World

VIENNA — Migrants traded punches and scuffled with police at a Serbian border crossing and a man was stabbed in a similar clash on the Slovenian border Thursday as pent-up pressures on their trek toward hoped-for safe haven in the European Union boiled over.

Slovenian police said the stabbing incident took place near Rigonci earlier in the day, and that the victim was given medical treatment.

The unrest at Berkasovo village on the Serbian border subsided after several minutes. But the outbreak reflected the frustrations of the tens of thousands of people facing long waits and other hardships as they make their way north over the Balkans each day in search of better lives in prosperous EU countries.

Further along that route, Austrian police moved to relieve pent-up pressure which they feared could lead to violence, removing barriers at an overcrowded collection point at a border crossing with Slovenia. A day earlier, thousands of migrants broke through police obstacles at the same collection centre at the Spielfeld border point.

Many of the migrants spilled out of the facility Thursday but then gathered nearby, following police instructions. But many others walked away from the border.

The collection area just inside the Austrian border was again full by afternoon. Police and soldiers struggled to maintain order as the crowd surged every time a group was separated for transport by bus to shelters and processing.

Trampled, pushed or otherwise hurt, several people were seen receiving medical attention, including one boy, about 8 years old, whose leg was being bandaged and a younger boy being given oxygen. At least two adults were taken away on stretchers.

A police officer with a loudspeaker urged people to sit and wait for buses, warning "if you make trouble, we make trouble."

On the Slovene side, more than 1,000 migrants were waiting for entry, either to apply for asylum in Austria or to transit to other EU nations.

The flow of people over the so-called west Balkans route that begins in Greece has shifted. Migrants still cross first into the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and then Serbia but now enter Croatia instead of Hungary, which erected a fence along its border to Serbia. From Croatia, they move to Slovenia, which has struggled to deal with the increasing numbers.

In Serbia, groups of migrants huddled around fires lit to combat the chill at Berkasovo village. Niklas Stoerup Agerup of the UN refugee agency, said the number of migrant families with children under the age of 5 transiting into Croatia has been increasing over the past several weeks.

Overnight and early Thursday "we've had a continuous flow of people coming in and also a continuous flow of people managing to cross the border," he said.

Fadl Abdul, a Palestinian from Lebanon, was among those warming themselves at one of the fires. He said children were particularly vulnerable to the hardships.

"We can sit here, one day, two days without eat... water, OK, no problem," said the 43-year-old in broken English. "But what about the kids? They need milk, they need to change clothes, everything."

Croatian Interior Ministry spokesman Domagoj Dzigulovic said 1,277 people arrived in Croatia from midnight until late Thursday morning. Further north, authorities in Slovenia counted 12,616 migrants entering the country on Wednesday.

Slovenian authorities say they can handle no more than 2,500 entries per day, and have accused Croatia of sending too many migrants through.

In Madrid, an EU People's Party congress urged swift action. "The right to seek asylum must be respected for those in need of protection, while swift and effective return and readmission measures for those not qualifying must be put in place," according to an emergency resolution adopted by the congress that groups Europe's centrist parties.

WASHINGTON — The CIA accused WikiLeaks of "malicious intent" after the anti-secrecy campaign group published an initial tranche of documents Wednesday it said were from the personal e-mail account of Director John Brennan.

The Central Intelligence Agency said that so far there was no indication that any classified information was released, but the leak is nevertheless hugely embarrassing for America's spy chief and WikiLeaks said more files would be published "in the coming days".

The US government has been dogged in recent years by high-profile leaks, including a trove of diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks.

The six files did not include any top-secret documents. WikiLeaks however said that Brennan had "used the account occasionally for several intelligence-related projects".

Perhaps the most revealing document is a draft version of Brennan's background check questionnaire from a security clearance application he apparently made in 2008.

It lists several of his friends and associates, as well as a detailed work history and a slew of other personal and family details.

One of the names listed — along with a phone number — is George Tenet, who directed the CIA from 1996 to 2004. A woman who answered the phone at the number given said Tenet was not speaking to the press.

The release also includes a 2008 letter from Christopher "Kit" Bond, then vice chairman of the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, calling for a ban of certain "harsh interrogation techniques".

