Merkel says refugee crisis tests Europe's core ideals

German chancellor puts pressure on European countries who refuse to take in refugees, saying it betrays EU's values.

 

Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland seek to block the influx of the refugees [AP]

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that European Union states "must share the responsibility for refugees seeking asylum," arguing that failing them will betray the bloc's values.
At a news conference in Berlin on Monday, Merkel pressed once again for quotas to spread asylum-seekers out among more countries in the 28-nation grouping.
"If Europe fails on the question of refugees, this close connection with universal civil rights ... will be destroyed and it won't be the Europe we want," she said.
Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland have all sought to block the influx of refugees.
Merkel was openly critical of the idea voiced by Slovakia on giving priority to refugees who are Christian.
The chancellor said that Europe's values are based on the dignity of every individual, and that saying Muslims are not wanted "can't be right".
Hungary is building a four-metre high fence on its southern border with Serbia to try to stop refugees coming across the Balkans.
Trains to Germany
On Monday, hundreds of refugees stranded in Budapest, the Hungarian capital, boarded trains to Germany via Austria as the Hungarian authorities apparently failed to enforce visa rules.
Two trains were stopped in the Hungarian town of Hegyeshalom at the border with Austria, where Austrian police prevented those who had already applied for asylum in Hungary from travelling on.
Roman Hahslinger, the Vienna police spokesman, told the DPA news agency that Austrian officers had no effective means to stop other refugees if they plan to travel to Germany or another EU state, even if they are legally obliged to stay in Austria for two weeks under immigration rules.
Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons, reporting from Hegyeshalom, said the refugees were "overjoyed" to be able to travel on.
Simmons said it was creating confusion, but there were speculations that Germany and Hungary were in contact to clear it up.
German police in Rosenheim near the Austrian border said that they would no longer frisk incoming trains.
Germany has said it will accept all asylum applications from Syrians instead of sending them back to the first EU state they entered, which is required by EU law.
Hungary accused Berlin of creating confusion with leniency towards Syrians.

France: Hungary refugee fence not even fit for animals

Paris slams Hungary, gateway to EU from Eastern Europe, for erecting 175km fence to stop refugees as new talks called.

 

Hungary is hoping to finish erecting a 175km razor-wire fence in the next few days [Reuters]

Deep divisions persist within the European Union as thousands of distraught refugees arriving from war-torn countries, mainly Syria, continued to head towards Western Europe via the continent's southern frontiers.
The French foreign minister on Monday criticised Hungary for its move to erect a fence on its border to stop people as Germany and Britain joined in to call for action to defend the "dignity" of refugees ahead of fresh emergency talks on September 14.

The three Western European nations have pressed for better processing of refugees arriving in southern Europe, as countries such as Greece, Italy, and Hungary have struggled to cope with the influx of refugees. Some 300,000 people have crossed this year alone.

In an interview with French radio on Sunday, Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, said the measure was "extremely harsh. Hungary is part of Europe, which has values, and we do not respect those values by putting up fences that we wouldn't even use for animals".
Fabius also called the attitude of "a certain number of European countries, particularly in the east" who oppose a quota scheme for the distribution of refugees across EU member states "scandalous". He did not name the countries targeted by that remark.
EU member states have differed on ways to tackle the escalating refugee crisis in previous meetings.
"Europe needs to stop being moved and start moving," Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said, calling again for a fairer distribution of refugees among the 28 member states.
Razor-wire fencing
The interior ministers of France, the UK, and Germany, stressed the need to set up "hot spots" in Greece and Italy by the year's end to ensure refugees are fingerprinted and registered, allowing authorities to quickly identify those in need of protection.

Meanwhile, Hungary, the gateway to the EU from Eastern Europe, is hoping to finish erecting a 175km razor-wire fence along its border with Serbia.
Hungary later on Sunday lashed out at Fabius, accusing him of "shocking and groundless judgements".
Peter Szijjarto, Hungary's foreign minister, said that the French embassy representative would be summoned over Fabius' remarks.

Hungary has received almost 150,000 migrants so far this year, 50,000 this month alone, mostly crossing from Serbia.

The vast majority of the migrants entering Hungary, which is also a member of Europe's passport-free Schengen zone, are bound for more prosperous EU countries such as Germany and Sweden.
"A good European is one who keeps the rules of Europe," Szijjarto said.
Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons, reporting from Budapest, said hundreds of refugees were now stranded in the capital with nowhere to go.
"Hungary's government is ignoring all criticism of how it's handling this crisis. It stands accused of stripping away the rights of refugees and it is preparing a raft of new legislation which could mean thousands of refugees are sent back to Serbia.
At a park in the centre of the Serbian capital, Belgrade, more and more people were arriving by the hour. They get something to eat, rest a little and prepare for the next leg of their journey into Hungary.
Many refugees say the journey to Serbia had been relatively problem free, they do, however, fear what awaits them at the Hungarian border.
"Other people who went ahead of us were told by Hungarian officials that if they didn't give a fingerprint, they would be hit and thrown in jail. Now we are scared to go to Hungary," said Lokman, a Syrian refugee.

ISIL blows up part of main temple in Syria's Palmyra

More than 30 tonnes of explosives used to destroy part of Bel temple, one of ancient city's most significant structures.

 

The Temple of Bel was regarded as one of the most significant structures in Palmyra [Reuters]

Fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have blown up part of the Temple of Bel in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, sources have told Al Jazeera.
An Al Jazeera reporter in the Syrian city of Homs was told that ISIL, on Sunday, detonated more than 30 tonnes of explosives at the temple, the largest and one of the most significant structures in the UNESCO-listed city.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and activists on the ground also said that the temple has been damaged in the blast.
The Temple of Bel stands just outside the main area of the city, whose column-lined principle street leads to its gate.

Its richly decorated central shrine area was regarded as well preserved.

The destruction comes a week after the group blew up Palmyra's 2,000-year old temple of Baal Shamin, causing much damage.
Satellite images captured several days ago have confirmed the destruction of the Roman-era Baal Shamin temple.
It was another important site in Palmyra, known as the "Pearl of the Desert", a previously well-preserved archaeological oasis 210km northeast of Damascus.
Earlier this month, ISIL beheaded Khaled Asaad, a respected 82-year-old archaeologist who worked for 50 years as head of antiquities in Palmyra.
Last Friday, UNESCO chief Irina Bokova warned that ISIL fighters in both Iraq and Syria were responsible for "the most brutal, systematic" destruction of ancient heritage since World War II.
ISIL captured Palmyra from government forces in May.

EU to hold crisis talks on refugees

September 14 meeting to be held amid calls to set up centres for arrivals and for list of "safe countries of origin". 

 

Syrian refugees, including many women with small children, sleep in a park in central Belgrade before heading north towards Hungary [AP]

European Union home affairs ministers will hold emergency talks on September 14 in Brussels on the continent's escalating refugee crisis, the Luxembourg government has said.
"The situation of migration phenomena outside and inside the European Union has recently taken unprecedented proportions," a statement from Luxembourg, which holds the EU's six-month rotating presidency, said on Sunday.
"In order to assess the situation on the ground, the political actions underway and to discuss the next steps in order to strengthen the European response, the Luxembourg Minister for Immigration and Asylum Jean Asselborn decided to convene an extraordinary JHA (justice and home affairs) council," the statement said.

