Because of the poor living conditions in one of the overcrowded refugee centres in Austria, they are planning to send hundreds of people to neighbouring Slovakia, in a move that has been criticised as ‘asylum dumping’ and a ‘disgusting horror.’ The plan of the Austrian Ministry of the Interior is to send 500 refugees to Slovakia because of the overcrowded conditions at Traiskirchen processing centre . The sanctuary currently houses around 3,200 people and lacks 900 beds. From the outset Traiskirchen was not designed to accommodate more than 480 people.The migration of refugees will start this month (July) and continue through to September. Those transferred are to be housed in university dorms in the Slovakian town of Gabcikovo. The first 50 people are to be moved shortly, another 200 in August and 250 in September. The agreement is to last two years. Relocation only shifts responsibility of care to Slovakia; asylum application processing will continue in Austria. Once awarded asylum, refugees will return to live in Austria.

Serbia has a history of violence but now Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, speaking in Brussels, said, ‘We should not engage in conflicts and exchange of hard words, but make peace in the region.’ Serbia has roots of turmoil; World War I began when a Serbian nationalist assassinated Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, leading to Austria's declaration of war against Serbia. Within months, much of Europe was at war. In 1998 the Yugoslav army and Serbian police began fighting against the separatist Kosovo Liberation Army. An estimated 1,000 Kosovars were killed in the fighting, and hundreds of thousands forced to flee their homes without adequate food and shelter. But nationalism and ethnic violence continued . In 2003 a new state was created, called Serbia and Montenegro. Today Serbia stands alone and separate from Montenegro and this week, after a meeting with Jean-Claude Juncker on Thursday, Vucic said the EC president ‘supports Serbia on its European path.’ See http://www.infoplease.com/country/serbia.html?pageno=1

A Section Fire and Civil Defence document states that forest fires each year put too much strain on emergency relief agencies, the environment and the economy while posing a threat to infrastructure and urban settlements. San Marino has found that to extinguish forest fires they have often had to resort to the external aid of personnel and equipment available to the Provincial Command of the Fire Brigade of Rimini. The main risk factors are both intentional and negligent: fires caused during cleanup of agricultural, burning of stubble, straw and other debris getting out of control, carelessness and neglect in wooded areas, cigarette butts, matches or fireworks. In this regard, the Civil Protection Service, Police, Environmental and Agricultural Resources Managements have prepared a brochure to be delivered to all households with instructions how to behave in the event of a forest fire. See also https://ca-sanmarino.civicplus.com/144/Fire-Department

‘Russia is the biggest threat to US national security and America must boost its military presence throughout Europe even as Nato allies face budget challenges and scale back spending’ said Deborah James, US Air Force Secretary, on Wednesday after a series of visits and meetings with American allies across Europe, including Poland. She said Washington was responding to Russia's recent ‘worrisome’ actions by boosting its presence across Europe and would continue rotational assignments of F-16 fighter squadrons. ‘This is no time to signal a lack of resolve in the face of these Russian actions.’ she said. Given the tensions, the air force is continuing its effort to reduce US reliance on Russian RD-180 rocket engines for military and intelligence satellite launches. She said the air force was also working hard to defend its weapons systems and networks against growing cyber-attacks.