News Wrap: Four EU countries to turn away economic migrants

In our news wrap Thursday, Serbia, Macedonia, Croatia and Slovenia announced they will turn back migrants fleeing their countries for economic reasons, accepting only war refugees to enter their territories. Also, violence between Israelis and Palestinians claimed five more lives, including an American tourist.

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Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.

  • GWEN IFILL:

    In the day's other news, the refugee crisis in Europe took a sharp turn, as four countries imposed new rules in the wake of the Paris attacks. Serbia, Macedonia, Croatia, and Slovenia announced they will turn back economic migrants and allow only war refugees to enter their territory.

    That quickly created a logjam along several borders. A U.N. worker in Macedonia said about 1,500 people were being held back at the country's frontier with Greece.

  • WOMAN:

    The government, as far as I know, and what has been communicated to us here from the border officials is that the government has decided to let pass only Syrians, Afghans and Iraqi refugees.

  • GWEN IFILL:

    Farther west, Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann called for stricter border checks. But, in Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged people not to harden their attitudes against Muslim refugees.

  • JUDY WOODRUFF:

    The fallout from the Paris attacks also dominated the U.S. presidential campaign today. Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton said the U.S. must lead the fight against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria with an expanded air campaign.

    But, speaking in New York, she said local forces in the region, not U.S. troops, should do the bulk of the fighting.

  • HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, Democratic Presidential Candidate:

    Injecting some large contingent of American forces complicates that, in my opinion. Right now, we need to keep the pressure on the people on the ground, and get them to change their priorities and work together.

  • JUDY WOODRUFF:

    Clinton's chief rival, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, echoed that sentiment at an event in Washington, D.C.

  • SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, Democratic Presidential Candidate:

    The bottom line is that is must be destroyed, but it cannot be defeated by the United States alone. A new and effective coalition must be formed, with the Muslim nations leading the effort on the ground, while the United States and other major forces provide the support they need.

  • GWEN IFILL:

    On the Republican side, Jeb Bush called again for a more aggressive stance against the Islamic State, including an undetermined number of ground troops. He spoke to reporters in New Hampshire, after filing official papers to appear on the primary ballot.

  • JEB BUSH, Republican Presidential Candidate:

    We can't do this leading from behind, as the president has suggested. We can't do it, as Hillary Clinton has suggested, up until today at least, that it isn't our fight. It is our fight. It's a fight for Western civilization.

  • GWEN IFILL:

    The candidates have also been weighing in on resettling Syrian refugees in the U.S. Today, Republican Ben Carson said it's vital to keep out potential terrorists.

    He told an audience in Alabama: "If there's a rabid dog running around in your neighborhood, you're probably not going to assume something good about that dog."

    We will explore the continuing politics of the refugee debate later in the program.

  • JUDY WOODRUFF:

    Elsewhere in the Middle East, violence between Israelis and Palestinians claimed five more lives today. One was an 18-year-old American tourist who died when a Palestinian in a car opened fire in the West Bank. Two Israelis were killed there as well. The gunman's fate was unclear.

    Earlier, in Tel Aviv, a Palestinian attacked a prayer gathering in an office building. He stabbed two Israelis to death, before being captured.

  • GWEN IFILL:

    President Obama is insisting that the civil war in Syria cannot end while President Bashar al-Assad remains in power. He spoke as he met today with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the Asia-Pacific Summit in Manila. Mr. Obama said it is unimaginable that Assad would stay.

  • PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:

    An overwhelming majority of people in Syria consider him to be a brutal, murderous dictator. He cannot regain legitimacy. And if, in fact, he is still in power, then, regardless of what outside powers do, there is still going to be large portions of the population that are fighting.

  • GWEN IFILL:

    Separately, the president said the attacks in Paris won't change his mind about closing the prison for terror detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

  • JUDY WOODRUFF:

    The former Subway Sandwich spokesman Jared Fogle is headed to prison for more than 15 years, after pleading guilty to child pornography and underage sex. A federal judge in Indianapolis handed down the sentence today. She also imposed a fine of $175,000. Fogle apologized in court, and said he regrets letting so many people down.

  • GWEN IFILL:

    For the first time in decades, more Mexicans are leaving the United States than entering. The Pew Research Center reported those numbers today. It said a little over a million people returned to Mexico in the last five years.

    At the same time, 870,000 moved north into the U.S., reversing a longtime trend. Pew attributes the shift to a sluggish U.S. economy and stricter border enforcement.

  • JUDY WOODRUFF:

    Wall Street had what you might call an uninspired day. The Dow Jones industrial average lost four points, to close at 17732. The Nasdaq fell one point, and the S&P 500 slipped two.

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