Half a million refugees reach Greece so far this year

Over half a million refugees and migrants have reached Greece this year and the arrival rate is rising with over 8,000 arriving in a single day, the United Nations has said.

The UN refugee agency says 27,500 people remain in transit having travelled to the smaller Greek islands from Turkey.

A spokeswoman said we had reached a "dramatic milestone" with almost 80% of the total arrivals into Europe coming through Greece.

In all, more than 643,000 refugees and migrants from the Middle East, Africa and Asia have crossed the Mediterranean to Europe this year, with at least 3,135 known to have died en route.

The UN says many of those arriving face uncertainty as northern European and Balkan countries close their borders.

The European Union had agreed a resettlement programme to distribute 160,000 asylum seekers from Italy and Greece to other participating EU countries. So far only one group of 19 Eritrean asylum seekers has gone to Sweden from Italy.

Earlier today Slovenia appealed for EU help to police its borders. 19,500 people have entered the country since Friday, after Hungary sealed its southern border with Croatia.