France, UK to set up crisis centre as migrant pressure rises

AFP, CALAIS, France: Britain and France announced a new “command and control centre” yesterday to tackle smuggling gangs in Calais, as Europe grapples with its biggest migration crisis since World War II. Under a deal signed by Home Minister Theresa May and her French counterpart Bernard Cazeneuve, British teams will help bust smuggling gangs and reduce nightly attempts by desperate migrants and refugees to break into the Channel Tunnel. But in an interview with AFP, the head of the Red Cross slammed the “indifference” of governments across Europe that has allowed a continental crisis to take hold. “What will be the saturation point? When will everybody wake up to see that it is a real crisis?” Elhadj As Sy, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said in Geneva. His comments came as a barrage of alarming statistics showed that hundreds of thousands of migrants—many fleeing war and persecution in countries like Syria—are pouring into the European Union, with no end in sight.

France, UK to set up crisis centre as migrant pressure rises

AFP, CALAIS, France: Britain and France announced a new command and control centre yesterday to tackle smuggling gangs in Calais, as Europe grapples with its biggest migration crisis since World War II. Under a deal signed by Home Minister Theresa May and her French counterpart Bernard Cazeneuve, British teams will help bust smuggling gangs and reduce nightly attempts by desperate migrants and refugees to break into the Channel Tunnel. But in an interview with AFP, the head of the Red Cross slammed the indifference of governments across Europe that has allowed a continental crisis to take hold. What will be the saturation point? When will everybody wake up to see that it is a real crisis? Elhadj As Sy, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said in Geneva. His comments came as a barrage of alarming statistics showed that hundreds of thousands of migrantsmany fleeing war and persecution in countries like Syriaare pouring into the European Union, with no end in sight.