SID, Serbia (AP) — The latest as migrants flood into Europe in search of a new life. All times local. 1 p.m. Germany's vice chancellor is denouncing as "silly" an argument within Chancellor Angela Merkel's governing coalition over whether to set up "transit zones" to weed out near the country's borders migrants with no realistic asylum claim. Merkel's conservative bloc is pushing hard for the idea, details of which remain unclear, but Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel's Social Democrats have opposed it. They argue the plan would effectively entail interning large numbers of people and be impractical. Gabriel said Tuesday that an influx of people from Balkan countries considered safe has largely dried up and it's "relatively silly" to argue over something that would be useful for a tiny proportion of migrants. He said officials should instead discuss questions such as how to dissuade people from countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan from coming. ___ 12:50 p.m. Slovakia is sending a unit of 20 police officers to Slovenia to help the tiny Alpine nation protect the external border of Europe's visa-free Schengen zone amid a migrant influx. Tuesday's announcement by Prime Minister Robert Fico comes a day after another EU member, the Czech Republic, made the same decision. Fico says the officers might travel to Slovenia as soon as Friday. Slovakian Interior Minister Robert Kalinak also says his country is forming a new unit of 300 police officers who will be ready to be deployed to other EU nations to help protect the EU's outer borders. Slovakia already sent 50 police officers to help Hungary. Slovenia has said its ability to deal with the influx has been stretched to the limit with thousands of migrants crossing its territory in hopes of reaching Western Europe. ___ 12:35 p.m. The secretary general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies says the sheer scale of the refugee influx to Europe has overwhelmed authorities, and acknowledged more must be done. During a visit on Tuesday to Greece, the country that has borne the brunt of new arrivals, Elhadj As Sy said the refugee numbers hadn't been predicted. IFRC figures Tuesday show 600,000 people reached Greece so far this year. "What we are facing is much more than what was expected," As Sy said after meeting Greek migration minister Yiannis Mouzalas. "And that's why everybody is overwhelmed." ___ 12:25 p.m. Chancellor Angela Merkel says that Europe's refugee crisis won't be solved at the German-Austrian border and is warning other countries that they shouldn't assume they won't be affected. Merkel renewed her call on Tuesday for a fair distribution of refugees around Europe. Germany has taken by far the most refugees so far, with Sweden and Austria also receiving many, but several other European Union countries have been reluctant to make any significant contribution. Merkel, who faces pressure at home to reduce the influx, said: "I am firmly convinced that we will not manage this challenge at the German-Austrian border." She added: "Those in Europe who think today that they are not affected by this will be affected in some way tomorrow, if only through the unity of Europe being questioned." ___ 12:20 p.m. An official says recently-arrived migrants housed at a British army base on Cyprus had set fire to two tents, but that the blaze was put out quickly. British Bases spokeswoman Connie Pierce said Tuesday the situation is now calm following Monday's incident. She gave no reason for the fire. Pierce said there had been "a series of incidents" at the facility, but that authorities won't "be going into specific detail." She said the 114 people, who arrived by boat at a British air base on Cyprus last month, have food, shelter, privacy and communications and that U.N. staff say the facility "exceeds the standard of comparable setups." Pierce repeated that the British government won't allow a new migrant route to open up to the U.K. through its two Cyprus bases. ___ 12 p.m. Serbia and Croatia have launched a direct train transfer of migrants from one country to another so asylum seekers no longer have to wait long hours outside in the cold. Officials say that the first train carrying about 1,000 migrants left Tuesday morning from the Serbian town of Sid toward Slavonski Brod, Croatia, where authorities have set up a winter camp. The direct train link was agreed last month after thousands of people, most of whom were families with small children, were forced to spent entire nights at a muddy border passage waiting to cross from Serbia to Croatia. Croatian police say more than 300,000 people have passed through the country since mid-September. Most migrants want to reach wealthy nations of Western Europe, such as Germany or Sweden. Join the conversation about this story »
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