Associated Press Videos
Migrants, Refugees Arrive In Germany, Austria

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel, reflecting on "a moving, in some parts breathtaking weekend behind us," said Monday that all EU countries could help to accommodate the human tide from the Middle East and Africa.

French President Francois Hollande announced that his country would welcome 24,000 refugees, and that he and Merkel had agreed on a mechanism to spread the migrant load across Europe.

But Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orban, said he wasn't prepared to pitch in and questioned how any EU quota system for migrants could work.

Even as calm returned Monday to the main border point between Austria and Hungary after more than 14,000 people used it over the weekend to enter Austria, Hungary's leader hit back at EU counterparts who blamed his country for the chaos.

Merkel told reporters in Berlin that Germany will ensure that those who need protection receive it, but that those who stand no chance of getting asylum will have to return to their homes swiftly. Germany is preparing to receive by far the largest number of immigrants, but Merkel called for help from EU partners.

"Germany is a country willing to take people in, but refugees can be received in all countries of the European Union in such a way that they can find refuge from civil war and from persecution," she said.

Raw: Migrants Pour Into Macedonian Border TownPlay video

Orban mocked the European Union's efforts to distribute migrants through a quota system and comments by some EU leaders that cast Hungary as the bloc's "black sheep."

Any EU migrant quota among the bloc's 28 countries, makes no sense in a system where the free movement of people would make it impossible to enforce, he said.

Austria's Chancellor Werner and other EU leaders have blamed Orban for the chaos they say left Austria and Germany no choice but to essentially open their borders for thousands of migrants and refugees who complained of neglect and human rights violations in Hungary.

Most of those crossing into Austria over the weekend proceeded by train to Germany. Austrian officials said only about 90 people asked for asylum in Austria.

In a late-night meeting lasting until early Monday in Berlin, the Germany government agreed to spend 6 billion euros ($6.6 billion) next year to support the hundreds of thousands of new arrivals. At the same time, it also agreed to introduce legal measures making it easier to deport-asylum seekers from countries considered "secure states" like Montenegro, Kosovo and Albania. Asylum-seekers will also get less cash in the future and more non-cash benefits.

View gallery

FILE - In this Wednesday Aug. 26, 2015, file photo, Syrian refugees cross into Hungary underneath th …

German officials recently predicted that up to 800,000 migrants will arrive by the end of the year, many of them refugees fleeing war and persecution in Syria, Iraq and Eritrea.

The government's aid package will include improved housing, more federal police and language classes.

Merkel's deputy, Sigmar Gabriel, said integrating the migrants into German society would require confronting the fears of the country's native population.

"I say this quite openly, there will be conflicts," the economy minister told reporters. "The more openly we talk about the fact that people are worried, that there's fear in the country and that there may be conflicts, will I think help us deal with this realistically and confront reality."

View gallery

Macedonian policemen scuffle with refugees and migrants as they wait to pass the borders from the no …

Austrian police spokesman Helmut Marban said that no migrants had arrived at the Nickelsdorf border point since before midnight, when 260 people crossed into Austria and left shortly afterward by train to Vienna.

Beyond the Red Cross tent set up near the crossing and the stores of food, empty cots set up in a parking lot, hygiene articles and other goods stacked up for any new arrivals, there was little to indicate Monday morning that the border had served over the weekend for the dramatic influx of Syrians, Iraqis, Afghans and others.

An AP reporter counted about five vehicles driving into Austria over two minutes, and slightly fewer in the other direction. The truck lane, which was backed up on the Austrian side after being blocked off over the weekend, was empty.

___

Jahn reported from Vienna. Associated Press writers Pablo Gorondi in Budapest, Lori Hinnant in Paris and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin contributed.

Jerusalem (AFP) - Six senior Israeli policemen are to be removed from their posts over the murder of a young marcher in a Jerusalem Gay Pride parade by a known violent homophobe, police said Sunday.

