BUDAPEST, HUNGARY :  The latest developments as European governments rush to cope with the huge number of people moving across Europe. All times local (CET):

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3 p.m.

A Hungarian court has found an Iraqi man guilty of "illegally crossing the border," the first conviction based on a new law meant to stop the huge flow of migrants into Hungary.

Hungarian media reported the judge ordered the man expelled from Hungary and banned him from returning for one year. It was expected that he would be returned to Serbia, the country that many migrants have used on their way into Hungary.

The accused said he was unaware that illegal border crossing was a crime, but the judge rejected his argument, saying "ignorance of the law doesn't excuse anybody."

The judge said the 4-meter (13-foot) border fence surrounded by razor wire should have given him a clue. The defendant also must pay 19,050 Hungarian forints ($70) in court costs.

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2:50 p.m.

Blocked by Hungary, migrants in Serbia have started entering neighboring Croatia. But that brings them into a whole new danger zone — former mine fields along the country's front line in its 1991-95 war.

Croatia's Mine Action Center says there are still 500 square kilometers (193 square miles) of suspicious areas throughout the country, but all have been clearly marked.

Center official Miljenko Vahtaric told the Associated Press there are five suspicious spots in the border area with Serbia, which migrants have started using as a new route to the European Union. He says demining teams have been working in the area for months.

Zoran Milanovic, the prime minister of Croatia, says his country is ready to accept migrants "regardless of their religion and the color of their skin" and will help them go to Germany, Scandinavia or where they want in Europe.

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2 p.m.

Syrian President Bashar Assad is blaming Europe for the migration crisis, saying it's a direct result of the West's support for extremists in Syria over the past four years.

In an interview Wednesday with Russian media, Assad accused Europe of supporting "terrorism" and providing "protection for terrorists, calling them moderates."

"If you are worried about them (refugees), stop supporting terrorists," he said, addressing Europe.

He also accused Europe of having "unacceptable" double standards.

Assad says "how can one be indignant about a drowned child and remain silent about the deaths of thousands of children, elderly people, women and men killed by terrorists in Syria?"

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1:45 p.m.

In Horgos, Serbia, confusion reigned Wednesday among migrants on whether to remain at the border with Hungary or leave for Croatia.

Hundreds were seen walking toward the crossing with Hungary around noon, while smaller groups walked in the opposite direction after hearing rumors that buses would take them toward the Croatian border. AP reporters saw no buses.

At the border, people hid from the blazing sun by sitting under bushes, sleeping under parked cars or staying inside small tents. Children and babies cried while men walked for miles to the nearest shops to buy water and food.

Ahmed Sami, a Syrian father from Aleppo, said "I don't know what to do, stay here or try some other way to cross the border?"

He says "we walked and traveled for hundreds, thousands of kilometers only to be stopped meters from the European Union. My wife and children cannot stand on their feet any more. This is tragic."

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1:30 p.m.

Hungary's foreign minister says the razor-wire fence on its border with Serbia is needed to secure the European Union's external border and will remain as long as large numbers of migrants keep trying to enter Hungary.

Minister Peter Szijjarto told The Associated Press on Wednesday that "only a physical obstacle" could help Hungary protect its border as long as migrants were able to pour into fellow EU member Greece and then make their way north.

He urged the EU to send forces to help Greece control the influx, to which Hungary would make a "massive contribution."

Szijjarto said those arriving from Serbia and applying for asylum in Hungary would be sent back to Serbia if their claims are rejected.

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1:15 p.m.

There was joy and relief Wednesday for some Syrian refugees who finally crossed into Germany.

Mohammed Al Zain, a 22-year-old economics student from Aleppo, walked into the German town of Freilassing from the Austrian city of Salzburg after being stuck waiting for 12 hours for his train to get permission to cross the border.

Squeezing his 7-year-old brother into a big bear hug, he says border guards "told us 'Welcome to Germany' and we are very happy right now."

Zain says "me and my brother, I didn't see him for one year. Finally (we are) meeting here."

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12:55 p.m.

Romania's president says the country's top defense body will discuss the migrant crisis Thursday and decide what the country must do.

Romania has agreed to take in 1,785 asylum seekers but says it is unable to absorb the 6,351 the European Commission has it to handle.