Additionally, a fax from 2008 details a legal spat between the CIA and a firm called "The Analysis Corporation".

There is also a 2007 draft memo Brennan wrote about Iran, and another draft paper dated July that year in which he outlines challenges facing the US intelligence community.

The CIA angrily hit out at WikiLeaks.

"The hacking of the Brennan family account is a crime and the Brennan family is the victim," it said in a statement.

"The private electronic holdings of the Brennan family were plundered with malicious intent and are now being distributed across the web.

"This attack is something that could happen to anyone and should be condemned, not promoted."

It comes days after it was reported that a teenaged hacker had broken into Brennan's AOL account and had taken e-mails and personal data.

For many computer users, AOL is synonymous with the days of the early Internet, when the company offered dial-up web access, and the apparently low-tech method the hacker employed to access the account is sure to spark ridicule in Washington.

The hacker has claimed he accessed the account by using a process called "social engineering" in which he tricked Verizon workers into divulging Brennan's personal information, then convinced AOL to reset his password.

Earlier this week, The New York Post reported that a hacker, who described himself as an American high-school student, had called reporters to describe his exploits.

Using his purported Twitter account — @phphax — the hacker taunted authorities with redacted images of what appeared to be government information.

The Twitter account claims the hacker is 13 years old, and expresses support for the Palestinian cause.

Hackers recently breached US government databases and stole the personal information from background checks of 21.5 million people.

Senior officials have been criticised for not properly protecting sensitive and classified documents.

Former CIA chief David Petraeus was forced to plead guilty to improperly handling documents after it emerged that he loaned his mistress his Afghan war diaries.

And presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is under fire after she admitted that she only used a private e-mail server during her time as secretary of state. 

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia — The EU on Wednesday called a mini-summit with Balkan countries on the migrant crisis, as Slovenia became the latest state to buckle under a surge of refugees desperate to reach northern Europe before winter.

The leaders of Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Romania and Slovenia will meet on Sunday with their counterparts from non-EU states Macedonia and Serbia, the office of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said.

"In view of the unfolding emergency in the countries along the western Balkans migratory route, there is a need for much greater cooperation, more extensive consultation and immediate operational action," a statement said.

The continent has been struggling to find a unified response on how to tackle its biggest migration crisis since 1945.

More than 600,000 migrants and refugees, mainly fleeing violence in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, have braved the dangerous journey to Europe so far this year, the UN said.

The goal for many travelling is the EU's biggest economy Germany, which expects to receive up to a million asylum requests this year.

Since Saturday, when Hungary sealed off its border with Croatia, more than 24,455 migrants have arrived in Slovenia, a nation of 2 million people.

In response, the Slovenian parliament amended a law which would allow soldiers to join border police in patrolling the 670-kilometre frontier with Croatia.

The amendment now means troops can detain people and hand them over to the police, as well as issue orders to civilians in the border area.

EU Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos is to visit Slovenia on Thursday to discuss its request for backup from police forces in other EU countries.

"The last 24 hours have been the toughest and most demanding since the start of the crisis," the Slovenian government said, warning it was "delusional" to expect small countries to succeed where larger ones had failed.

Around 11,000 people were still stuck in Slovenian registration centres on Wednesday morning, waiting to continue their journey.

And tensions briefly flared in southern Austria when some 1,000 migrants broke through a police barrier at the Spielfeld border crossing and started marching north, an AFP photographer said.

Police eventually convinced them to return to the checkpoint and wait for buses provided by the government to transport them towards Germany.

Vienna said more than 6,000 migrants had entered Austria since Tuesday night, with most only passing through.

Further south, long lines of several hundred migrants formed near Croatia's border with Slovenia on Wednesday morning, an AFP reporter said.

Progress was slow as police at the Berkasovo checkpoint were only allowing a trickle of people through.

Croatia sent extra security forces to the border to prevent migrants from crossing into fields and entering Slovenia through its green frontier.

Meanwhile, a fire broke out briefly on Wednesday morning at a refugee camp near another Croatian border crossing. 

Around 25 tents suddenly caught fire at the Brezice camp, with black smoke billowing into the sky. Firefighters managed to extinguish the blaze, whose origin remained unclear.

