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               Europe Migrant Influx Tops Half Million This Year

   by VOA News

   More than a half million migrants have now made the perilous
   Mediterranean Sea crossing this year in search of a new life in Europe,
   the United Nations refugee agency reported Tuesday.

   The U.N. said nearly 515,000 asylum seekers have left war and poverty
   in the Middle East and Africa since January, with 383,000 reaching the
   shores of Greece and another 129,000 landing in Italy. The refugee
   agency said nearly 3,000 have drowned or disappeared making the passage
   on rickety or overcrowded boats and rafts.

   More than half of those headed to Europe have come from Syria, refugees
   looking to escape more than four years of fighting between Syrian
   forces and insurgents trying to topple the government of President
   Bashar al-Assad.

   The unrelenting influx of migrants has divided Europe, with economic
   powerhouse Germany and some other northern European countries mostly
   welcoming them while some central European nations have tried to block
   their path northward through their territories.

   Now Berlin has moved to tighten its control over the stream of
   asylum-seekers reaching its territory, announcing that it is asking
   parliament to reduce payments to the migrants and mostly distributing
   benefits in kind, such as housing and food, rather than offering cash.

   Most Germans have supported Chancellor Angela Merkel in her efforts to
   welcome the asylum seekers, but political surveys in the country show
   her popularity is slipping amid criticism from members of her ruling
   conservative bloc.

   Meanwhile, Hungary, the most vocal opponent of the migration, expanded
   the number of courts hearing charges against refugees who have been
   caught illegally entering the country through its four-meter-high razor
   wire fence. So far, one court has convicted 176 migrants and expelled
   them from Hungary, while acquitting no one.

   Some information is from Reuters, AP and AFP.

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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/eu-migrant-influx-tops-half-million-f
   or-2015/2984118.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/eu-migrant-influx-tops-half-million-for-2015/2984118.html