By Bill Trott and Matt Spetalnick

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States came under more pressure on Sunday to help Europe find sanctuary for a flood of immigrants displaced by war and chaos, but Washington showed no signs of planning a dramatic increase in its intake of refugees.

David Miliband, head of the International Rescue Committee and former British foreign secretary, called on the United States to bring out "the kind of leadership America has shown on these kind of issues" in the past.

"The United States has always been a leader in refugee resettlement but 1,500 people over four years is such a miniscule contribution to tackling the human side of this problem," Miliband said on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos."

State Department spokesman John Kirby, in an interview with Reuters late on Saturday, offered no indication the United States would be greatly boosting the number of immigrants it would allow into the country. He cited the $4 billion U.S. contribution to refugee relief and reconfirmed the Obama administration's position about security concerns.

"There is a significant vetting process here for folks from Syria that we have to follow," he said, adding that the Obama administration had been in contact with European allies and was exploring options.

U.S. authorities want to prevent militants from Islamic State or al Qaeda from slipping into the country as refugees.

But there are risks to sticking to current policy and not playing a more active role in helping Europe. Another U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that, given the graphic images of the refugees' plight, Washington may face an international image problem for admitting only a small number compared to European countries.

Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner on Refugees, said the United States had not put a quota on the number of refugees it would accept. She said the UNHCR had submitted almost 16,300 refugees for resettlement in the United States and would continue submitting cases for consideration.

'FUNDAMENTALLY FALLS ON EUROPE'

Europe has been operating without a consensus on what do with the flood of refugees.

Austria and Germany, which expects to receive 800,000 refugees and migrants this year, have opened their borders in recent days to thousands of mostly Syrian refugees who had been stranded in Hungary. Pope Francis on Sunday called on every Catholic parish and religious community in Europe to take in at least one refugee family.

Since the Syrian conflict began in early 2011, the United States has taken in 1,500 refugees from there, the vast majority this year. Kirby said as many as 1,500 more refugees could be admitted by the end of 2015 and maybe more next year.

Immigration has become a major issue in the campaign leading up to the 2016 presidential election. Billionaire businessman Donald Trump has risen to the top of the Republican field with a hardline stance calling for deportation of undocumented migrants and a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, but said last week he would consider allowing Syrians into the United States.

Another Republican presidential candidate, John Kasich, also appearing on ABC's "This Week," said he favored a somewhat enhanced U.S. role with the refugees but that the situation was not primarily a Washington problem.

"I think we do have a responsibility in terms of taking some more folks in, making sure they assimilate," he said. "This is fundamentally an issue Europe has to come to grips with. We can provide some humanitarian aid to them."

Writing in the New York Times, Michael Ignatieff, a former leader of Canada's Liberal Party and now a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, said the United States, Canada and Middle East nations were wrong to consider the crisis as Europe's problem.

The United States and its allies have a responsibility to the Syrian refugees - estimated at 4 million since civil war began in their homeland - since they are arming Syrian rebels and fighting Islamic State in the country, he said.

"Blaming the Europeans is an alibi and the rest of our excuses - like the refugees don’t have the right papers - are sickening," Ignatieff wrote.

He called on the United States and Canada to take in a minimum of 25,000 Syrians and said pressure on those governments may intensify after publication in the past week of dramatic photographs of the refugees' plight.

(Writing by Bill Trott; Additional reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Cynthia Osterman)

Pressure on U.S. to help Europe with refugees

Washington shows no signs of planning a dramatic increase in immigrant intake despite critics' urging.
'Significant vetting process'

WABC – NY
Child's remains found near Chiago park, police say

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A portion of a Chicago park was closed on Sunday after a passerby found body parts of a child a day earlier, police said.

A police search in an area around a lagoon in Garfield Park has uncovered a child's foot and other remains, Chicago police spokeswoman Janel Sedevic said.

The remains have been taken to a medical examiner for identification, she said.

Chicago police detectives and the marine unit were at the scene on Sunday for further investigation, she said.

David Jordan, a member of Chirst Fellowship in North Carolina, preaches in support of the prayer rally at the Carter County Detention Center for Rowan County clerk Kim Davis, who remains in contempt of court for her refusal to issue marriage certificates to same-sex couples, in Grayson, Kentucky September 5, 2015. REUTERS/Chris Tilley

By Jon Herskovitz

(Reuters) - The lawyer for a Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses said his team filed on Sunday a notice of appeal over a contempt ruling that landed her in jail.

Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, 49, who refused to issue the licenses due to her Apostolic Christian belief that marriage can only be between a man and a woman, said she was prepared to remain in jail where she has been reading a Bible since her incarceration for contempt on Thursday, her lawyers said.