Forced to spend hours in freezing temperatures and rain, people often resort to lighting makeshift fires to warm themselves.

Slovenia voiced sharped criticism over Zaghreb's decision to open its borders on Monday night, letting thousands of people into Slovenia. 

"I deplore the lack of communication and cooperation with the Croatian authorities," Prime Minister Miro Cerar said in an interview published in German daily Die Welt on Wednesday.

"Croatia doesn't respect border crossing agreements or the number of refugees supposed to enter Slovenia."

With at least 9,000 people landing on Europe's beaches every day, there appeared to be no end to the human tide surging into the bloc. 

The Netherlands on Wednesday said it received a record 8,400 asylum seekers in September, the highest-ever number received in one month.

LONDON — China vowed Wednesday to take a one-third stake in Britain's first nuclear power plant in decades in a project led by French energy giant EDF, on the second day of President Xi Jinping's business-themed state visit.

EDF announced the blockbuster deal, signed in the presence of Xi and British Prime Minister David Cameron, in a statement as London rolled out the red carpet to woo Chinese investors.

The agreement for the gigantic project, whose construction costs total £18 billion ($28 billion, 24.5 billion euros), is expected to be finalised in the next few weeks.

"We're signing an historic deal to build the Hinkley nuclear power station," Cameron said at a joint press conference with Xi at Downing Street.

The French utility will construct two European Pressurised Reactors, a third-generation nuclear reactor design considered the most advanced and safest in the world, at the Hinkley Point C plant in Somerset, southwestern England.

Beijing's state-run China General Nuclear Corporation (CGN) will finance £6 billion of the construction costs, with EDF providing the remainder, according to the statement.

"We have all the conditions now in place, subject to final investment approval in the next few weeks, to go ahead with the project," said Vincent de Rivaz, head of EDF's British division, in a telephone conference to journalists.

EDF is the lead contractor with an initial stake of 66.5 per cent — which could fall to 50 per cent if other investors are brought on board — while CGN has the remaining 33.5 per cent.

The Hinkley facility will not be operational until 2025 — two years later than originally planned when the deal was first unveiled two years ago.

The pair also reached agreement on a partnership to develop nuclear power stations at Sizewell, on the eastern English coast in Suffolk, and at Bradwell in Essex, southeastern England.

Britain has placed nuclear at the core of its low-carbon energy policy, in contrast to eurozone powerhouse Germany, which has pledged to phase out nuclear power after Japan's 2011 Fukushima disaster.

"Today's announcement means that Hinkley Point is going ahead," added de Rivaz.

"That is good news. Good news for the UK and good news for customers, jobs, industries. It will be one of the largest investments ever in British history and it will provide valuable low carbon electricity for decades to come."

The Hinkley project would create over 25,000 jobs and power six million homes, according to Britain's Department of Energy and Climate Change.

"Entering the UK's nuclear market marks a new phase for CGN," added CGN chairman He Yu.

High costs? 

British opponents of Hinkley complain about the high building costs and the time it will take to generate power, as well as the guaranteed agreed electricity price of £92 per megawatt hour over 35 years.

"Hinkley Point C is likely to be the most expensive power station ever built anywhere," said Lisa Nandy, energy and climate change spokeswoman for the opposition Labour Party.

"I'm deeply concerned about the costs for households, and particularly vulnerable groups like pensioners."

Hinkley aims to provide 7 per cent of Britain's total power generation needs.

Deals totalling more than £30 billion ($46.4 billion, 40.7 billion euros) are to be signed during Xi's four-day visit that began Tuesday.

These include a £50 million deal between carmaker Aston Martin and China Equity to develop a low-emission sports car, media deals to distribute BBC and Chinese entertainment, and for London's Victoria and Albert Museum to open a design museum in the city of Shenzhen.

Chinese automaker Geely, which produces London's iconic black taxis, has also announced a £50 million investment to launch zero emission-capable cabs.

Human rights protests 

On the first day of the trip on Tuesday about 200 demonstrators booed Xi's journey to Buckingham Palace with Queen Elizabeth II in a gilded carriage in protest over Beijing's humans rights record.

Cameron has been accused by some observers of kowtowing to China in a bid for investment and the visit comes at a particularly sensitive time as thousands of jobs are being cut in Britain's steel sector, partly due to subsidised Chinese steel imports.

