Fence-building Hungary defends action over 'brutal threat'

The Greek prime minister says Europe is not doing enough to help reception countries deal with a growing migrant crisis as he called for more assistance from the EU and for all states to pull their weight.

"Greece is a first reception country, and Europe has unfortunately not taken steps to protect reception countries from a (migration) wave which has taken on uncontrolled dimensions," Alexis Tsipras said, as he resumed his role as prime minister after yesterday's election.

"There is a need ...that Europe deal with a global, a European problem and share the responsibility among all member states," he added.

The arrival of tens of thousands of refugees and migrants to the Greek islands, particularly Lesbos and Kos, have caused tension with authorities struggling to deal with the crisis.

European Union leaders are due to discuss the crisis at an emergency summit on Wednesday.

Finland has introduced new measures to tighten up it border controls in a bid to stem the growing influx of refugees and migrants from neighbouring Sweden.

Police began conducting random border checks on Saturday in the northern town of Tornio. New provisions in the Finnish 'Aliens Act' will prevent refugees travelling further into Finland unless they claim asylum.

Finland's interior minister, Petteri Orpo said:"We have readiness for that (border controls) at any time, and we have already considerably tightened our policies."

Around 12,000 refugees have entered the country so far this year, most of them from Iraq- nearly four times the number for the whole of last year.

In recent days, about 500 refugees have crossed the Swedish-Finnish border to the town of Tornio, situated near the Arctic Circle.

Justice will catch up with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad even if he remains in power under a negotiated peace deal, a UN human rights investigator has warned.

Carla Del Ponte, a former chief prosecutor for war crimes in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, told reporters:

Hungary's parliament has passed a law authorising the government to deploy the army to protect its borders, including the use of non-lethal weapons.

Under the new law, the army would be permitted to use rubber bullets, pyrotechnical devices, tear gas grenades or net guns, according to the Hungarian Parliament's website.

The measure was passed with 151 votes to 12 as the nationalist Jobbik party advocated tougher measures to deal with the influx of refugees and migrants into Europe.

Hungary's prime minister has said eastern European nations are forced to protect themselves from the "brutal threat" of mass migration until the EU organises a united response to the refugee crisis.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government has built a fence to keep out refugees on the Serbian border and is rapidly constructing a similar 3.5-metre-high steel fence on the Croatian border.

Foreign ministers from four eastern European nations are meeting for talks on the migrants crisis, ahead of an EU meeting of interior ministers tomorrow.

Croatia has confirmed it will demand Greece stop moving refugees from the Middle East on to the rest of Europe at the EU meeting.

Croatian police remain seemingly powerless to stop the flow of refugees squeezing onto trains towards Hungary.

While some have managed to begin the next step of their journey, many remain trapped in no man's land between countries.

As America announced it would be taking in an extra 15,000 refugees a year - the same number that arrived in Austria in one day - many fear being struck by dropping temperatures as winter approached.

ITV News correspondent Richard Pallot reports.

Almost 40 people are feared to have died after two boats sunk off the Greek island of Lesbos.

The people on-board were thought to be refugees trying to reach Europe

Poland's prime minister has said her country will accept only a "symbolic" number of refugees, a number that will be far fewer than the more than 80,000 Chechens it took in 1990s.

Ms Kopacz announcement comes just days ahead of a planned EU meeting on how to tackle the refugee crisis in Europe.

The US will take in 15,000 more refugees from around the world next year, increasing the US's current intake to 85,000 people, US Secretary of State John Kerry has said.

He said that number would rise to 100,000 in 2017.

Mr Kerry was speaking after a meeting with his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

"In consultation with Congress, we will continue to explore ways to increase those figures while maintaining robust security," Kerry said

Thirteen migrants died in Turkish waters when a boat carrying 46 people en route to Greece collided with a dry cargo vessel and capsized, Reuters reports.

Six of those killed were children and 20 others were rescued, a Turkish coastguard source told the news agency.

The boat had left the Turkish coast near Canakkale province.

Seven of those rescued are receiving treatment and the search continues to find 13 missing people.

Earlier, in a separate incident 26 migrants were feared missing after a dinghy carrying them sank off the Greek island of Lesbos.