Davis was jailed for refusing to follow the orders of U.S. District Judge David Bunning. Legal experts saw little chance of her appeal succeeding, especially when she has already lost a series of other appeals.

Davis' stance has come to symbolize the cultural gap over gay marriage in the United States. Some social conservatives say she is being denied religious freedom. Others say that with the U.S. Supreme Court decision in June making same-sex marriage legal nationwide, Davis is defying her duty as a public servant by refusing to implement the law of the land.

"The contempt order itself was unlawful," Roger Gannam, a lawyer for Davis, told Reuters. Gannam is an attorney with Liberty Counsel, a Florida-based Christian religious advocacy organization that is backing her in the legal fight.

The notice of appeal was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky and officially starts the appeals process.

In Davis' absence on Friday, deputy clerks issued marriage licenses to at least four same-sex couples at the offices in Morehead, where rival groups protested outside.

Bunning had ordered Davis in August to issue the licenses. Her request for a stay of his order was denied by a U.S. appeals court and by the U.S. Supreme Court.

"Judge Bunning was ready to release her if she would not interfere with her deputies issuing marriage licenses. She declined. The judge's actions were entirely reasonable given that testimony," said Allison Connelly, director of the Legal Clinic at the University of Kentucky College of Law.

Meanwhile, Davis is waiting for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati, Ohio, to rule on her request to set aside Bunning's ruling in the overall case. In denying the request for a stay on the order, the appeals court said there was little chance she would prevail.

On Saturday up to 500 supporters gathered outside the Kentucky jail where Davis is being held to offer their support.

The thrice-divorced Davis was born in Breathitt County, the heart of Appalachia, about 60 miles (100 km) south of Morehead. She has been married four times, twice to the same man, her current husband Joe Davis. Of her four children, twins were born out of wedlock in 1994.

Her faith in Apostolic Christianity helped her escape what her lawyer described as a life in the "devil's playground" and led her to face jail in opposition to the Supreme Court ruling upholding same-sex marriage.

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas; Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Cynthia Osterman)



Kentucky clerk to file appeal over contempt ruling

Kim Davis's lawyer says that the order that jailed the Rowan County clerk was "unlawful."
Deputy clerks issue marriage licenses

Austria to revoke measures that let migrants cross from Hungary

A police officer stands next to a van crowded with migrants on the highway near Gyor, Hungary, September 6, 2015. REUTERS/David W Cerny

By Michael Shields and Irene Preisinger

VIENNA/MUNICH (Reuters) - Austria said on Sunday it planned to end emergency measures that have allowed thousands of refugees stranded in Hungary into Austria and Germany since Saturday morning.

Austria had suspended its random border checks after photographs of a Syrian toddler lying dead on a Turkish beach showed Europeans the horror faced by those desperate enough to travel illegally into the heart of Europe, which is deeply divided over how to cope.

After 71 people suffocated in the back of a truck abandoned on an Austrian highway en route from Hungary, and as thousands headed from Budapest toward Austria on foot, Vienna had agreed with Germany to waive rules requiring refugees to register an asylum claim in the first EU country they reach.

Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann said that decision was being revised following "intensive talks" with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and a telephone call with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, bitterly opposed to the waiver.

"We have always said this is an emergency situation in which we must act quickly and humanely. We have helped more than 12,000 people in an acute situation," Faymann said.

View gallery

A migrant carries her child after crossing the Macedonian-Greek border near Gevgelija, Macedonia, Se …

"Now we have to move step-by-step away from emergency measures toward normality, in conformity with the law and dignity."

Hungary laid on over 100 buses to the border on Saturday night after Austria said it had agreed to the emergency measures, to the relief of thousands of migrants and refugees stranded in Budapest after traveling through the Balkans and Greece, many of them fleeing civil war in Syria.

Others set off from a station to make the 170-km (110-mile) journey on foot. A platforms filled up again on Sunday.

Germany has said it expects to receive 800,000 refugees and migrants this year, and urged other EU members to open their doors.

'IT'S GETTING TIGHT'

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A migrant girl waits with her mother to board a train after crossing the Macedonian-Greek border nea …

At the station in Munich, state capital of Bavaria, a few dozen well-wishers turned up to cheer the new arrivals. Those who stopped to speak told of weeks of arduous travel by land and sea. Some seemed intimidated by the welcoming applause.

The president of the Upper Bavarian government, Christoph Hillenbrand, said he expected 13,000 migrants to reach the city on Sunday, up from a previous estimate of 11,000, following 6,800 arrivals on Saturday. Hillenbrand, adding that 11,000 could arrive on Monday, said Munich was running out of capacity.

Authorities there were using a disused car showroom and a railway logistics center as makeshift camps, and were adding a further 1,000 beds to 2,300 already set up at the city’s international trade fair ground. About 4,000 people were sent to other German states.