Leading Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, 19, who attended a protest against Xi, told AFP that the prospect of Chinese cash "has blinded the eyes of David Cameron".

SEOUL — Nearly 400 mostly elderly and frail South Koreans held a tearful, emotionally fraught reunion Tuesday with family members in North Korea, more than 60 years after they were separated by the Korean War.

After crossing the heavily militarised border in a convoy of buses, the families from the South were driven to meet their relatives in North Korea's Mount Kumgang resort.

Moving video footage broadcast on South Korean TV showed divided brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, step-siblings and in-laws seeking each other out among numbered tables in the resort's main hall and then collapsing into each others' arms.

For Lee Jeong-sook, 68, the moment brought her face-to-face with her 88-year-old father, Ri Hong-jong, who she was separated from when she was just two years old.

Ri was brought into the meeting room in a wheelchair and promptly burst into tears at the sight of his younger sister, Lee's aunt, who rushed towards him shouting: "Brother!" 

'This is your daughter' 

"This is your daughter. This is your daughter," his sister said, pointing to Lee.

Seemingly overcome by the moment, Ri just nodded and squeezed his sister's hand before asking for news of other family members in the South.

"Almost all died in the war," she answered.

Millions of people were displaced by the sweep of the 1950-53 Korean conflict, which saw the front line yo-yo from the south of the Korean peninsula to the northern border with China and back again.

The chaos and devastation separated brothers and sisters, parents and children, husbands and wives.

With more than 65,000 South Koreans currently on the waiting list for a reunion spot, those who made it on Tuesday represented a very fortunate minority.

The two ambulances following the South Korean buses on Tuesday testified to the advanced age and, in many cases, poor health, of those making the journey.

More than 20 required wheelchairs for mobility and four dropped out of the trip altogether, saying they felt too unwell.

Holding hands after 60 years 

The eldest South Korean taking part in the event, 96-year-old Kim Nam-Kyu, was supported by his two daughters as he met his younger sister for the first time in more than six decades.

At first they simply sat in silence, holding hands, and then Kim's sister produced photos of her family in the North — her son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter.

Kim and others of his generation had hearing difficulties, and some clearly struggled to communicate verbally.

One woman simply knelt before her North Korean uncle and buried her face in his lap, weeping uncontrollably.

Most of the women wore traditional hanbok dresses while the men were in suits and ties, with all the North Korean participants also sporting the obligatory badges with the faces of late leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il.

Photographs were piled on nearly every table — crumpled, black and white prints of families once together, and colour pictures of new families raised apart. 

The reunion — only the second in the past five years — was organised as part of an agreement the two Koreas reached in August to ease tensions that had pushed them to the brink of armed conflict.

The reunion programme began in earnest after a historic North-South summit in 2000, but the numbers clamouring for a chance to take part have always far outstripped those actually selected.

Among the generation that actually experienced the division of their families, the vast majority died without ever having any contact with their relatives in the North.

Too little time 

After so many years of waiting, the reunions are cruelly short.

Over three days, the South Koreans will sit down with their North Korean relatives six times.

Each interaction only lasts two hours, meaning a total of just 12 hours to mitigate the trauma of more than six decades of separation.

In a reflection of the stark economic divide between the two Koreas, all the South Korean families had brought gift packages, including winter clothing, watches, cosmetics and — in most cases — several thousand US dollars in cash.

South Korean officials had warned in advance that a substantial slice of any money handed over would be "appropriated" by the authorities in the North. 

Ottawa — The Liberals' landslide victory in Canada has given Justin Trudeau a strong mandate to usher in a new style of government with a return to multilateralism and a new tack on climate change — an issue that soured Ottawa's relations with many traditional allies.

Monday's decisive election win brought an end to nearly a decade of Stephen Harper's Conservative rule, with congratulations pouring in from world capitals Tuesday morning, including Washington and Beijing.

"I think we'll see Canada become a more constructive actor in international affairs," University of Ottawa international affairs professor Roland Paris told AFP.

"We're going to see a re-engagement under the Liberals with multilateral organisations like the United Nations, especially with climate talks coming up in Paris" and other summits including the G20 and Commonwealth, echoed global studies professor Lauchlan Munro, also of the University of Ottawa.