An internal inquiry into the July attack singled out an intelligence breakdown which failed to track the alleged killer, released from prison only three weeks before after having served a 10-year sentence for a similar attack.

"The murder suspect -- whose background and details and the fact that he had lately been freed from prison for a stabbing incident at a previous pride march were known -- was able to reach the area of the march and penetrate the layers of security set up to protect participants," a police statement said.

It said acting national police chief Bentzi Sau, acting on the report, ordered that the Jerusalem district head of police intelligence be removed from his post and denied promotion for seven years.

Another senior intelligence officer was similarly sanctioned and he will not be eligible for promotion for five years.

Four other Jerusalem commanders were ordered out of their posts, while likewise retaining their ranks, and others received written reprimands.

The ultra-Orthodox man charged with stabbing to death 16-year-old marcher Shira Banki and wounding five others lashed out against homosexuality in a court appearance last month.

"The pride parade must be stopped in order for the soul of Shira Banki to ascend to heaven," Yishai Shlissel, 39 and with a long beard, told the court in Jerusalem.

"If you care for her wellbeing... you must stop cursing against God. The parade marchers are bringing great harm upon the nation of Israel."

Jerusalem (AFP) - Some 13,000 Palestinian structures in the West Bank are currently under Israeli demolition orders, leaving residents and homes "in a state of chronic uncertainty and threat", the UN said Monday.

A report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) also highlighted the difficulty Palestinians face in obtaining building permits needed to prevent such demolition orders.

More than 11,000 Israeli demolition orders relating to an estimated 13,000 Palestinian structures are currently awaiting implementation in a huge swathe of the occupied West Bank, said the report entitled "Under Threat".

"While only a minority of the orders issued are executed, these orders do not expire and leave affected households in a state of chronic uncertainty and threat," it said.

"Where the orders are implemented, they have resulted in displacement and disruption of livelihoods, the entrenchment of poverty and increased aid dependency."

The report cites data from the Israeli authorities relating to the West Bank zone under full Israeli control, known as Area C and covering 60 percent of the territory.

View gallery

Israeli, foreign and Palestinian activists take part in march to protest against the demolition of t …

The data was obtained through a freedom of information request.

Area C is an administrative region created under the Oslo accords in 1995. Data cited prior to 1995 in the report refers to locations that would later become part of Area C.

Between 1988 and 2014, Israel issued more than 14,000 demolition orders against Palestinian-owned structures, of which upwards of 11,000 are currently outstanding, it said.

"In many cases, the same order targets multiple structures owned by the same household (e.g. their residence, an animal shelter, a storage room and a latrine)," said the report.

- Israel disputes the figures -

View gallery

A Palestinian family argues with members of the Israeli security forces as an army bulldozer with a …

The Israeli defence ministry unit that manages civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories disputed the figures in the UN report, saying data from areas of east Jerusalem not under its supervision was included. It did not provide further details.

The unit, known as COGAT, also noted that, at the request of Palestinians, 13 master plans were "in advanced stages of planning, while four of them have completed the planning process".

It did not respond further to questions from AFP.

Last month 31 international organisations, including Oxfam and Amnesty International, criticised what they called a "surge" in West Bank demolitions.

They cited UN figures showing Israel's destruction of 63 houses and other structures in a single week in August, leaving 132 Palestinians homeless.

View gallery

A member of the Israeli Arab al-Khatib family carries kitchenware after their house was demolished f …

Israel has said previously that such demolitions are carried out because the structures were built without the required construction permits.

Palestinians say such authorisation is routinely denied, forcing unlicensed building, an argument echoed by the UN report.

"The planning and zoning regime applied by the Israeli authorities, including the ways in which public land is allocated, makes it virtually impossible for Palestinians to obtain building permits in most of Area C," the report said.

OCHA said there were currently about 300,000 Palestinians living in Area C, and cited Israeli data as saying that about 356,000 Israeli settlers live there also.

Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal under international law and are a major stumbling block to peace efforts as they are built on land Palestinians consider to be part of a future state.