“It’s getting tight,” Hillenbrand told reporters at the train station.

Merkel's decision to allow the influx has caused a rift in her conservative bloc, with her Bavarian allies saying she had pushed ahead without consulting the federal state administrations dealing with the problem on the ground.

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Migrants board a train after crossing the Macedonian-Greek border near Gevgelija, Macedonia, Septemb …

The political rift is greater across Europe, with Hungary's Orban accusing Berlin of encouraging the influx.

“As long as Austria and Germany don't say clearly that they won’t take in any more migrants, several million new immigrants will come to Europe," he told Austrian broadcaster ORF.

Orban has portrayed the crisis as a defense of Europe's prosperity, identity and "Christian values" against a tide of mainly Muslim migrants. French far-right leader Marine Le Pen accused Germany of looking to lower wages and hire "slaves".

Hungary, the main entry point for migrants into Europe's borderless Schengen zone, plans to seal its southern frontier with a new, high fence by Sept. 15.

Some EU states say the focus should be on tackling the violence in the Middle East that has caused so many to flee.

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Migrants walk along rail tracks as they arrive to a collection point in the village of Roszke in Hun …

British Prime Minister David Cameron wants to hold a vote in parliament in early October to allow it to join air strikes by a U.S.-led coalition on Islamic State in Syria, London's Sunday Times said, and Le Monde reported that France was also considering joining.

In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected a call by opposition leader Isaac Herzog to give refuge to Syrian refugees, saying the country was too small to take them in.

Israel is "not indifferent to the human tragedy" of refugees from Syria, Netanyahu said in remarks at a Cabinet meeting, noting that Israeli hospitals had been treating wounded from that country's civil war.

SYMPATHY

In Budapest's Keleti station, migrants and refugees followed handwritten signs in Arabic directing them to trains to Hegyeshalom on the Austrian border, and volunteers handed out food and clothing.

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REFILE-CLARIFYING BYLINEA migrant family from Syria walks along rail tracks as they arrive to a coll …

On the frontier, long lines of people, many wrapped in blankets or sleeping bags and carrying sleeping children, got off buses on the Hungarian side and walked across into Austria.

"We're happy. We'll go to Germany," said a Syrian who gave his name as Mohammed.

But on Hungary's border with Serbia, there were reports that people had spent the night in the rain without food or shelter.

"While Europe rejoiced in happy images from Austria and Germany yesterday, refugees crossing into Hungary right now see a very different picture - riot police and a cold hard ground to sleep on," Amnesty International researcher Barbora Cernusakova said in a statement.

The numbers in Europe are small compared to the almost 4 million refugees in Syria's neighbors Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan, and Pope Francis called for every European church parish and religious community to take in one migrant family each.

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Hungarian police officer kicks a ball as migrants arrive to a collection point in the village of Ros …

But a poll in the French newspaper Aujourd'hui en France showed 55 percent of French people opposed to softening rules on granting refugee status.

European leaders are due to expand their list of “safe” countries to which migrants looking for a better life but not in fear of life and limb can be returned.

DANGEROUS CROSSING

The flow of people risking the dangerous journey on flimsy boats across the Mediterranean shows no sign of abating, as they flee the four-year-old civil war in Syria that has killed about 250,000 civilians, and wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa.

On the Greek island of Lesbos, about 500 Afghans protesting at lengthy identification procedures scuffled with police. A ferry took 1,744 migrants and refugees to Athens from Lesbos on Sunday and another one with 2,500 on board was expected later in the day, the coast guard said.

A record 50,000 people hit Greek shores in July alone, and were ferried from islands unable to cope to the mainland. There, a government in financial crisis is keen to dispatch them into Macedonia, from where they enter Serbia and then Hungary.

A local Greek police chief near the Greek-Macedonian border said about 7,000 refugees were currently crossing from Greece into Macedonia.

More than 2,000 refugees have died at sea in the Mediterranean so far this year. The Cypriot coast guard picked up 114 Syrian refugees on Sunday who were adrift in a fishing boat.

(Additional reporting by Michael Nienaber in Berlin, Georgina Prodhan in Munich,; Balazs Koranyi in Budapest, Francois Murphy and Angelika Gruber in Vienna,; Sybille de la Hamaide in Paris, Isla Binnie in Rome, Yannis Behrakis at Greek-Macedonian border, and Maayan Lubell in Jeruslaem; Writing by Anna Willard and Robin Pomeroy; Editing by Mark Heinrich, Kevin Liffey and Phil Berlowitz)

Austria to end measures allowing migrants to cross

The country had waived its entry rules for the thousands of stranded refugees in Hungary.
'Normality ... conformity with the law'