"Canada's attitude toward multilateralism will change," he said.

For many Canadians the vote turned into a referendum on Harper's autocratic style, and their country's loss of clout on the world stage — losing a bid for a rotating UN Security Council seat and failing to get US approval for a pan-continental pipeline first proposed in 2008. 

As prime minister, Harper radically altered Canada's foreign policy, transforming it from an impartial arbiter to an assertive power with its own agenda, including strident support for Israel and refocusing aid from Africa to South America.

Prime minister-elect Trudeau has shown he could win an election. Now he must prove he can govern in difficult times, as Canada grapples with the end of the oil boom that shielded it from the 2008 global economic downturn, low growth and high consumer debt.

But the telegenic son of the beloved late premier Pierre Trudeau has already promised a return to liberal values across the board.

New CO₂ targets 

Labeled a "climate laggard" by the UN, Canada under Harper became the first country to pull out of the landmark Kyoto Protocol in 2011, inflicting lasting damage on relations with traditional allies in Europe among others.

The 43-year-old Trudeau has clearly said more needs to be done to curb carbon emissions, but he has stopped short of setting specific targets ahead of year-end UN climate talks in Paris.

"It's unclear how he would achieve a new target," said Jonathan Paquin, a politics professor at Laval University in Quebec.

Ottawa shares environmental responsibility with its 10 provinces, which are all working to meet different targets. At times this has complicated setting national CO2 reduction targets.

But the issue is already shaping up as a priority for the incoming administration.

Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard said Tuesday "the world wants a change in tone and priorities on the climate file" from Canada.

"We have time before December [for Ottawa and the regions] to come up with a firm target that Canada will pitch at the talks," he said.

Pressure from allies 

Other foreign policy pledges may prove tougher to deliver on, however.

During the campaign, Trudeau said he would pull Canadian fighter jets from Iraq and Syria where they have been joining in US-led coalition air strikes against the Daesh group, while promising to keep military trainers in northern Iraq.

The University of Ottawa's Munro said "pressure from allies could be difficult to overcome — what would the Americans, British and French say if we pulled out?"

Paquin agreed, warned the issue risked further straining already frosty relations with the Americans — Canada's neighbor, biggest trading partner and closest ally.

Trudeau also vowed to significantly boost Canada's intake of Syrian refugees, more than doubling it to 25,000 by year's end, insisting only political will has been lacking so far. But critics have warned this could be a herculean task.

Canadian foreign aid could also see a bump for the first time since 2010.

The Liberals had criticized a shift from focusing on poorer Africa to South American middle income countries — and the aligning of aid with Canadian commercial interests.

But Munro noted however that the shift in approach began under a previous Liberal administration, in 2004.

"It remains to be seen how it will be different," he said.

SOKCHO, South Korea — Almost 400 South Koreans — many of them elderly, some in wheelchairs, all in a state of nervous anticipation — gathered Monday before crossing into North Korea for a rare and emotional reunion with separated family members.

The reunion beginning Tuesday in the North Korean resort of Mount Kumgang will be only the second in the past five years — the result of an agreement the two Koreas reached in August to ease tensions that had pushed them to the brink of armed conflict.

Millions of people were displaced by the sweep of the 1950-53 Korean war, which saw the front line yo-yo from the south of the Korean peninsula to the northern border with China and back again.

The chaos and devastation separated brothers and sisters, parents and children, husbands and wives.

"We were separated at the beginning of the war when I was just nine years old," Choi Kum-Sun, 75, said of her elder brother in the North.

"I had no idea that he was still alive, but then I got the notification that he wanted to see me. I still can't believe it," she wept.

Like a significant number of the elderly or infirm participants, Choi was in a wheelchair. She told AFP she had packed clothes, food and $1,000 in cash to take as a gift.

Because the conflict ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty, the two Koreas technically remain at war and direct exchanges of letters or telephone calls are banned.

The reunion programme began in earnest after a historic North-South summit in 2000, but the numbers clamouring for a chance to take part have always far outstripped those actually selected.

The 394 people gathered in Sokcho city on South Korea's northeast coast were called to the reunion by 100 North Koreans chosen to take part in the event.