President Klaus Iohannis told lawmakers Wednesday in parliament that "we are not talking about places to stay, but people and their integration into society."

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12:40 p.m.

German police say traffickers appear to be changing tack: instead of taking migrants across the border into Germany, they are dumping them in Austria and telling them to walk over the bridges themselves.

Germany put controls on its border Sunday in an effort to catch smugglers and bring some order to the influx of tens of thousands fleeing their homelands.

Federal police spokesman Thimad Schweikl told The Associated Press on Wednesday that more than 1,000 migrants had crossed into Germany on foot in the southern region of Passau in the past 24 hours.

He says they appear to have been brought to the bridges in groups of 20 to 40 by traffickers seeking to avoid arrest.

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12:20 p.m.

Greek police say about 5,000 people have crossed the country's northern border with Macedonia in the last 24 hours.

Thousands have been crossing every day, making their way north across the Balkans overland to more prosperous European Union countries such as Germany and Sweden.

More than 250,000 have arrived in Greece so far this year, the vast majority Syrians and Afghans fleeing conflict at home and making their way to eastern Greek islands from the nearby Turkish coast.

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12 p.m.

Austrian Federal Railways has stopped all train traffic from Salzburg, near the German border, into Germany itself, citing a request from German authorities.

Thousands of migrants and refugees have taken trains from Salzburg to Munich for more than a week. Most of the people streaming into Austria from Hungary have continued on to Germany.

Railway officials say trains traveling from Salzburg through a small section of southern Germany to Austria's western province of Tyrol will continue operating.

Salzburg is only a few kilometers from the German border, however, and many people chose to walk on Wednesday.

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11:30 p.m.

Hundreds of migrants have left the train station in the Austrian city of Salzburg and are trying to cross into Germany on foot.

The migrants are aiming to reach the nearby German town of Freilassing.

An AP reporter saw German police trying to register the migrants as they reached the border on Wednesday morning.

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11:15 p.m.

Croatia's prime minister has criticized Hungary's decision to seal its border with Serbia for migrants and says Croatia will not do the same.

Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic told Parliament on Wednesday "we are ready to accept and direct those people." He adds "they will be able to pass through Croatia and we are working intensively to enable that."

Milanovic says 150 people have already crossed into Croatia to avoid Hungary's closed border and Croatia's national security council will convene to address the situation.

Referring to Hungary's fence, Milanovic says "barbed wire in Europe in the 21st century is not an answer, it's a threat."

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10:45 a.m.

Greece's coast guard has picked up hundreds of people from the sea near eastern Aegean islands as they attempted to reach Greece clandestinely from the nearby Turkish coast.

The coast guard said Wednesday it rescued 773 people in 19 separate search-and-rescue operations in the last 24 hours off the islands of Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Kos and Rhodes. The figures do not include the hundreds more who manage to reach the islands themselves, usually in overcrowded inflatable dinghies or wooden boats.

More than 250,000 people have reached Greece clandestinely so far this year, the vast majority of them Syrians or Afghans fleeing conflict at home. Few, if any, want to remain in financially strapped Greece, with most heading north overland through the Balkans to more prosperous European countries.

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9:45 a.m.

The first groups of migrants have started arriving in Croatia — a new European Union entry point after Hungary sealed off its border with Serbia with massive coils of barbed wire.

About 80 people crossed early Wednesday from the Serbian border town of Sid, following an all-night bus ride from the southern border with Macedonia.

Dozens of police and aid workers waited for the migrants in Croatia, where they are being registered. Local media say some migrants sought to cross in through nearby fields to avoid registration.

Officials say three more buses are expected to arrive in Sid later Wednesday morning.

Migrants have avoided Croatia in the past because they must still go into Hungary or Slovenia before reaching Austria or Germany.

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9:05 a.m.

Austria has begun selective controls of vehicles at three main border crossings with Hungary as it tries to impose some order over the stream of refugees and other migrants from that country.

Police say the controls, which took effect at midnight, may be extended to 10 crossings, with vehicles being stopped selectively for checks of passports and other travel documents.

Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner has said Syrians and others in danger in their home countries can continue to ask for asylum in Austria. She says they will also be free to travel on to Germany.