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Europe
 Three migrants die in traffic accident in Serbia's south: Police[AlAhram] Three Afghan migrants died and another 11, including six children were injured in a traffic accident in southern Serbia on Thursday when a passenger car crammed with people swerved off the road and hit a safety barrier, the interior ministry said. The driver, a suspected smuggler, fled the scene, while all the injured were transported to the hospital in the nearby city of Nis, 200 kilometers (124 miles) south of Belgrade, the ministry said in a statement. Serbia was a focal point for migrants last year, when hundreds of thousands fleeing wars and poverty in the Middle East and Asia travelled up through the Balkans to reach wealthy Western Europe. Although that route was closed off in March, Serbian authorities estimate a further 110,000 migrants have passed through the country, many using smugglers to travel across Serbia and cross its barbed-wire border with Hungary. On Monday, Serbian authorities arrested three men on suspicion of people trafficking after 77 migrants were found hidden in cargo vehicles. According to the UN refugee agency, around 7,000 migrants are stranded in camps in Serbia. Child migrants return to Calais hoping to cross to Britain in new year [Ynet] As the new year approaches, child migrants who left Calais after their "Jungle" camp was demolished are again gathering in the northern French town hoping to reach Britain, migrants and charity workers said. Last month, France moved more than 1,600 child migrants from the site which had been razed by bulldozers to reception centres across the country after a row with Britain over who should take care of them. But some children have returned to Calais, just 21 miles (33 km) from Britain, after learning they would not be allowed to enter the UK under a change to immigration law which permits the country to take in vulnerable unaccompanied child refugees. Last Friday, dozens of child migrants launched a legal challenge against the British government seeking a written explanation of why it ruled that it was not in the children's "best interests" to be resettled in the UK, their lawyers said.
[DeutscheWelle] So far this year around 55,000 migrants voluntarily left Germany to return to their country of origin, the largest number in 16 years, the daily "Süddeutsche Zeitung" reported. The number is nearly double the estimated 25,000 forced deportations carried out so far this year. Most of the migrants came from the western Balkans, with around 15,000 people returning to Albania up to November. That was followed by another 5,000 migrants each from Serbia, Kosovo and Iraq. The figures are based on internal documents from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). People from the Balkans have little chance of receiving permanent residency rights in Germany. By voluntarily repatriating, they avoid forced deportation and a permanent ban on reentering Germany, and may also be eligible for monetary support. German police have denied entry at land borders, ports and airports to 19,720 people between January and November 2016. That compares to 8,913 entry denials in all of 2015. A large portion of those stopped at the border came from Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and Nigeria, according to the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung" newspaper. But the number of migrants stopped at the border is deceptive as the border controls were implemented only with Austria, meaning migrants may have entered using alternative routes. Nearly 75 percent of border denials were at the Austrian-German border. Many asylum-seekers and migrants have arrived in Germany without ID documents, either because they don't have them or they purposefully destroyed them knowing it would slow down deportation. Now the CSU is calling for restricting entry to people without ID documents. Whoever arrives at the border without a passport or other ID documents should be "held at the border and stay in transit centers until their identity is clarified," the CSU's Bavarian state lawmakers proposed in a policy paper. Bavarian lawmakers aim to turn refugee boats back to Africa [DeutscheWelle] As security and refugee debates heat up in Germany ahead of federal elections in 2017, politicians in the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), are looking to propose a drastic shift in how Germany, and Europe, handle migrant arrivals, according to a new position paper set to be unveiled next week. The CSU will hold a party convention next week and are set to call for tens of thousands of migrants intercepted in the Mediterranean Sea to be sent back to North Africa, according to an internal policy paper obtained by the "Rheinische Post" newspaper. Some 181,000 migrants from the Middle East and Africa have been registered in Italy in 2016 after braving the central Mediterranean route, which has claimed some 5,000 lives this year. Many migrants are intercepted by rescue boats and European navies before being brought to the EU. The CSU's plan would call for expanding cooperation with North African countries and convincing them to take back migrants. "This is the only way to put pressure on organized criminals in the Mediterranean," the policy paper said. In addition, the CSU is advocating limitations on family reunification for certain classes of asylum seekers beyond 2018. Germany had tightened asylum laws earlier this year by - among other things - suspending family reunification for asylum seekers granted so-called "subsidiary protection" for two years. Crimes against refugee centers in Germany down slightly in 2016 [DeutscheWelle] Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) said up until December 27, out of the 921 reported offenses against refugee homes, 857 of them had a suspected far-right background. That compares to a total of 1,031 offenses in 2015, 923 of which were suspected of having a far-right background. Investigators said most of the crimes were for damage to property including graffiti. But more than 150 cases involved violence against migrants. The figures revealed 66 arson attacks, down by almost a third on 2015, and four explosions, the number of which had halved compared to last year. The number of migrants arriving in Germany has fallen significantly since its peak in 2015. Around 305,000 had registered for asylum in Germany by the end of November, compared to 890,000 last year, according to German government figures.
29 Dec 2016 Police in Cologne have banned the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) from holding a demonstration at the Cologne cathedral square on New Year’s Eve over safety concerns. Italy Says Another 900 Migrants Picked up in Mediterranean
Another 900 migrants have been rescued from stricken boats off Libya, Italy’s coastguard said Wednesday, three days before the end of what is already a record year for arrivals at the country’s southern ports. Nearly Half of Young Tunisians Considering Move to Europe 28 Dec 2016 More than 45 per cent of young Tunisians want to migrate illegally to Europe according to a new study, and an estimated 35,000 have already done so in the last few years. Number of Syrian Migrants in Germany Could DOUBLE Due to Family Reunification 28 Dec 2016 The vice president of the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament, fears that the number of Syrian migrants will double due to family reunification laws alone. Merkel is punished for her open door refugee policy as backing for German chancellor's party crumbles amid surge in support for the far-right 28/12/16 [DailyMail] With 434,019 members at the end of last month Angela Merkel's CDU party has now slipped behind Germany's social democrats.
29/12/16 Kosovan Lavdrim Muhaxheri and his men are among thousands who have fled Syria after ISIS suffered devastating losses in war-torn Syria, according to sources in Italian intelligence. Many of the fighters are feared to have disguised themselves as refugees in order to get into Europe, according to information leaked from the spying agency. Spanish ISIS widows arrested while trying to return to Europe from Syria after their barbaric husbands were killed 29/12/16 Spanish national Asia Ahmed Mohamed, 26, and Fatima Akil Laghmich (pictured), 21, were arrested by Turkish authorities as they tried to enter the country from Syria. Posted by: trailing wife 2016-12-30 |
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