Viktor Orban

Media rights group says EU is too soft on Hungary

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said in Tuesday's report "Balancing Act" that the 28-nation bloc was struggling to match its lofty human rights standards with its day-to-day actions in protecting journalists within the EU and around the world.

"There are significant challenges that undermine press freedom and new threats are emerging," the report concluded.

Hungary approves sending troops to borders

The bill approved Monday lets soldiers carry out many of the same tasks as police, such as checking ID, detaining suspects and controlling the flow of traffic at the borders.

While the soldiers will carry weapons, Hungarian officials vowed that the use of force would be only a last resort. Defense Minister Istvan Simicsko said earlier that "you truly can't answer a slap with a rocket."

Hungary approves sending troops to borders

The bill approved Monday lets soldiers carry out many of the same tasks as police, such as checking ID, detaining suspects and controlling the flow of traffic at the borders.

While the soldiers will carry weapons, Hungarian officials vowed that the use of force would be only a last resort. Defense Minister Istvan Simicsko said earlier that "you truly can't answer a slap with a rocket."

4 European nations strongly rebuff mandatory migrant quotas

But despite his warning, at least four Central European nations firmly rejected an EU proposal for mandatory refugee quotas.

As German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier spoke in Prague, a trickle of migrants marching toward Vienna swelled into a torrent Friday as thousands engulfed a major Austrian highway. Police briefly closed the A4 expressway to Vienna to vehicles because of the potential dangers posed by so many people on its shoulders.

Migrants keep entering Hungary as work on fence speeds up

     

Occasional scuffles broke out and one man was slightly hurt in a stampede. Some disheartened migrants, weary of waiting for transport to a registration center, tried to go back to Serbia but police blocked their way.

"We've been here for two days and the Hungarian government only brings one bus?" said a Syrian man, who gave only his first name, Ali.

The Latest: Hungarian PM says migrant crisis not resolved

Viktor Orban, whose nationalist government is seeking to seal its southern border with Serbia to block the path of asylum-seekers, told journalists that Saturday's mass mobilization of buses to transport Arab and Asian migrants west to Austria was an exceptional measure that would not be repeated.

He says the migrants' snarling of traffic on the country's major motorway and decision to camp beside it Friday night posed too grave of a safety risk for migrants and Hungarian motorists.