All were to spend the night in a local resort before an early start to the heavily fortified border nearby and then on to Mount Kumgang.

Over the next three days, they will sit down with their North Korean relatives six times — both in private and in public.

With more than 65,000 South Koreans currently on the waiting list for a reunion spot, they represent the lucky few, although the event itself is very bittersweet.

Each interaction only lasts two hours, meaning the family members have a total of just 12 hours to mitigate the trauma of more than six decades of separation.

And for those in their 80 and 90s, the final farewell on Thursday after three days is tainted by the near-certainty that there will never be another meeting.

"I have mixed feelings," said 90-year-old Hong Rok-Ja who, together with her sister, was going to meet her brother who had gone missing in 1950.

"Of course I want to see him, but I'm so worried I won't recognise him or that I'll be too excited to say anything," Hong said.

"There is so much I want to know," she added.

Kim Nyun-O, 85, confessed to being so over-excited that she had to take a mild sedative in the morning before travelling to Sokcho.

She came with her three sisters for a meeting with their brother who had been drafted into the North Korean army in 1951.

"We were so shocked to find out he was still alive. Shocked but incredibly happy," Kim said.

After arriving at the resort in Sokcho, the family members were given an "orientation session" by South Korean officials to prepare them for the next three days.

Pyongyang has a lengthy track record of manipulating the divided families' issue for political purposes, refusing proposals for regular reunions and cancelling scheduled events at the last minute over some perceived slight.

After the last reunion, in February 2012, some South Koreans complained that their Northern relatives had felt obliged to deliver lengthy political sermons parroting Pyongyang's official propaganda.

Others said they seemed more interested in what gifts the South Koreans had brought than in talking about their family history or catching up with the last 60 years.

BERKASOVO, Serbia/LJUBLJANA, Slovenia — The Balkans struggled with a growing backlog of migrants on Monday after Hungary sealed its southern border and Slovenia tried to impose a limit, leaving thousands stranded on cold, wet borders where tempers frayed.

Having declared it would accept only 2,500 per day, Slovenia said 5,000 had arrived from Croatia on Monday, with another 1,200 on their way by train.

"Croatia is ignoring our pleas, our plans," Bostjan Sefic, state secretary at Slovenia's interior ministry, told a news conference, saying the army would be called in to help if such a rate continued.

Attempts by Slovenia to ration the flow since Hungary sealed its border with Croatia at midnight on Friday has triggered a knock-on effect through the Balkans; Croatia began holding back new arrivals and Serbia said it may do the same on its border with Macedonia.

More than 10,000 were stranded in Serbia, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said, with more on the way but nowhere to go.

"It's like a big river of people, and if you stop the flow, you will have floods somewhere. That's what's happening now," UNHCR spokesman Melita Sunjic said from the Serbia-Croatia border, where about 2,000 people were forced to wait in a muddy, rain-drenched no-man's land.

Groups of migrants fought with each other in the morning, aid workers said, after a night spent under open skies lashed by autumn wind and rain.

"Open the gate, open the gate!" they chanted, their passage barred by lines of Croatian police who erected an improvised fence to control access. Police began letting through one busload an hour.

Slovenia has found itself dragged into the path of the greatest migration of people in Europe since World War II after Hungary sealed its border with Croatia to migrants on Friday.

A country of two million people bordering Hungary, Italy, Austria and Croatia, Slovenia said it would only allow in as many as it could register, accommodate and send on to Austria.

It said Austria had limited its own intake, something Vienna denied. Most refugees want to reach Germany, which for the moment is letting them enter. Slovenia's Sefic said Austria was experiencing "big problems" in handling the numbers and that Germany was accepting fewer.

Ex-Yugoslav relations tested

What initially looked like a smooth and well-coordinated response by fellow ex-Yugoslav republics Slovenia and Croatia quickly broke down into the kind of discord and disarray that has characterised Europe's response to the hundreds of thousands reaching its shores by boat across the Mediterranean and Aegean seas, many of them Syrians fleeing war.

Angry and over-stretched, Croatian police lashed out at journalists on the Berkasovo-Bapska border crossing, hitting a Reuters cameraman and threatening to smash his camera and assaulting and seizing equipment from at least one agency photographer.

