Germany's Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said Europe should stop looking on helplessly as "murder" rages on in Syria, as he called on the bloc to review its strategy on the conflict.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk criticised as "anti-Ukrainian and anti-European" a deal between Russia's energy giant Gazprom and several Western firms to build a second gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea.
Chancellor Angela Merkel won a hero's welcome as she visited a Berlin migrant centre, with Syrians cheering and taking selfies as Germany threw open its doors to thousands of refugees.
Around 450,000 refugees have arrived in Germany so far this year, including 37,000 in the first eight days of September, Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel told parliament.
A first group of around 50 refugees arrived in France from Germany as Paris tries to ease pressure on its neighbour, which has received the bulk of the migrants streaming into Europe.
Germany readied for hundreds more refugees to arrive from Hungary via Austria, a day after thousands were greeted, often by volunteers holding signs that read "Welcome to Germany".
"We love Germany," several young migrants yelled happily as they stumbled out of a train in Munich -- the last stop, they hope, of their long and perilous journey from war.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel faced down far-right hecklers vowing zero tolerance for "vile" anti-migrant violence as rescuers found 55 corpses on stricken boats in the Mediterranean.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande called for a "unified" response to the worst refugee crisis to hit the EU since World War II.
Brazil and Germany threw their weight behind the push for a global climate agreement later this year and stressed the vital importance of defending the Amazon jungle from deforestation.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier urged the European Union to negotiate with Switzerland on Bern's plans for new quotas on immigration from the bloc.