Ankara (AFP) - Turkey was in shock on Monday after reportedly the deadliest attack by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) against the army in years, with the military keeping a tight-lipped silence over the scale of the toll.

The army said PKK fighters killed and wounded several Turkish soldiers in a roadside bomb attack Sunday on two armoured vehicles in the Daglica area of the southeastern Hakkari region close to the border with northern Iraq.

But it unusually gave no precise toll, leading to frenzied speculation on the Internet about the magnitude of the attack.

Two Turkish F-4 and two F-16 warplanes were deployed to carry out strikes in a "heavy air campaign" against 13 targets controlled by the militants in retaliation, the army added.

The Hurriyet daily claimed at least 19 Turkish soldiers, including one lieutenant colonel, had been killed which, if confirmed, would make the attack by far the deadliest carried out by the PKK on the army in recent years.

It said that 400 kilogrammes of explosives had been used in the attack and some 150 PKK militants had taken part, leading to clashes that lasted some seven hours.

View gallery

Kurds hold up their hands during clashes between Kurdish activists and Turkish government forces at …

"Turkey is in mourning," said the newspaper.

The PKK, known for sometimes exaggerating tolls of attacks on the security forces, said 31 Turkish soldiers had been killed in a combination of bombing and shooting attacks.

In a statement released by its military wing the People's Defence Forces (HPG), it said the "guerrillas" have suffered no fatalities.

In a sign of the gravity of the strike, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu broke off a trip to central Turkey Sunday to watch a national football game and summoned an emergency midnight security meeting in Ankara.

Many "terrorists" were killed in the retaliatory air strikes, the official Anatolia news agency said, without giving a precise toll.

View gallery

A man carries a weapon seized from IS (Islamic State) in Kobane, northern Syria on September 6, 2015 …

The PKK has been staging daily attacks against the armed forces as the military presses a relentless operation against the group in southeast Turkey and northern Iraq that began in late July.

The violence has left in tatters a 2013 ceasefire aimed at assisting the search for a final peace deal to end the PKK's three-decade insurgency, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

The PKK initially took up arms in 1984 with the aim of establishing an independent state for Turkey's Kurdish minority, although lately the demands focused on greater autonomy and rights.

- 'Find a way out' -

The tolls quoted by Turkish media and the militants suggest the attack may be the deadliest ever carried out by the PKK.

View gallery

Turkish soldiers carry the coffins of three soldiers during their funeral ceremony in the Lice distr …

At least a dozen Turkish troops had been killed in a PKK attack in Daglica -- one of the most exposed and dangerous areas of the country -- in October 2007.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a statement he "strongly condemned the atrocious attack that caused the martyrdom and injuries of our soldiers."

As news of the attack broke overnight, nationalist Turks took to the streets in a show of support for the army, cutting a road between Antalya and Mersin in the south and scuffling with police in Gaziantep, television reports said.

Turkey has been on heightened alert since Ankara launched a two-pronged offensive to bomb Islamic State militants in Syria and PKK rebels in northern Iraq and southeast Turkey.

Before the latest attacks, some 70 members of the security forces had been killed since July in strikes blamed on the PKK, while official media have claimed that at least 967 militants have been killed.

The unrest comes at an explosive time in Turkey as the country prepares to hold snap elections on November 1 following June polls where Erdogan's ruling party lost its overall majority.

Riot police were called to disperse some 150 protesters who attacked the office of the Hurriyet daily in Istanbul's Bagcilar district, accusing the newspaper of misquoting an Erdogan TV interview.

Selahattin Demirtas, the head of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), curtailed a visit to Germany to fly back to Turkey in the wake of the Daglica attack and reports of a deadly Turkish military operation in nearby Cizre.

"Instead of spitting out hatred, we have to find a way out together from this disaster that is looming," he tweeted.

The Turkish lira, already battered the by political and security instability, fell to a new low in value against the dollar of 3.04, a loss in value of 0.97 percent on the day.