Record numbers of refugees and migrants streamed through the Balkans into Hungary yesterday, forcing Austria to suspend cross-border train services as Europe remained bitterly divided over how to cope with the refugee crisis.
Germany — itself under fire from eastern neighbors over its willingness to take in refugees — warned that an EU plan to distribute 160,000 new arrivals among member states was a mere “drop in the ocean.”
Hungarian police said 3,321 people had entered in just 24 hours, hurrying to cross before harsh new anti-migrant laws take effect, an imposing new fence is completed and the weather worsens.
Across the border in Serbia, state television reported that a record 5,000 people had arrived at the frontier.
Further south, on Macedonia’s border with Greece, journalists saw about 50 buses transporting about 2,500 refugees and migrants, and three trains packed with 3,000 people departing from the town of Gevgelija.
The UN’s refugee agency on Tuesday warned that at least 42,000 were expected to enter Hungary by next week.
Many have endured treacherous sea journeys across the Mediterranean — most fleeing war and poverty in Syria, Afghanistan or Pakistan and hoping to reach Germany.
Once inside Hungary, overstretched police have struggled to control and register the new arrivals, who mostly board trains and buses bound for the border with Austria.
Hundreds have broken through Hungarian police lines in recent days near the flashpoint border village of Roszke after waiting for hours to get on buses.
Emergency measures allowing refugees to enter Austria after the arrival of 15,000 last weekend remained in place. Overnight, 3,700 more crossed the border, Austrian police said.
However, Austria’s train operator yesterday suspended services with Hungary because of “massive overcrowding,” calling on bus companies and volunteers to stop bringing refugees to stations.
In an effort to control the crisis, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday unveiled a new plan to for the bloc to share out 160,000 refugees to ease the burden on front-line states, but Germany, which said it has already welcomed 450,000 migrants and refugees this year, wants the 28-nation bloc to go further.
Europe’s biggest economy wants compulsory long-term EU quotas with no limits on numbers, with German Deputy Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel yesterday likening Juncker’s proposals to “a drop in the ocean.”
“The distribution of 160,000 refugees across Europe is a first step, if one wants to be polite,” he said.
However, binding quotas are already facing fierce resistance from eastern members of the EU, with Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico saying his country would not “bow down” to Berlin.
Some help may be on the way from outside, with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday seeking to drum up support for the country to accept more refugees.
Washington has accepted only about 1,500 Syrians since the four-year-old conflict erupted, a tiny proportion of the 15,000 Syrians the UN has referred to it for resettlement.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique