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The Latest: Greek coast guard searches for 5 in Aegean
Published in Albawaba on 12 - 09 - 2015

The latest developments as European governments rush to cope with the huge number of people moving across Europe. All times local (CET):
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1:40 p.m.
Greece's coast guard says it is searching the eastern Aegean Sea for five people — four children and a 20-year-old — who are missing when two smugglers' boats capsized en route from Turkey to the islands of Samos and Lesbos. The coast guard said 56 others aboard the two craft were rescued Saturday. It couldn't specify the ages of the others missing, describing them only as "juveniles."
Greek authorities continue to expedite the flow of people from Lesbos, where most asylum seekers traveling from nearby Turkey spend arrive in the European Union. A ferry carrying 2,493 people docked Saturday at the port of Piraeus, southwest of Athens, with more ferries expected later.
Those arriving at Piraeus quickly make their way by bus or train to Greece's northern border with non-EU member Macedonia. Police say about 3,500 crossed that border by foot from Friday afternoon to Saturday morning, about half the number who had crossed the previous day in torrential rain.
Greek police say they found the body of a Syrian man who disappeared earlier this week near the border crossing. He was found, apparently drowned, in the Vardar River.
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12:30 p.m.
Chancellor Angela Merkel is encouraging refugee women arriving in Germany to learn the language and make new contacts.
Merkel noted in her weekly video message Saturday that women arriving in Europe "have often experienced terrible things and are also traumatized."
She said that beyond attempts to deal with that, "I can only advise women to learn the language." She said that they should consider learning with their children, who may speak better German as a result of going to school — "they shouldn't be scared off by that."
Merkel said she also advises women "simply to seek contacts — not to curl up and just live and work in the community they know, but try to get out too." ___
11:40 a.m.
Germany's vice chancellor is renewing calls for a European solution to the migrant crisis and saying that the speed of arrivals poses a problem.
Sigmar Gabriel said in the central city of Hildesheim Saturday that "Germany sees itself in a situation where we are reaching limits," news agency dpa reported. He added that "the speed is almost more problematic than the number."
Some 450,000 migrants have arrived in Germany this year, the pace picked up in the past week. The country is expecting at least 800,000 this year, the most in Europe.
Gabriel said that it's important to help the region around Syria and talk to Turkey, where migrants set off in boats for EU member Greece, about how to slow down the flow.
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10:50 a.m.
Austria's leader is attacking his Hungarian counterpart's hard-line policies in the migrant crisis, arguing that it's irresponsible to say all are coming for economic reasons.
Austria and Germany are at odds with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who rejects proposed Europe-wide quotas for migrants and has drawn criticism for his management of those streaming through Hungary.
Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann told German weekly Der Spiegel that Austria, Germany and Sweden recognize the migrants include war refugees and stand by the right to asylum.
He said "Orban is acting irresponsibly when he says every one is an economic refugee."
Faymann was quoted as saying: "Putting refugees on trains in the belief that they are going somewhere totally different awakens memories of our continent's darkest time" — an allusion to the Nazi Holocaust.
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10:30 a.m.
Saudi Arabia says it has taken in about 2.5 million Syrians since fighting began in the country, its first official response to suggestions that oil-rich Gulf states should do more to address the plight of Syrian refugees.
The official Saudi Press Agency quoted an unidentified official source at the Ministry of Foreign Ministry late Friday saying the kingdom does not consider those taken in as refugees and does not house them in camps "order to ensure their dignity and safety."
It says they are free to move around the country and that several hundreds of thousands who have chosen to say have been granted residency status, giving them rights to jobs, schools and free medical care.
The report says the kingdom did not previously discuss the matter because it "did not wish to boast about its efforts or attempt to gain media coverage."
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10:30 a.m.
A senior German official says people are leaving the region around Syria at a "breathtaking" rate, but is indicating that it isn't clear whether the influx to Germany will reach 40,000 this weekend.
Germany's foreign minister said Friday that 40,000 migrants were expected in Germany over the weekend. However Aydan Ozoguz, a government official responsible for immigrant issues, told rbb-Inforadio Saturday: "We'll have to see whether this figure really comes true."
Ozoguz said a lot of people are on the move, and "the pace at which people are fleeing from the region is breathtaking." She said it was "extremely cynical" of Hungary's prime minister to say people are safe in neighboring countries.
Federal police in Munich, the main point of arrival in Germany, said 1,650 people arrived there Saturday morning.
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9:40 a.m.
Hungary's prime minister is proposing that European Union countries give 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion) in aid to Syria's neighbors to help stem the flow of refugees from camps there.
Viktor Orban, who has drawn criticism for his hard line on migrants reaching Europe, argued that people coming to Europe from Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey in future should return because "they were safe there."
Saturday's edition of the German daily Bild quoted him as saying: "There is no fundamental right to a better life, only a right to safety and human dignity."
Orban suggested every EU country pay 1 percent extra into the EU budget while reducing other spending. He said that would generate 3 billion euros for aid, which could be increased "until the stream of refugees dries up."


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