Austria says will slash asylum claims, strengthen border checks
VIENNA (Reuters) – Austria declared on Wednesday it would cap the number of people allowed to claim asylum this year at less than half last year’s total, and its chancellor said border controls would have to be stepped up “massively”; but how that woul…
Pope tells Davos elite: Consider your role in creating poverty
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – Pope Francis told members of the world’s wealthy political and economic elite on Wednesday that they should not be deaf to the cry of the poor and must consider their own role in creating inequality.
Iran’s Khamenei suggests wants only conservative election candidates, hinting at rift with Rouhani
DUBAI (Reuters) – Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday those opposed to the values of Iran’s Shi’ite theocracy should not be allowed to run for parliament, signaling a rift between him and its moderate president over the February ele…
Al Qaeda attack dents Burkina Faso’s hopes of recovery
OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) – When Burkina Faso swore in its first new president in decades last month, many people hoped the democratic transition would pave the way to an era of progress. Now a deadly raid by al Qaeda militants has shaken that optimism.
Militant who claimed responsibility for Indian base attack warns Pakistan against crackdown
MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) – The Pakistan-based chief of a militant alliance fighting for an end to Indian rule in divided Kashmir openly condemned on Wednesday a crackdown by the Pakistan government against another group India blames for an atta…
Limiting German refugee intake not unethical, president says
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – Germany cannot take in all the asylum seekers who want to begin a new life there and it is not unethical of Berlin to limit the influx, President Joachim Gauck said on Wednesday, pressing other European countries to share…
Smuggling soars as Venezuela’s economy sinks
BOCA DEL GRITA, Venezuela (Reuters) – Clutching egg cartons on his shoulder, a young man wades precariously through a muddy river on Venezuela’s western jungle border where a Colombian shopkeeper will happily buy them up.
Ferries stay docked, farmers empty milk churns in Greek pension protests
ATHENS (Reuters) – Ferries remained docked at Greek ports and farmers poured milk onto the streets on Wednesday in protest over plans to revamp Greece’s pensions system, a condition for the country’s multi-billion euro bailout.
Red doors mark out asylum seekers’ houses in English town: report
LONDON (Reuters) – Asylum seekers in the northern English town of Middlesbrough are suffering abuse because they have been housed in properties that almost all have red front doors, making them easy targets for racists, the Times newspaper reported on …
British police question boy who spelled ‘terrorist’ by mistake
LONDON (Reuters) – A 10-year-old Muslim boy has been questioned by British police in the north of England after mistakenly writing in an English lesson that he lived in a “terrorist house”, the BBC reported on Wednesday.
