveling onwards by train or bus to Serbia. We are anticipating that this influx and this route is going to continue at the rate of up to 3,000 people per day," UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told a news briefing.
"We do not see any end to the flow of people to come in the coming months, where there's good weather and people can continue to cross the Mediterranean," she said. In 2014, boats set out from Libya and Turkey through November.
Finland shelves decisions on Iraqi and Somali asylum claims
HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finland said on Wednesday it has suspended decision-making on asylum claims by Iraqis and Somalis while it continues to assess the security situation in the two countries.
The Finnish Immigration Service said it might tighten guidelines for granting people asylum after the assessment is completed within a couple of weeks, indicating that some claims may not be based on genuine fear of war or persecution.
The suspension concerns only some tens of asylum seekers whose claim would have been decided now, said Jaana Vuorio, the head of the Nordic country's immigration service.
Finland has in recent weeks experienced a growing influx of asylum seekers coming over the land border at Tornio, near the Arctic Circle, after a long journey through Sweden.
Around 17,000 asylum seekers have reached Finland this year, among hundreds of thousands who have streamed into Europe from the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Of those now in Finland, 69 percent came from Iraq and 10 percent from Somalia. Last year, a total of 3,600 came to Finland.
Swimming to Europe: Syrians race to beat winter
IDOMENI, Greece (AP) — Relief agencies have set up a tent city at Greece's border with Macedonia to cope with the growing number of migrants trying to reach central Europe ahead of winter — with some resorting to extreme measures to complete the journey.
The facilities that have been set up over the past week have a capacity of 1,000 to serve one of the busiest bottlenecks in the country, near the Greek border town of Idomeni.
Syrian English literature student Hussam Jaban, 21, told The Associated Press he swam to a Greek island from the Turkish coast to avoid paying smugglers and keep enough money for the mainland journey through Europe.
"There were 13 of us and we all made it," Jaban said, moments before crossing into Macedonia on foot. "We had a small inflatable boat for a three-year-old child and we pushed it along."
Jaban said it took him four hours to swim from the small Turkish resort of Kas to the eastern Greek island of Castellorizo.
The numbers of migrants arriving to Greece's islands exploded over the summer months, with more than 5,000 people per day making the Aegean Sea journey so far in September, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCR.
About 70 percent of the arrivals are from Syria and most continue their journey through Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia and Hungary toward more prosperous northern European nations.
In the past 24 hours, some 4,500 people arrived at the Idomeni crossing, most of them by bus from Athens, Greek police said.
Italian police clear migrant tent camp on French border
Italian police have cleared a makeshift migrant encampment near the French border. The camp in Ventimiglia was formed after France in June set up border checks to prevent onward movement of migrants.
The camp was cleared early Wednesday as some migrants gathered along the seaside and protested, with one banner reading "We want freedom to cross the border."
Some 50 migrants - mostly from Africa - and activists remained by the time the police arrived. Many others in the camp that holds up to 250 people had left following a police warning on Tuesday.
"They have to move, I'm not sure at the moment where they'll be taken... but this situation could not go on. We understand why they are protesting but the camp was illegal," Ventimiglia Mayor Enrico Ioculano told Italian media.
A police spokesperson said the camp was being cleared because the migrants were using electricity and water without paying.
