Austria: Town of 1,600 Drowns in Excrement and Garbage (Video) | Pamela Geller https://t.co/GM0iZaOLSS pic.twitter.com/Soz5Y0gfnS
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Italy quietly rejects asylum seekers by nationality, trying to weed out economic migrants
CATANIA, Italy — Nineteen refugees from Eritrea waved to the cameras as they boarded a plane leaving from Rome. Bound for Lulea, Sweden, their trip marked the inauguration of a refugee plan in Europe, one that will redistribute Syrians, Eritreans and Iraqi asylum seekers from Italy and Greece to northern countries with stronger economies and better asylum infrastructure.
But only a week earlier, a different scene played out in Sicily, the island where many refugees traveling by boat arrive in Italy. Nearly 30 men and one woman from Africa crowded inside the small room of local Catholic charity in Catania, nervously listening to a lawyer explain the complex and sometimes arbitrary procedures for asylum processing in Europe.
“Sudan, Eritrea — they get help. Nigeria — half and half,” Fulvio Vassallo Paleologo, a professor of immigration and asylum law, told the group. “Countries like Gambia and Burkina Faso have almost no chance.” As Europe’s border control agency, Frontex, seeks to implement faster methods in Italy and Greece to allow refugees from places like Syria, Iraq and Eritrea to receive asylum and move to other EU countries, there is a simultaneous effort to keep out so-called economic migrants. [...]
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Muslim migrants rush French terminal of the Channel tunnel, train service suspended
Passenger train service between France and England has been suspended after migrants rushed the French terminal in hopes of reaching a better life in Britain.
The trains that cross beneath the Channel face increasingly frequent delays as more migrants take their chances on the tracks that link the two countries, with many each night trying to stow away on the trucks and cars loading on the freight train. At one point during the summer, hundreds of migrants, who live by the thousands in shanty camps in Calais, tried to rush the boarding area at once.
Eurotunnel said Monday's problem originated in Calais, where the overnight rush happened later than usual, affecting the early morning trains. Service was expected to resume midmorning.
Thousands of Muslim migrants pour from into Croatia from Serbia
A U.N. refugee agency official says Croatia has opened its border with Serbia for migrants, letting in thousands who have been stranded for nearly two days.
UNHCR spokeswoman Melita Sunjic, who is on the border, said Monday that "without any announcement, the borders opened. When the borders opened, everybody rushed" over.
Sunjic said "the last person to go was a young boy without a leg, and we helped him cross in a wheelchair."
There were between 2,000 and 3,000 migrants stuck on the border in mud and rain when the gates were opened.
Anti-immigration party wins Swiss election in 'slide to the Right'
The anti-immigration Swiss People's Party (SVP) won the biggest share of the vote in Sunday's national parliamentary election, keeping pressure on Bern to introduce quotas on people moving from the European Union.
Success for the SVP, coupled with gains made by the pro-business Liberal Party (FDP), led political commentators to talk of a "Rechtsrutsch" - a "slide to the right" - in Swiss politics.
Immigration was the central topic for voters amid a rush of asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa to Europe.
"The vote was clear," SVP leader Toni Brunner told Swiss television. "The people are worried about mass migration to Europe."
Sunday's result cemented the SVP's position as the dominant force in Swiss politics.
[...]
During the election campaign, the SVP rallied against Swiss reforms to deal with asylum seekers, even though in Europe's current migrant crisis Switzerland is handling far fewer migrants than some other nations such as Germany.
With slogans like "Stay free!" it has also played to fears that Switzerland may head towards EU membership, while also producing tongue-in-cheek YouTube music videos in a bid to appeal to younger voters.