The announcement for the meeting of the EU's 28 member states came after a joint call for the talks by Germany, France and Britain earlier on Sunday.
Germany's Thomas de Maiziere, Britain's Theresa May and France's Bernard Cazeneuve held talks on Saturday on the issue, on the sidelines of a meeting in Paris on transport security.
The trio "underlined the necessity to take immediate action to deal with the challenge from the migrant influx".
They also called for reception centres to be set up urgently in Italy and Greece in order to register new arrivals, and for a common EU list of "safe countries of origin" to be established.
Germany, which is expecting to receive 800,000 refugees this year, has been pushing for such a list, arguing that it would free up resources to help those fleeing war and persecution.
The number of refugees reaching the EU's borders reached nearly 340,000 during the first seven months of the year, up from 123,500 during the same period in 2014, according to the bloc's border agency Frontex.

Tens of thousands of Japanese protest against 'war law'

Protesters rally outside parliament to oppose new laws that could see troops engage in combat for first time since WWI.

 

Organisers said about 120,000 people took part in Sunday’s rally in the capital [Reuters]

Tens of thousands of protesters have rallied outside Japan's parliament to oppose legislation that could see troops in the officially pacifist nation engage in combat for the first time since World War II.
In one of the summer's biggest protests ahead of the new laws anticipated passage next month, protesters on Sunday chanted "No to war legislation!" ''Scrap the bills now!" and "Abe, quit!"
Organisers said about 120,000 people took part in the rally in the government district of Tokyo, filling the street outside the front gate of the parliament, or Diet. Similar demonstrations were held across nation.
The law would expand Japan's military role under a reinterpretation of the country's war-renouncing constitution.
In July, the more powerful lower house passed the bills that allow the army, or Self Defence Force, to engage in combat when allies come under attack even when Japan itself is not.
The upper house is currently debating the bills and is expected to pass them by late September, making it law.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his supporters say the bills are necessary for Japan to deal with the changed security environment in the world.
Public polls showing the majority of people oppose the bills and support for Abe's government is declining.
"In order to make the world a better place, where the life of even a single child is taken away, we must take action now or Japan will make a turn for the worse. That's why I came today," Mami Tanaka, 35, who joined the rally with her husband and their three children, told the Reuters news agency.

Riot police break up Beirut anti-government protest

Night of mostly peaceful protests in Lebanese capital end in violence and arrests.

 

Riot police dispersed protesters on Saturday night after they burned piles of rubbish [Nour Samaha/Al Jazeera]

Beirut, Lebanon -  Riot police have broken up an anti-government protest in Beirut where at least 10,000 people had gathered to demonstrate against a services crisis.
The police chased men and women from the city's Riad al-Solh square shortly after 10pm, beating both men and women as they cleared the area. Several protesters were arrested.
The demonstrators had gathered in downtown Beirut to call for the resignation of officials responsible for the current waste crisis and for new elections.
The police earlier had called for peaceful protesters to move from the square after protesters set fire to rubbish and began climbing through a barbed-wire barricade.
The protest organisers, YouStink!, said they would give the Lebanese government until Tuesday to meet their demands, including the resignation of the country's environment minister, otherwise the group would escalate its efforts.
Earlier, on Saturday, the atmosphere at the rally was festive with families carrying signs, singing songs and shouting chants. Sandwich stands and ice cream trucks were rolled out, providing food and drinks to those attending.
The protest follows several weeks of tension over the country’s ongoing rubbish disposal issue and the government's failure to provide other services such as water and electricity.
Banners held up by the crowds called for the downfall of the government while others listed demands including accountability, fixing the country's garbage crisis, and removing the 128 parliamentarians from office.
"People are not 'welcome' to join, people should join - it's their duty as Lebanese citizens to come down today," Marwan Azzi, a 34-year-old businessman from Mount Lebanon, told Al Jazeera. "We are all here today because we are sick of the politicians taking us for fools."
Protest organisers said the rally had drawn 30,000-40,000 people, while security sources put the figure at 10,000.
Wissam Saliba, a 26-year-old producer, said: "This is the first time ever we are waking up and breaking the old system that has chained us. We are fighting for our basic human rights."
The protesters are also demanding the release of all protesters detained in previous demonstrations.

Earlier in the night the security forces unfurled a massive banner from one of the abandoned buildings, which read: "We are here for your protection", which was greeted with loud jeers from the crowd.
Last weekend, tens of thousands of people attended two rallies which descended into violence after security forces opened fire on the protesters.
Security forces used water cannon, tear gas, live ammunition and rubber bullets, while also beating many, leaving hundreds injured over the space of two days.
Human Rights Watch has since called on the government to investigate the excessive use of violence by security forces "and refrain from repeated violence against demonstrators".
Further scuffles erupted again earlier this week as protesters continued to hold sit-ins downtown. On Tuesday, security forces severely beat dozens of protesters and arrested several more, as activists called on the country's interior minister, Nouhad Machnouk, to be held accountable.
Call for restraint
Nouhad Machnouk has since announced an investigation into the incidents, and on Friday admitted excessive use of force was used during last Saturday’s protest.
Civil society activists, under the movements of You Stink! and We Want Accountability, are demanding accountability against those involved in the use of excessive force against the protesters, new elections to replace the current government – which had previously cancelled elections and extended its own mandate twice – and the resignation of Environment Minister Mohammad Machnouk, for failing to resolve the ongoing garbage crisis.
"We started as dozens of protesters and now we’re thousands," Asaad Thebian, an activist with the You Stink! campaign, said during Friday’s press conference. "We are demanding parliamentary elections."
As the protests have gained momentum, many politicians and parties currently in government have been issuing statements of support for the protests, despite the fact they are the same figures being named and shamed in the demonstrations.
The country has been without a president since May 2014, and the parliament has been unable to convene in full in order to vote for one, with cabinet ministers unable to decide how to make decisions, let alone address ongoing issues.

Activists are demanding accountability against those involved in use of excessive force against protesters [Nour Samaha/Al Jazeera]

Thailand arrests foreigner over Bangkok bomb blast

Police arrest suspect and seize bomb-making material in first arrest since attack on August 17.

 

It is the first arrest in connection with the bombing at the Erawan shrine in the capital's bustling downtown district 12 days ago [EPA]

Thai police have arrested a foreign suspect and seized bomb-making materials in the investigation of a deadly shrine bombing that killed 20 people, officials said.
Saturday's arrest is the first in connection with the bombing at the Erawan shrine in the capital's bustling downtown district on 17 August which killed mostly Asian visitors, in Thailand's worst single mass-casualty attack.
"We have detained one person," deputy national police chief General Chaktip Chaijinda told reporters in a live televised broadcast on Saturday afternoon.

"We have found components of bomb-making materials in his apartment and I am confident that he is likely involved with the bomb attack," he said on broadcaster T News.

Police had been searching for a prime suspect, described as a foreign man, who was captured wearing a yellow t-shirt on security cameras and leaving a bag at the shrine moments before the blast.

Al Jazeera's Scott Heidler, reporting from Bangkok, said it was not clear if the suspect was the same man captured on security camera footage.
Investigators have said the attack was clearly aimed at damaging the tourism industry but insist that Chinese tourists - who visit Thailand in larger numbers than any other nationality - were not singled out.
Earlier this week Thai police said they were not ready to exclude any possibility about who was behind the attack.

Potential perpetrators named by the police and experts have included international suspects, members of Thailand's southern Malay-Muslim insurgency, fighters on both sides of Thailand's festering political divide or even someone with a personal grudge.

Some security analysts have also speculated that China's ethnic Uighur minority - or their co-religious sympathisers - may have been behind the attack, motivated by Thailand's forced repatriation of more than 100 Uighur refugees last month to an uncertain fate in China.

On Friday, police said three Uighur Muslims, among dozens arrested in the kingdom for illegal entry last year, have been questioned over the bombing.

Around 20 people were killed in the blast on August 17 [AFP]

Wild week for markets ends quietly

A volatile ride for global markets this week ended calmly on Friday even as lingering worries over Chinese economic growth and the Federal Reserve's plans to raise interest rates weighed on stocks, but oil rebounded sharply for a second day.
U.S. crude jumped more than 6 percent as a rally in gasoline prices and air raids in Yemen forced traders to scramble to cover short positions. U.S. crude gained 17.2 percent in two sessions, the second-largest two-day rise in 25 years.
Those Fed officials who are anxious to raise rates said at an annual global central bankers' conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming that continued market turmoil may lead the U.S. central bank to delay tightening monetary policy beyond September.
The Fed is waiting to see how data and markets unfold over the coming weeks before deciding whether to raise rates at its meeting in mid-September, Vice Chair Stanley Fischer told CNBC.
Chinese stocks jumped for a second straight day, rising more than 4.0 percent, after authorities said pension funds managed by local governments will soon start investing 2 trillion yuan ($313.05 billion) in stocks and other assets.
The move was the latest response by Chinese authorities, including the People's Bank of China, to shore up the economy after they cut rates, lowered reserve requirements and injected liquidity into the banking system.
Stocks on Wall Street mostly edged higher at the close, as European equity markets did hours earlier, suggesting fears of Chinese contagion were overdone and that a U.S. rate hike is not the end of the world, said Andrew Wilkinson, chief market strategist at Interactive Brokers LLC in Greenwich, Connecticut.
"There's an element of throwing the baby out with the bath water. Everything got thrown out on that view," Wilkinson said.
"It's really a question of volatility having settled down somewhat even though it remains relatively high and people still view equities as being a decent place to be," he said.
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI closed down 11.76 points, or 0.07 percent, to 16,643.01. The S&P 500 .SPX rose 1.21 points, or 0.06 percent, to 1,988.87 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 15.62 points, or 0.32 percent, to 4,828.33.
Major European equity indices finished higher after a late-session rally, helping MSCI's all-country stock index .MIWD00000PUS gain 0.19 percent. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 rose 0.34 percent to close at 1,435.13, and euro zone's blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index .STOXX50E gained 0.18 percent. But Germany's DAX shed 0.17 percent, or a decline of just under 17 percent from its record high in April.
Gold rose as technical indicators and the notion the Fed may delay a rate hike provided support. U.S. gold for December delivery GCcv1 rose 1 percent to settle at $1,134 an ounce.
U.S. Treasuries prices retreated from a one-week peak. Benchmark 10-year Treasuries notes US10YT=RR fell 5/32 in price to yield 2.1860 percent.
German bond yields edged lower, defying the sudden surge in oil, as data showed consumer prices in Europe's biggest economy had been weighed down by falling energy costs.
Oil saw its biggest one-day bounce since 2009 on Thursday, with North Sea Brent and U.S. light crude rising more than 10 percent. U.S. crude notched its first weekly gain in nine weeks, ending its longest losing streak since 1986.
Brent LCOc1 climbed $2.49 to settle at $50.05 a barrel on Friday and U.S. crude CLc1 rose $2.66 to settle at $45.22 a barrel.
The U.S. dollar gained for a fourth straight session, buoyed by calmer financial markets and generally positive U.S. economic data that supported the notion that the world's largest economy was on a stable growth path.
The dollar index .DXY was up 0.5 percent at 96.088. The euro slipped 0.5 percent to $1.1187 EUR=. Against the yen JPY=, the dollar rose 0.29 percent to 121.38.

U.S. court hands win to NSA over metadata collection

A U.S. appeals court on Friday threw out a judge's ruling that would have blocked the National Security Agency from collecting phone metadata under a controversial program that has raised privacy concerns.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said there were not sufficient grounds for the preliminary injunction imposed by the lower court.
The ruling was a setback for privacy advocates but did not reach the bigger question of whether the NSA's actions were lawful. It means the massive program to collect and store phone records, disclosed in 2013 by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, can continue unaffected until it expires at the end of November.
Under the USA Freedom Act, which Congress passed in June, the program was allowed to continue for 180 days until new provisions aimed at addressing the privacy issues go into effect.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the ruling was "consistent with what this administration has said for some time, which is that we did believe that these capabilities were constitutional."
Larry Klayman, the conservative lawyer who challenged the program, said he would appeal to the Supreme Court.


"We are confident of prevailing," he added.
The three-judge panel concluded that the case was not moot despite the change in the law and sent the case back to U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon for further proceedings.
"Although one could reasonably infer from the evidence presented the government collected plaintiffs' own metadata, one could also conclude the opposite," wrote Judge Janice Rogers Brown. As such, the plaintiffs "fall short of meeting the higher burden of proof required for a preliminary injunction," she added.
Spokespeople for both NSA and the Office of Director of National Intelligence declined to comment on the ruling.
Under new provisions that begin in November, the program requires companies such as Verizon Communications Inc and AT&T Inc, to collect telephone records the same way that they do now for billing purposes.
But instead of routinely feeding U.S. intelligence agencies such data in bulk, the companies would be required to turn it over only in response to a government request approved by the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
Documents provided by Snowden in 2013 showed the surveillance court secretly approved the collection of millions of raw daily phone records in America.
The program was challenged by Klayman and Charles Strange, the father of a U.S. cryptologist technician killed in Afghanistan in 2011. They won the case in U.S. District Court in Washington in December 2013.
The government said in court papers that the program was authorized under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which addresses the FBI's ability to gather business records.
The only other appeals court to rule on the issue is the 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals in New York, which held in May that the program was unlawful. The court is due to hear new arguments next week over whether an injunction should be imposed.

The case is NSA v. Klayman, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, No. 14-5004

Austria: Arrests after 71 dead refugees found in truck

Austrian police confirm final death toll, saying the refugees included eight women and four children.

 

Austrian authorities say three people have been arrested in Hungary after the dead bodies of 71 refugees were found in a truck abandoned on a motorway.
Police had originally put the death toll at between 20 and 50 after the truck was found on Thursday, but Austrian officials revised the figure upwards on Friday.
Speaking at a press conference in Eisenstadt, Austrian police official Hans Peter Doskozil said the dead comprised 59 men, 8 women and four children, including a young infant.
He said it was likely that those in the truck suffocated.
Of the three arrested, one is a Bulgarian who is believed to have owned the vehicle. The others, a Bulgarian and another with Hungarian documents, are "pretty certain to be those who drove the vehicle," Doskozil said.
Officials said they hoped the three would lead them to others responsible for trafficking the dead across Europe.
The truck, found on Thursday, had travelled to Austria from Hungary. The partly decomposed bodies were piled on top of each other in a cargo container in the vehicle, parked off the highway in Burgenland state.
The shocking discovery cast a shadow over talks in Vienna, where Europe's leaders had gathered on Thursday to discuss the mounting refugee crisis on the continent.
Working in collaboration with Hungarian authorities, Austrian police have launched a cross-border hunt for the missing driver, believed to be Romanian.

Initial investigations revealed the truck had left Budapest on Wednesday morning, before being sighted near the Austrian border overnight [Reuters]

"We were all shaken by the horrible news that up to 50 people died ... these were people coming to seek safety," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday, prior to the new toll being released.

"This is a warning to work to resolve this problem and show solidarity."
The conference held a minute of silence to commemorate the dead.
This year has seen record numbers of people trying to reach the EU by sea and land as they flee conflicts in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
In Austria, the number of asylum requests rose above 28,300 between January and June alone - as many as for the whole of 2014 - and officials expect the total to reach 80,000 this year.
The Western Balkans conference was called to find a common European answer to the refugee crisis that is overwhelming some countries while leaving others relatively unaffected.
Austrian plan
At the summit, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz floated elements of a five-point plan that foresees establishing safe havens in the refugees' home countries where those seeking asylum in the EU could be processed and - if they qualify - be given safe passage to Europe.
Beyond safe havens, possibly protected by troops acting under a UN mandate, the Austrian plan to be submitted to EU decision-makers foresees increased controls on Europe's outer borders and coordinated action against human smuggling.

It also calls for refugee quotas for each of the EU's 28 members - something that many countries have opposed.

EU members Greece and Italy, and non-EU Balkan countries such as Macedonia and Serbia - whose leaders attended the summit - are dealing with the initial refugee burden through sea and land routes. But many of these refugees are only in transit to western European countries.
Nearly 300,000 people have crossed the Mediterranean this year with at least 2,373 "migrants and refugees" dying in a bid to reach Europe, nearly 300 more than the same period last year, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

German minister urges Facebook to purge racist posts

Social network agrees to hold talks with justice minister after widespread complaints of hate speech.

 

Germany is seeing growing anti-immigration sentiment amid an influx of refugees [EPA]

Facebook has accepted an invitation from Germany's justice minister to hold talks on cracking down on racist posts on the social network site after widespread complaints from users.
In a letter to Facebook's European subsidiaries, Justice Minister Heiko Maas on Thursday called for a meeting with company leaders on September 14 in Berlin to discuss the need for Facebook to do more to rid its website of xenophobic expressions.
According to an email sent to Al Jazeera from Facebook's spokesperson, the social network agreed to talk with Maas, saying that it takes "his concerns very seriously" and that "Facebook is no place for racism".
"We understand that Facebook has a very special responsibility, and we work hard every day to protect people on Facebook from abuse, hate speech and bullying," the statement said.
"We are extremely interested in participating in an exchange with Federal Minister Maas so that we can determine what society, business and politics can do to collectively mitigate the diffusion of xenophobia in Germany,” it added.

As Germany faces a record influx of refugees and a backlash from the far-right, social media sites like Facebook have seen a surge of hateful, xenophobic commentary.
'Complaints ignored'
In a letter to Facebook public policy director Richard Allan in Dublin obtained by the Reuters news agency, Maas said he had received many complaints from users that their protests on racist posts have been ignored.
Users also accuse the company of double standards for cracking down swifter and harder on nudity and sexual content than on hate-mongering.
Maas said Facebook was required to delete posts in violation of German laws against incitement of racial hatred.
"We will be happy to support Facebook in any way we can, but ultimately I think it is in Facebook's own interest, because no form of social media wants to be seen as a platform used excessively by right-wing extremists to spread ideological rubbish," Maas added.
Facebook users in Berlin and the southern state of Bavaria have faced large fines this year for hate speech.

Dozens of refugees found dead in truck in Austria

More than 28,300 people applied for refugee protection in Austria in the first half of the year, with many coming from Syria [EPA]

Up to 50 refugees have been found dead in a truck in Austria, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Balkan leaders gathered in Vienna to decide on how to tackle together the biggest migration crisis to hit Europe since World War II.
The vehicle, which contained between 20 and 50 bodies, was found on a parking strip off the highway in Burgenland state, police spokesman Hans Peter Doskozil said at a Thursday press conference with Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner.
"This tragedy affects us all deeply," Mikl-Leitner said. "Human traffickers are criminals. Anyone still thinking that they're kind helpers cannot be helped."

It was not immediately clear how the people in the truck had died, nor how long they had been there.
More than 28,300 people applied for refugee protection in Austria in the first half of the year, with many coming from Syria.
At the talks in Vienna, Merkel said everyone had been "shaken" by news of the bodies found.
"We are of course all shaken by the appalling news," Merkel said.
"This reminds us that we must tackle quickly the issue of immigration and in a European spirit - that means in a spirit of solidarity - and to find solutions."
Balkans route
The talks come amid growing criticism of the European Union's failure to agree on a joint response to the unfolding crisis.
Countries taking part include Macedonia and Serbia, two major transit nations for the thousands of migrants and refugees trying to enter the EU by taking the so-called "western Balkans route".

The foreign ministers of both countries called for a concerted EU action plan at the start of the summit.

"Unless we have a European answer to this crisis ... no one should be under any illusion that this will be solved," Macedonia's Nikola Poposki said.
 Meanwhile, EU member state Hungary, which is a member of the EU's passport-free Schengen zone and has become the bloc's main entry point for migrants arriving by land along the Balkans route, was not at the meeting.

The daily number of people crossing into Hungary hit a new high on Wednesday, topping 3,000, including nearly 700 children, police figures showed. Hungarian lawmakers will debate next week whether to deploy troops to stem the influx.

Alarmed by the growing humanitarian disaster, United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon has urged countries "in Europe and elsewhere to prove their compassion and do much more to bring an end to the crisis".

UN refugee chief Antonio Guterres and French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve meanwhile have called for the urgent creation of more so-called "hotspots" - processing centres to sort refugees fleeing war, from economic migrants simply in search of a better life.

Nearly 300,000 people have crossed the Mediterranean this year with 2,373 migrants and refugees dying in a bid to reach Europe, nearly 300 more than the same period last year, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Hungary has plans to reinforce its southern border with helicopters, mounted police and dogs [Reuters]

Saudi troops enter northern Yemen after Houthi clashes

Saudi commanders insist incursion into northern Yemen is temporary, as troops take up positions overlooking Jizan.

 

Saudi Arabian troops have crossed into northern Yemen for the first time since the conflict with Houthi rebels began in March.

Footage published on Wednesday showed soldiers taking positions in a mountainous area overlooking the southern Saudi province of Jizan.
Houthi shelling and rocket attacks on the border have killed dozens of Saudi soldiers, including a general on Sunday.
Saudi commanders insist the incursions are temporary.
A Saudi-led coalition has launched air strikes at rebel positions in Yemen but the the Houthis and their allies, soldiers loyal to the former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, insist they are still a capable fighting force.
The Houthis have posted video online of what they say are rebel commandos storming a Saudi border post.

The video shows the fighters capturing the building after heavy fighting and blowing up military vehicles, only to withdraw when Saudi fighter jets launched an air raid in the area.
In July, Popular Resistance fighters fighting on the side of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's forces expelled the Houthis and their allies from the southern port city of Aden, whose capture by the rebels sparked the aerial campaign by the Arab coalition.
More than 4,300 people have been killed in the conflict in Yemen, according to the UN, almost half of those civilians.
At least 50 people have died in Houthi attacks on positions inside Saudi Arabia.

Scores of dead refugees found on boat off Libya coast

Swedish coastguard said it found about 40 bodies in the hold and rescued 439 people after it sent ship to help vessel.

 

The discovery was made after a Swedish ship was sent to the aid of the stricken vessel on Wednesday [AP]

Scores of bodies of refugees have been found in the hold of a boat off the coast of Libya, the Italian and Swedish coastguards have said.
The discovery was made after a Swedish ship, called the Poseidon, was sent to the aid of the stricken vessel by the Italian coastguard on Wednesday, which said it was simultaneously coordinating rescue operations for multiple boats carrying at least 2,000 people.

Swedish coastguard spokesman Mattias Lindholm told the AFP news agency that they had been able to save 439 people on the wooden boat.
"Unfortunately there were around 40 people dead in the hold," he said. "The bodies are currently being transferred to the Poseidon."
The Swedish ship was in the area as part of the EU border agency Frontex's search and rescue mission known as Triton.
The Reuters news agency cited the Italian coastguard as saying that about 50 bodies were found in the hold of the boat.
Italian media reported that another boat with about 700 people aboard was in trouble in the same area.
Complex rescue operation
MOAS, a Malta-based private organisation, said in a tweet that its boat, the Phoenix, was taking part in a complex rescue operation.
"Phoenix are working with Italian and Swedish vessels to assist thousands," it said.
Italy's coastguard said at least 10 vessels had issued distress calls and at least 2,000 refugees, "probably more" were in danger.
On August 15, the Italian navy discovered the bodies of 49 migrants asphyxiated in the hold of a people smuggler's boat.
Survivors later testified that the victims had been locked below deck and made to stay there by force.
More than 2,300 refugees have died at sea this year during attempts to reach Europe, almost invariably on overcrowded boats chartered by people smugglers.

The Swedish ship was in the area as part of the EU border agency Frontex's search-and-rescue mission known as Triton [Reuters]

Source: Agencies

Man who shot dead two US journalists live on air dies

Vester Lee Flanigan, who shot Alison Parker and Adam Ward live on TV, dies of self-inflicted wound in Virginia hospital.

 

Parke, left, was conducting an interview about tourism on Bridgewater Plaza in Franklin County before her and Ward were killed [WDBJ7]

A man who shot dead a reporter and a cameraman for WDBJ7, a local CBS affiliate, live on air in the US state of Virginia has died of a self-inflicted wound in hospital.
Franklin County Sheriff, Bill Overton, told a news conference on Wednesday that the suspect had died at Inova Fairfax hospital in northern Virginia.
Overton offered no motive for the shootings and said the investigation would be lengthy.
After leaving the scene, former WDBJ7 employee Vester Lee Flanigan, also known as Bryce Williams, crashed his car on the I-66 highway in Faquier County.
He was located by police and found to be suffering from a gunshot wound. Flanagan, 41, later died in hospital.
Earlier on Wednesday, live on air, shots could be heard in footage taken by WDBJ7 cameraman Adam Ward, 27, before he dropped to the ground.
Alison Parker, 24, who also died, was conducting an interview about tourism on Bridgewater Plaza in Franklin County before at least eight shots rang out. The woman being interviewed was also wounded in the attack.

We love you, Alison and Adam. pic.twitter.com/hLSzQi06XE

— WDBJ7 (@WDBJ7) August 26, 2015

'I filmed the shooting'
Hours after the shooting, someone claiming to be Flanagan posted video online of the shooting that appeared to be from the shooter's vantage point.
The videos were posted to a Twitter account and on Facebook by a man identifying himself as Bryce Williams, which was Flanagan's on-air name.
The videos were removed shortly afterward. One video clearly showed a handgun as the person filming approached Parker.
The person purporting to be Flanagan also posted "I filmed the shooting see Facebook," as well as saying one of the victims had "made racist comments."
Flanagan had sued another station where he worked in Florida, alleging he had been discriminated against because he was black.
ABC News reported on its website that it had received a 23-page fax from someone claiming to be Bryce Williams some time between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
The network turned the fax over to authorities, it said, without giving details on its contents.

Who's Stephen Hawking ?

Stephen Hawking Biography

Physicist, Scientist (1942)

 

 

 

Stephen Hawking is known for his work regarding black holes and for authoring several popular science books. He suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Synopsis

Stephen Hawking was born on January 8, 1942, in Oxford, England. At an early age, Hawking showed a passion for science and the sky. At age 21, while studying cosmology at the University of Cambridge, he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Despite his debilitating illness, he has done groundbreaking work in physics and cosmology, and his several books have helped to make science accessible to everyone. Part of his life story was depicted in the 2014 film The Theory of Everything.

Early Life and Background

The eldest of Frank and Isobel Hawking's four children, Stephen William Hawking was born on the 300th anniversary of the death of Galileo—long a source of pride for the noted physicist—on January 8, 1942. He was born in Oxford, England, into a family of thinkers. His Scottish mother had earned her way into Oxford University in the 1930s—a time when few women were able to go to college. His father, another Oxford graduate, was a respected medical researcher with a specialty in tropical diseases.
Stephen Hawking's birth came at an inopportune time for his parents, who didn't have much money. The political climate was also tense, as England was dealing with World War II and the onslaught of German bombs. In an effort to seek a safer place, Isobel returned to Oxford to have the couple's first child. The Hawkings would go on to have two other children, Mary (1943) and Philippa (1947). And their second son, Edward, was adopted in 1956.
The Hawkings, as one close family friend described them, were an "eccentric" bunch. Dinner was often eaten in silence, each of the Hawkings intently reading a book. The family car was an old London taxi, and their home in St. Albans was a three-story fixer-upper that never quite got fixed. The Hawkings also housed bees in the basement and produced fireworks in the greenhouse.
In 1950, Hawking's father took work to manage the Division of Parasitology at the National Institute of Medical Research, and spent the winter months in Africa doing research. He wanted his eldest child to go into medicine, but at an early age, Hawking showed a passion for science and the sky. That was evident to his mother, who, along with her children, often stretched out in the backyard on summer evenings to stare up at the stars. "Stephen always had a strong sense of wonder," she remembered. "And I could see that the stars would draw him."
Early in his academic life, Hawking, while recognized as bright, was not an exceptional student. During his first year at St. Albans School, he was third from the bottom of his class. But Hawking focused on pursuits outside of school; he loved board games, and he and a few close friends created new games of their own. During his teens, Hawking, along with several friends, constructed a computer out of recycled parts for solving rudimentary mathematical equations.
Hawking was also frequently on the go. With his sister Mary, Hawking, who loved to climb, devised different entry routes into the family home. He remained active even after he entered University College at Oxford University at the age of 17. He loved to dance and also took an interest in rowing, becoming a team coxswain.
Hawking expressed a desire to study mathematics, but since Oxford didn't offer a degree in that specialty, Hawking gravitated toward physics and, more specifically, cosmology.
By his own account, Hawking didn't put much time into his studies. He would later calculate that he averaged about an hour a day focusing on school. And yet he didn't really have to do much more than that. In 1962, he graduated with honors in natural science and went on to attend Trinity Hall at Cambridge University for a PhD in cosmology.

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ALS Diagnosis

While Hawking first began to notice problems with his physical health while he was at Oxford—on occasion he would trip and fall, or slur his speech—he didn't look into the problem until 1963, during his first year at Cambridge. For the most part, Hawking had kept these symptoms to himself. But when his father took notice of the condition, he took Hawking to see a doctor. For the next two weeks, the 21-year-old college student made his home at a medical clinic, where he underwent a series of tests.
"They took a muscle sample from my arm, stuck electrodes into me, and injected some radio-opaque fluid into my spine, and watched it going up and down with X-rays, as they tilted the bed," he once said. "After all that, they didn't tell me what I had, except that it was not multiple sclerosis, and that I was an atypical case."
Eventually, however, doctors did inform the Hawkings about what was ailing their son: He was in the early stages of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease). In a very simple sense, the nerves that controlled his muscles were shutting down. Doctors gave him two and a half years to live.
It was devastating news for Hawking and his family. A few events, however, prevented him from becoming completely despondent. The first of these came while Hawking was still in the hospital. There, he shared a room with a boy suffering from leukemia. Relative to what his roommate was going through, Hawking later reflected, his situation seemed more tolerable. Not long after he was released from the hospital, Hawking had a dream that he was going to be executed. He said this dream made him realize that there were still things to do with his life.
But the most significant change in his life was the fact that he was in love. At a New Year's party in 1963, shortly before he had been diagnosed with ALS, Hawking met a young languages undergraduate named Jane Wilde. They were married in 1965.
In a sense, Hawking's disease helped him become the noted scientist he is today. Before the diagnosis, Hawking hadn't always focused on his studies. "Before my condition was diagnosed, I had been very bored with life," he said. "There had not seemed to be anything worth doing." With the sudden realization that he might not even live long enough to earn his PhD, Hawking poured himself into his work and research.

Research on Black Holes

Groundbreaking findings from another young cosmologist, Roger Penrose, about the fate of stars and the creation of black holes tapped into Hawking's own fascination with how the universe began. This set him on a career course that reshaped the way the world thinks about black holes and the universe.
While physical control over his body diminished (he'd be forced to use a wheelchair by 1969), the effects of his disease started to slow down. In 1968, a year after the birth of his son Robert, Hawking became a member of the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge.
The next few years were a fruitful time for Hawking. A daughter, Lucy, was born to Stephen and Jane in 1969, while Hawking continued with his research. (A third child, Timothy, arrived 10 years later.) He then published his first book, the highly technical The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time (1973), with G.F.R. Ellis. He also teamed up with Penrose to expand upon his friend's earlier work.
In 1974, Hawking's research turned him into a celebrity within the scientific world when he showed that black holes aren't the information vacuums that scientists had thought they were. In simple terms, Hawking demonstrated that matter, in the form of radiation, can escape the gravitational force of a collapsed star. Hawking radiation was born.
The announcement sent shock waves of excitement through the scientific world, and put Hawking on a path that's been marked by awards, notoriety and distinguished titles. He was named a fellow of the Royal Society at the age of 32, and later earned the prestigious Albert Einstein Award, among other honors.
Teaching stints followed, too. One was at Caltech in Pasadena, California, where Hawking served as visiting professor, making subsequent visits over the years. Another was at Gonville and Caius College in Cambridge. In 1979, Hawking found himself back at Cambridge University, where he was named to one of teaching's most renowned posts, dating back to 1663: the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics.

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'A Brief History of Time'

Hawking's ever-expanding career was accompanied, however, by his ever-worsening physical state. By the mid-1970s, the Hawking family had taken in one of Hawking's graduate students to help manage his care and work. He could still feed himself and get out of bed, but virtually everything else required assistance. In addition, his speech had become increasingly slurred, so that only those who knew him well could understand him. In 1985 he lost his voice for good following a tracheotomy. The resulting situation required 24-hour nursing care for the acclaimed physicist.
It also put in peril Hawking's ability to do his work. The predicament caught the attention of a California computer programmer, who had developed a speaking program that could be directed by head or eye movement. The invention allowed Hawking to select words on a computer screen that were then passed through a speech synthesizer. At the time of its introduction, Hawking, who still had use of his fingers, selected his words with a handheld clicker. Today, with virtually all control of his body gone, Hawking directs the program through a cheek muscle attached to a sensor.
Through the program, and the help of assistants, Stephen Hawking has continued to write at a prolific rate. His work has included numerous scientific papers, of course, but also information for the non-scientific community.
In 1988 Hawking, a recipient of the Commander of the Order of the British Empire, catapulted to international prominence with the publication of A Brief History of Time. The short, informative book became an account of cosmology for the masses. The work was an instant success, spending more than four years atop the London Sunday Times' best-seller list. Since its publication, it has sold millions of copies worldwide and been translated into more than 40 languages. But it also wasn't as easy to understand as some had hoped. So in 2001, Hawking followed up his book with The Universe in a Nutshell, which offered a more illustrated guide to cosmology's big theories. Four years later, he authored the even more accessible A Briefer History of Time.
Together the books, along with Hawking's own research and papers, articulate the physicist's personal search for science's Holy Grail: a single unifying theory that can combine cosmology (the study of the big) with quantum mechanics (the study of the small) to explain how the universe began. It's this kind of ambitious thinking that has allowed Hawking, who claims he can think in 11 dimensions, to lay out some big possibilities for humankind. He's convinced that time travel is possible, and that humans may indeed colonize other planets in the future.

Space Travel and Further Fame

Hawking's quest for big answers to big questions includes his own personal desire to travel into space. In 2007, at the age of 65, Hawking made an important step toward space travel. While visiting the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, he was given the opportunity to experience an environment without gravity. Over the course of two hours over the Atlantic, Hawking, a passenger on a modified Boeing 727, was freed from his wheelchair to experience bursts of weightlessness. Pictures of the freely floating physicist splashed across newspapers around the globe.
"The zero-G part was wonderful, and the high-G part was no problem. I could have gone on and on. Space, here I come!" he said.
If there is such a thing as a rock-star scientist, Stephen Hawking embodies it. His forays into popular culture have included guest appearances on The Simpsons, Star Trek: The Next Generation, a comedy spoof with comedian Jim Carrey on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and even a recorded voice-over on the Pink Floyd song "Keep Talking." In 1992, Oscar-winning filmmaker Errol Morris released a documentary about Hawking's life, aptly titled A Brief History of Time.
Of course, as it is with any celebrity, fame has brought with it an interest in Hawking's personal life. And there have been some news-making events. In 1990, Hawking left his wife, Jane, for one of his nurses, Elaine Mason. The two were married in 1995, and the marriage put a strain on Hawking's relationship with his own children, who claimed Elaine closed off their father from them. In 2003, nurses looking after Hawking reported their suspicions to police that Elaine was physically abusing her husband. Hawking denied the allegations, and the police investigation was called off.
In 2006, however, Hawking and Elaine filed for divorce. In the years since, the physicist has apparently grown closer with his family. He's reconciled with Jane, who has remarried, and published a 2007 science book for children, George's Secret Key to the Universe, with his daughter, Lucy.
Hawking's health, of course, remains a constant concern—a worry that was heightened in 2009 when he failed to appear at a conference in Arizona because of a chest infection. In April, Hawking, who had already announced he was retiring after 30 years from the post of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, was rushed to the hospital for being what university officials described as "gravely ill." It was later announced that he was expected to make a full recovery.
Hawking is scheduled to fly to the edge of space as one of Sir Richard Branson's pioneer space tourists. He said in a 2007 statement, "Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers. I think the human race has no future if it doesn't go into space. I therefore want to encourage public interest in space."
In September 2010, Hawking spoke against the idea that God could have created the universe in his book The Grand Design. Hawking previously argued that belief in a creator could be compatible with modern scientific theories. His new work, however, concludes that the Big Bang was the inevitable consequence of the laws of physics and nothing more. "Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing," Hawking says. "Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist."
The Grand Design is Hawking's first major publication in almost a decade. Within his new work, Hawking sets out to challenge Sir Isaac Newton's belief that the universe had to have been designed by God, simply because it could not have been born from chaos. "It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going," Hawking said.
Hawking made news in 2012 for two very different projects. It was revealed that he had participated in a 2011 trial of a new headband-styled device called the iBrain. The device is designed to "read" the wearer's thoughts by picking up "waves of electrical brain signals," which are then interpreted by a special algorithm, according to an article in The New York Times. This device could be a revolutionary aid to Hawking and others with ALS.

TV and Film

Also around this time, Hawking showed off his humorous side on American television. He made a guest appearance on The Big Bang Theory, a popular comedy about a group of young, geeky scientists. Playing himself, Hawking brings the theoretical physicist Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) back to Earth after finding an error in his work. Hawking earned kudos for this lighthearted effort.
In 2014, Hawking, among other top scientists, spoke out about the possible dangers of artificial intelligence, or AI, calling for more research to be done on all of possible ramifications of AI. Their comments were inspired by the Johnny Depp film Transcendence, which features clash between humanity and technology. "Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history," the scientists wrote. "Unfortunately, it might also be the last, unless we learn how to avoid the risks." The group warned of a time when this technology would be "outsmarting financial markets, out-inventing human researchers, out-manipulating human leaders, and developing weapons we cannot even understand."
In November of the same year, a film about the life of Stephen Hawking and Jane Wilde was released. The Theory of Everything stars Eddie Redmayne as Hawking and encompasses his early life and school days, his courtship and marriage to Wilde, the progression of his crippling disease and his scientific triumphs.

 

Hawking: There may be a way out of black holes

British scientist proposes that physical information could survive and pass through black holes to alternate universes.

 

Hawking said black holes could provide passage to alternate universes [AFP]

The acclaimed British scientist Stephen Hawking has put forward a theory that could resolve one of the most significant paradoxes facing theoretical physicists - what happens to physical information after it enters a black hole.

Speaking at a conference in the Swedish capital on Monday evening, the scientist said black holes could not swallow and destroy physical information, as Einstein's theory of relativity would predict.
Hawking also suggested that there could be a way out of a black hole.
"If you feel you are in a black hole, don't give up. There's a way out," Hawking said.
"The message of this lecture is that black holes ain't as black as they are painted. They are not the eternal prisons they were once thought. Things can get out of a black hole both on the outside and possibly come out in another universe."
The Cambridge University professor, and his colleague Professor Andrew Stromberg from Harvard University, propose that information in black holes is stored as 2D holograms, known as super translations, which contained "all the information that would be otherwise lost".
"The information is not stored in the interior of the black hole as one might expect, but in its boundary - the event horizon," Hawking said, referring to the outer perimeter of the object, which represents its point of no return.
The theory presented at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology seemingly resolves the contradiction between Einstein's belief that information entering black holes is destroyed and the rules of quantum mechanics, which hold that information is eternal and so cannot be destroyed.
Alternate universes

Black holes are the remains of stars that have died and collapsed in on themselves into a small core, creating a gravitational pull that overwhelms all other forces, and from which light cannot escape.
Hawking suggested that some black holes could provide an exit, or gateway, to alternate universes.
"The existence of alternative histories with black holes suggests this might be possible ... the hole would need to be large and if it was rotating it might have a passage to another universe. But you couldn't come back to our universe," he said.
"So although I'm keen on space flight, I'm not going to try that."

Hungary sends 2,100 police officers to control border

Tear gas fired at refugees in brief border clash as UN calls on European nations to develop unified response to crisis.

 

Hungary has announced it will deploy 2,100 police officers to help control its border with Serbia and consider sending its military as record numbers of refugees try to enter the state trying to claim asylum.

The Hungarian police chief's announcement on Wednesday came amid scenes of brief violence on the country's border with Serbia.
Television footage showed Hungarian officers firing tear gas at refugees trying to overcome the barriers and enter the EU-member state.
Police rounded up around 300-400 people and were addressing them through loud speakers, the Reuters news agency reported.
Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons, reporting from the Serbian capital Belgrade, said the violence broke out after hundreds of refugees refused to be fingerprinted.
"A large group of people was told that they had to give their fingerprints. When they give their fingerprints that means that's the point where the asylum application is made and they can't leave that country," Simmons said.
"What people want to do is leave Hungary and move on to more affluent EU states, such as Germany, Holland and the UK."
On Wednesday, Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs stated the government has discussed how the army could be used to help secure the country's southern border.
Kovacs said any decision to use the army must be decided by parliament, which is set to discuss the issue next week.
"Hungary's government and national security cabinet ... have discussed the question of how the army could be used to help protect Hungary's border and the EU's border," Kovacs said.
A total of 2,093 refugees, the highest daily total to date, crossed the border near the Hungarian town of Roszke on Monday, a police statement said.
Thousands of Syrian refugees are trying to cross the border everyday, leading to a call by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) to come up with a new strategy to solve the crisis.
The agency said that all European countries and the EU must act together to provide support to countries such as Greece, Macedonia, and Serbia whose capacities were overstretched. It also called for the equitable redistribution of refugees across the EU.
"It's vital that these people are treated humanely, also that essential assistance is provided, not just by responding to their basic needs but respecting also their dignity, their human rights as asylum seekers and migrants," UNHCR spokesperson Melissa Fleming told a news conference in Geneva on Tuesday.
International obligations
Fleming appealed to governments in the EU to make sure that they handled the situation with sensitivity and abided by their international obligations.
"While understanding legitimate concerns facing countries in the region - obviously this is an unexpected large number of people - we do appeal to the governments involved to implement border management measures with humanity and also in accordance with international obligations."
Her comments came after a record number of refugees streamed into EU member Hungary from Serbia, just days before Hungary completes a border fence.

The UNHCR's calls for reforms came a day after German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande called for a unified system for the right to asylum, and the setting up of reception centres in Greece and Italy.
The issue is set to top the agenda at a summit of Balkan leaders on Thursday, which Merkel will attend.
Germany, a country that has taken a leading role in welcoming refugees in the EU, is now advising officials who process their arrivals not to send people from Syria back to other European countries.

Refugees rest in a park beside the main railway and bus station after arriving in Belgrade, Serbia [EPA]

Assad defends presence of Hezbollah fighters in Syria

Syrian leader says his government formally requested help from group while foreign fighters helping rebels are illegal.

 

Assad has expressed "strong confidence" that Moscow will continue supporting his regime [EPA]

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has defended the presence of fighters from the Lebanese Shia Hezbollah movement among the ranks of the Syrian army, saying his government had legitimately requested their help.
In an interview aired on Tuesday night on the official Hezbollah channel, al-Manar, Assad said the presence of non-Syrian fighters among the Syrian army was no justification for the presence of foreign fighters in the ranks of the rebels.
Hezbollah has led several several battles against rebel groups in Syria along the Lebanese borders in the suburbs of Homs and in the mountainous Qalamoun region.
The Iranian-backed group is now heavily involved in fighting for the Damascus suburb of Zabadani.
When asked to compare Hezbollah fighting in Syria with foreign fighters supporting the rebels, Assad said: "There is a big difference. The Syrian state requested the assistance of Hezbollah.
"It was a request by the Syrian state - which is a legitimate state - in order to help defending the Syrian people."
Russian support
Assad said his major allies – namely Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah - since Syria's revolt broke out in 2011 had been "beyond loyal".
The embattled president also expressed "strong confidence" that Moscow will continue supporting his regime.
"We have strong confidence in the Russians, as they have proven throughout this crisis, for four years, that they are sincere and transparent in their relationship with us," Assad said, in what was rare television interview.
"They are principled," the president said, while "the United States abandons its allies, abandon its friends."
"This was never the case with Russia's policy, neither during the Soviet Union, neither during the time of Russia."
Assad had been asked by al-Manar's correspondent about US President Barack Obama's comments earlier this month that Russia and Iran "recognise that the trend lines are not good for Assad".
He rebuffed the statement, saying Iran, too, remained a steadfast ally.
"The power of Iran is the power of Syria, and a victory for Syria is a victory for Iran.
"We are on the same axis, the axis of resistance," the president added.
UN bias
Syria's conflict began with anti-government demonstrations in March. 2011.
But after a bloody crackdown by the ruling regime, the conflict spiralled into a multi-front civil war that has killed more than 240,000 people.
In the interview, Assad reiterated that "fighting terrorism" should be the priority in any peace deal. The regime regularly labels the opposition as "terrorists".
He also accused the UN peace envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, of bias for what he said was the envoy's exclusive condemnation of the Syrian army's attacks on "terrorists".
Earlier this month, government air raids on a crowded market in the Damascus suburb of Douma killed over 100 people.
De Mistura said in a statement that hitting crowded civilian markets is "unacceptable."

Record number of refugees enter Hungary from Serbia

More than 2,000 refugees crossed frontier on Monday, just days before Hungary completes a border fence.

 

After crossing Serbia, refugees enter Hungary to continue their journey to western and northern EU countries [EPA]

A record number of refugees streamed into EU member Hungary from Serbia, police said, just days before Hungary completes a border fence.
A total of 2,093 potential asylum seekers, the highest ever daily total, crossed the border near the Hungarian town of Roszke, a police statement said on Monday.
They were part of a wave of around 8,000 refugees whose journey to the European Union had been blocked last week when Macedonia declared a state of emergency and closed its borders after being overwhelmed by the huge influx of people, amid Europe's worst refugee crisis since World War II.
Many refugees said they had passed through Serbia after travelling through Macedonia's border with Greece.
"We were stopped in Macedonia for two days, the riots were terrible, police used guns and tear gas, I saw an old woman beaten, her money and papers taken," a 29-year-old IT engineer from Mosul in Iraq told the AFP news agency.
Al Jazeera's Djordge Kostic, reporting near the border with Hungary, said an estimated 1,500 refugees are currently staying at 28 shelters set up by the UN and Russian-Serbian aid organisation in the city of Kanjiza.
He said the refugee situation at Kanjiza is "better organised" than in other parts of Serbia.  
"There water, food, toilet and shower stalls provided to them. They even have Wi-Fi," he said.
From there, the refugees can proceed to Horgos, about 12-km away, where they can take the train to Hungary, our correspondent said.
Meanwhile,Al Jazeera's Aljosa Milenkovic, reporting from Presevo on the Serbia-Macedonia border, said more refugees were likely to come, "putting to test the region's ability to cope with the large number of people transiting through".
The latest movements came as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Fracois Hollande called for a unified system for the right to asylum, and the setting up of reception centres in Greece and Italy.
The issue is set to top the agenda at a summit of Balkan leaders on Thursday, which Merkel will attend.
Razor-wire fence
Hungary has registered more than 100,000 asylum seekers so far in 2015, over double the total for all of last year. In 2012, the figure was just 2,000.

The numbers have sharply increased to around 1,500 a day in August, after Hungary's conservative government announced it would build a razor-wire fence along its southern border with Serbia.
In recent days, refugees have entered Hungary alongside a cross-border train track near Roszke, one of the few sections of the border with Serbia not yet blocked by three rolls of razor-wire, which the government says will completely seal off the border by August 31.
The fence is one of several measures making it more difficult for refugees to enter and stay in Hungary. The government is also tightening asylum laws, introducing penalties for illegal border-crossing, and the planned closure of permanent refugee camps.
About 102,000 "migrants" entered the EU via Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Montenegro or Kosovo between January and July this year, versus just 8,000 for the same period in 2014, according to EU border agency Frontex.
The number of refugees now making their way from Greece towards the EU is worrying many EU politicians and has left the Balkan countries struggling to cope with the humanitarian crisis.

Wall St. suffers worst day in four years, S&P confirms correction

Investors rattled about China sent U.S. stock indices almost 4-percent lower on Monday in an unusually volatile session that confirmed the S&P 500 was formally in a correction, even after a dramatic rebound by Apple.
The Dow Jones industrial average briefly slumped more than 1,000 points, its most dramatic intraday trading range ever.
Monday's drop followed an 8.5 percent slump in Chinese markets, which sparked a selloff in global stocks along with oil and other commodities.
Wall Street had stayed in s narrow range for much of 2015, but volatility jumped this month as investors became increasingly concerned about a potential stumble in China's economy and after Beijing surprisingly devalued its currency.
Some investors unloaded stocks ahead of the close after looking to make money from volatile price swings earlier in the session.
"If things don't settle down in China, we could have another ugly open tomorrow and you wouldn't want to be caught holding positions you bought this morning," said Randy Frederick, managing director of trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin.
Apple's Chief Executive Tim Cook, in comments to CNBC, took the unusual step of reassuring shareholders about the iPhone maker's business in China ahead of a dramatic 13-percent drop and rebound in its stock, which closed down just 2.47 percent at $103.15.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 588.4 points, or 3.57 percent, at 15,871.35.
The S&P 500 lost 77.68 points, or 3.94 percent, to 1,893.21, putting it formally in correction mode.
An index is considered to be in correction when it closes 10 percent below its 52-week high. The Dow was confirmed to be in a correction on Friday.
The Nasdaq Composite dropped 179.79 points, or 3.82 percent, to 4,526.25, also in correction.
The CBOE Volatility index, popularly known as the "fear index", briefly jumped as much as 90 percent to 53.29, its highest since January 2009.

Investor confidence lags recovery of stock markets

Preliminary data from BATS Global Markets show that there were 1,287 trading halts on U.S. stock exchanges due to excessive volatility or the tripping of circuit breakers, far more than usual.
The S&P 500 index showed 187 new 52-week lows and just two highs, while the Nasdaq recorded 613 new lows and eight highs.

"Emotions got the best of investors," said Philip Blancato, chief executive at Ladenberg Thalmann Asset Management in New York.
"The conjecture that the Chinese economy can propel the U.S. economy into recession is ridiculous, when it's twice the size of the Chinese economy and is consumer-based."
All of the 10 major S&P 500 sectors were down, with energy losing 5.18 percent.
U.S. oil prices were down about 5 percent at 6-1/2-year lows, while London copper and aluminum futures hit their lowest since 2009.

Misplaced China Syndrome

Exxon and Chevron each fell more than 4.7 percent. U.S. oil and gas companies have already lost about $310 billion of market value this year.
The dollar index was down 1.67 percent. It fell more than 2 percent earlier to a 7-month low as the probability of a September rate hike receded.
Traders now see a 24-percent chance that the Federal Reserve will increase rates in September, down from 30 percent late on Friday and 46 percent a week earlier, according to Tullett Prebon data.
Wall Street's selloff shows investors are becoming increasingly nervous about paying high prices for stocks at a time of minimal earnings growth, tumbling energy prices, and uncertainty around a rate hike.
Alibaba lost 3.49 percent to $65.80, below its IPO price of $68, making it the second high-profile tech company to fall below its IPO price in the past week after Twitter on Thursday.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the NYSE 3,064 to 131. On the Nasdaq, 2,632 issues fell and 281 advanced.
Volume was heavy, with about 13.9 billion shares traded on U.S. exchanges, well above the 7.0 billion average this month, according to BATS Global Markets.

DoubleLine's Gundlach sees another major leg down