Serbia's minister in charge of migration suggested Serbia too may try to stem the flow from Macedonia, proceeding at a rate of around 5,000 per day.

"We have to think about how many people we can take in under such conditions," Aleksandar Vulin told reporters in Berkasovo. "Let's not blame Serbia when the entire EU is turning its gaze from what's happening here."

Hungary's right-wing government says the mainly Muslim migrants pose a threat to Europe's prosperity, security and "Christian values", and has sealed its borders with Serbia and Croatia with a steel fence and new laws that rights groups say deny refugees their right to seek protection.

The European Union has agreed a plan, resisted by Hungary and several other ex-Communist members of the bloc, to share out 120,000 refugees among its members, a small proportion of the 700,000 migrants the International Organisation for Migration projects will reach Europe's borders from the Middle East, Africa and Asia this year.

It is also courting Turkey with the promise of money, easier EU travel for Turks and "re-energised" accession talks if Ankara tries to stem the flow of migrants across its territory.

Meanwhile, relations between the countries of the former Yugoslavia were fraying.

"Yesterday the Croatian side stopped answering our phone calls so we do not know how many migrants to expect, which is making our work very difficult," Slovenian Interior Minister Vesna Gyorkos Znidar told a news conference on Monday.

Her Croatian counterpart, Ranko Ostojic, told reporters in Croatia: "Slovenia first said it could receive up to 8,000 migrants [daily], then 5,000, then 2,500 and now it has been reduced to zero. It would mean that the whole burden is being left to Croatia." 

MANILA — A teenager was crushed to death as powerful Typhoon Koppu tore down trees and houses and unleashed landslides and floods across a wide area of the Philippines on Sunday, forcing thousands to flee.

At least eight other people have been reported missing and military and volunteer rescue teams were dispatched to the rice-farming province of Nueva Ecija where rivers burst their banks and flooded several villages, authorities said.

"People are asking for help because the floodwaters are rising. The rescuers cannot penetrate the area as of now," Nigel Lontoc, the assistant civil defence chief for the region, told AFP.

Television footage showed raging brown rivers swallowing up homes and carrying off large debris including tree trunks.

ABS-CBN network showed a photograph of blue-clad police holding onto a rope and wading in chest-deep floodwaters to rescue trapped residents.

The government said more than 23,000 people had already been evacuated from the path of Koppu, which also disrupted ferry services and aviation.

Koppu made landfall before dawn on the remote fishing town of Casiguran, whipping the coast with gusts of up to 210 kilometres an hour for nearly seven hours before moving inland.

"Koppu tore off roofs of homes made of light materials. Rivers overflowed, and the roads to the area are blocked by downed power pylons and trees," Lontoc said.

It later crossed over the Pantabangan Dam in the southern foothills of the Cordillera, the country's largest mountain range, with gusts of 185 kilometres an hour.

A big tree toppled and crushed a house in Manila, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring four other people, Alexander Pama, head of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Council, told reporters in Manila.

Officials said more people are expected to flee as the now weakened storm makes its way to the northern tip of Luzon, the Asian country's largest island and home to about half its national population of 100 million people.

Aurelio Umali, governor of Nueva Ecija province that includes Pantabangan told ABS-CBN said rescuers saw two human bodies floating in one of the flooded villages.

However Lontoc said the two bodies have not been recovered.

Lontoc said three people in the coastal resort town of Baler, near Casiguran, are missing after a large wave struck their house, and three fishermen are also missing on Manila Bay.

Flood warning 

The authorities warned heavy rains could still trigger flash floods and landslides in the Cordillera, known for its spectacular rice terraces carved on the slopes of towering mountains.

"I must emphasise that this is just the start. People must remain alert while we try to pick up the pieces in areas already hit," Pama said, as he urged local officials to evacuate Cordillera villages deemed most at risk.

Lontoc said the rain-soaked mountains also posed a threat to the heavily populated central Luzon region just north of Manila in the coming days.

With dams filling up and forced to let off water, he said huge volumes of runoff are streaming into the Pampanga River, which spills onto the region.

The weather service said Koppu would weaken further into a tropical storm by Tuesday, but continue to dump rain before heading for Taiwan on Wednesday.

It caused widespread power and communications disruptions across Luzon, with many roads and bridges also blocked by landslides, floods or fallen trees and power pylons.

Thousands were stranded as ferry services were suspended amid rough seas while 44 commercial flights were cancelled, including four international flights, Pama said.

The Philippines suffers an average of 20 storms each year.

Super Typhoon Haiyan, the strongest and deadliest on record, destroyed entire towns in the central islands in November 2013, leaving more than 7,350 people dead or missing.

ISTANBUL — German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday hailed progress in helping Ankara deal with the refugee crisis and vowed to push forwards its long-stalled EU membership bid, as Slovenia warned it would have to slow a rising influx of migrants.

Merkel held talks in Istanbul with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on a critical one-day visit, which came as Germany was shaken by a bloody knife attack on a pro-refugee politician.

The European Union wants Turkey to do more to tighten its border security and help contain the historic influx of Syrians and others escaping conflict, persecution and poverty.

In return, Ankara wants greater recognition for its role in hosting over two million Syrian refugees, an increase in financial help and an acceleration of its stuttering drive for EU membership.

Merkel and the Turkish leadership indicated that officials were making progress towards a deal on cooperation, although neither suggested a final agreement had been reached.

The German chancellor said that Berlin was prepared to support opening Chapter 17 of the accession process — which deals with economic and monetary affairs — and consider opening other chapters. 

Speaking after her talks with Erdogan, Merkel said the EU and Turkey were in agreement to work closer "on dynamising the accession process" towards Turkey's EU membership and also visa liberalisation for Turks wanting to travel to the EU's Schengen zone.

"The talks in that direction are very promising and will be continued," said Merkel, sitting on a large golden chair alongside the Turkish strongman. 

Erdogan, who for months has bitterly criticised the EU's attitude towards Turkey, said he was also calling for more accession chapters to be opened.

Davutoglu praised a "better approach" from the European Union on dealing with the over two million people who fled Syria's civil war for Turkey. 

"Unfortunately Turkey was left alone by the international community in terms of burden sharing."

"We are very pleased there is a better approach now," said Davutoglu.

Germany has been Europe's top destination for refugees, most of whom travel through Turkey and the Balkans, and is expecting to register up to a million asylum requests this year.

Merkel said that the fact Turkey had accomplished the immense task of looking after over two million Syrian refugees on relatively little funding had led to a "migration pressure" which resulted in the current unprecedented influx of migrants into Europe.

"Turkey had little international help until now for the huge contribution it has made," said Merkel.

She said it was in the interests of neither side that this resulted in illegal migration into the EU.

"This cannot be the aim. We will engage ourselves more strongly financially as the European Union. Germany will play its part," she promised.

More than 630,000 people fleeing war and misery have landed on Europe's shores this year, many making risky sea crossings from Turkey to Greece. 

Another 12 people drowned off the Turkish coast on Saturday, and on Sunday the Greek coastguard said five migrants including a baby and two boys had died trying to cross the Aegean Sea.

While many Germans have welcomed the refugees, there has also been a backlash with her party losing support and the long-dormant anti-Islamic PEGIDA protest movement has again drawn thousands of followers.

Simmering tensions ended in violence in the western city of Cologne on Saturday when a man with a knife attacked the independent mayoral hopeful Henriette Reker, 58, who is active in helping refugees, leaving her with serious neck wounds and injuring four others. 

The attacker, a 44-year-old unemployed man arrested at the scene, had "a racist motivation" according to police, and was said to have been close to the extreme right in the 1990s.

Despite the attack, voting was under way on Sunday for the mayorship of Cologne.

As the influx continued, Hungary closed its border with Croatia, forcing thousands of migrants to find a new route to northern Europe through Slovenia and into Austria.

But with numbers growing, Slovenia warned Sunday it would be forced to slow down the influx of migrants amid fears of a human bottleneck.

The government in Ljubljana said it had refused on Sunday to allow in a train carrying 1,800 migrants from Croatia, after more than 3,000 people surged into the tiny EU member state the day before.

German police union chief Rainer Wendt told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper Germany should build a fence along its border with Austria.

"If we close our borders this way, Austria will also close its border with Slovenia, and that's exactly the effect we need," he said.