LONDON: The flow of migrants into Europe shows no signs of abating, say experts with the number of asylum seekers increasing in some countries and many living in dire conditions as they wait for their applications to be processed.
While Germany saw a decline in the number of refugee applications in 2017, France witnessed the highest number of asylum applications in 40 years during 2017 and anticipates a further rise this year.
Pascal Brice, director general of the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (Ofpra) told French broadcaster CNEWS that the number of asylum applicants in the country had increased by 17 percent, with more than 100,000 requests registered last year.
“France is one of the top countries for seeking asylum in Europe” after Germany, which expects to receive just under 200,000 requests for asylum in 2018,” Brice said.
Brice noted a sharp rise in the number of requests from Albanian and West African nationals with 7,630 applications from Albania and 5,987 from Afghanistan — the second most common country of origin.
Speaking to Arab News, professor Christian Dustmann, director of the Center for Research and Analysis on Migration (CReaM) said: “The political fallout has been quite tremendous in Europe so clearly European countries have tried to make sure that the influx of asylum seekers will be reduced.”
“That has seen some success so things have calmed down a little bit but in the longer run this will not totally abate.”
Neil Grungas, executive director of the organization for Refuge, Asylum & Migration (Oram) pointed to “signs of instability” elsewhere in the region, including the recent uprising in Iran and the possibility of further crackdown on protesters by the regime. “We don’t yet know what will be the impact in terms of outflow from Iran.”
“Also, the fact that ISIL (Daesh) has been apparently quelled in some sections of Syria and in Iraq doesn’t mean they are gone. We can expect the kind of radicalism and the kind of political pressures that we’ve seen to carry on further and further.”
“People will need to leave…some because they are living in war zones and others because they are tired of living in situations of perpetual displacement,” he added.
“There is a lot of political instability in the Middle East so I don’t see that this will now disappear completely, I think we will live with this challenge for a very long time to come,” Dustmann said.
A series of regime air strikes in rebel-held Idlib in Syria on Sunday, which killed at least 40 people, sent thousands fleeing north toward the Syrian border.
Kerem Kinik, president of the Turkish Red Crescent Society, told Arab News earlier this week that in the past fortnight around 64,000 Syrians have traveled from the south of Idlib toward the north.
“We are doing our best to accommodate them in our camp between Idlib and our southern border,” he said.
A report released by The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in March 2017 found that counties bordering Syria hosted the vast majority of refugees, with more than 5 million people seeking refuge in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, as well as Egypt and Iraq.
The controversial deal struck between the EU and Turkey last year, which left many refugees stranded on Greek islands, was designed to stem the flow of migrants crossing into Europe but relations between the signatories have since deteriorated.
The EU’s deal with Turkey is “beginning to fray around the edges” said Jonathan Portes, professor of economics and public policy at King’s College London, and a senior fellow of the UK in a Changing Europe program.
“It’s quite possible that you will continue to have very large numbers of people displaced from Syria to Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and that many of those will continue to try and make their way to Europe if they see that as being a potentially feasible thing to do.”
For those trying to cross into Europe, the journey has grown increasingly difficult and perilous since more countries closed off migration routes.
“Even if applications are going up in France, there’s still quite a strong cohort of people in Calais who are in the dire conditions because there is no official camp and there are more and more restrictions on what services can be provided for them,” said Fizza Qureshi, Director of the Migrants’ Rights Network.
“For us the concern is there are no easy routes for protection, so a lot of people are having to put themselves into the hands of traffickers.”
“Its incredibly difficult for people who end up in places like Hungary and some of the other Eastern European countries that are very unwelcoming at the moment to refugees.”
“There needs to be a much more rights-based approach to refugee protection.”
Europe refugees flows set to continue amid sharp rise in asylum applications
Europe refugees flows set to continue amid sharp rise in asylum applications
Kremlin says Estonia's readiness to host nuclear-capable NATO jets threatens Russia
Peskov said such a move would be an obvious threat to Russia
MOSCOW: The Kremlin said on Friday that Estonia's stated readiness to host NATO allies' U.S.-made F-35A stealth jets, capable of carrying nuclear weapons, posed a direct threat to Moscow.
Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur told the Postimees news outlet on Thursday that Estonia - which borders Russia and is a rotating base for NATO jets tasked with protecting Baltic airspace - was ready to host nuclear-capable jets if necessary.
"If some of them, regardless of their country of origin, have a dual-use capability to carry nuclear weapons it doesn't affect our position on hosting F-35s in any way," the outlet cited him as saying.
"Of course we are ready to host our allies."
Pevkur was speaking after Britain, a NATO member, announced it would buy at least 12 F-35A jets capable of carrying nuclear warheads and that they would join NATO's airborne nuclear mission.
Asked about Pevkur's comments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said such a move would be an obvious threat to Russia.
"Of course it would be an immediate danger," Peskov told a journalist from Russia's Life news outlet. He said the statement was one of many "absurd thoughts" voiced by politicians in the Baltic region, which comprises Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
"We have practically no relations with the Baltic republics because it is very difficult to make them worse," he said.
Liberia holds funeral for ex-leader Doe decades after assassination
- Samuel Doe’s brutal 1990 torture and murder were an early turning point in the two civil wars
- The circumstances surrounding Doe’s death mark a notorious episode in Liberia’s history
ZWEDRU, Liberia: Hundreds of people gathered Friday in rural Liberia for the state funeral of authoritarian former president Samuel Doe 35 years after his assassination, part of the country’s ongoing reconciliation efforts over its violent past.
Doe’s brutal 1990 torture and murder were an early turning point in the two civil wars that killed around 250,000 people and ravaged Liberia’s economy.
He is being commemorated at his home compound in southeastern Grand Gedeh County alongside his wife, Nancy, who died in May and will be buried at the estate.
Liberians gathered along the route Friday as the couple’s caskets – his symbolic, and hers containing her body – were slowly driven through the county capital of Zwedru on the bed of a truck decorated in bunting in the country’s red, white and blue colors.
The state ceremony is being attended by President Joseph Boakai, who declared a period of mourning this week from Tuesday to Friday, with flags flown at half-mast.
His executive mansion Facebook page said the commemorations are part of a “broader effort” meant to “promote national reconciliation.”
The circumstances surrounding Doe’s death mark a notorious episode in Liberia’s history.
Infamous warlord Prince Johnson, a key player in the civil wars (1989 to 2003), appeared in a video watching his fighters slowly mutilate and torture Doe to death while he calmly sipped a beer.
Various rumors but little concrete information exists as to the fate and location of Doe’s remains following his death.
Doe’s own rise to power was also steeped in violence.
His 1980 to 1990 rule remains divisive, remembered by many Liberians as a brutal dictatorship, while others recall some transformative measures he implemented fondly.
Liberian Mercy Janjay Seeyougar said in Monrovia ahead of the funeral that she remembered how Doe once gave her a candy, and that during street cleanings he would “stop and be with the people who are doing the cleaning.”
In 1980, Doe, then an army sergeant in his late 20s, led a coup assassinating president William Tolbert, the last in a line of leaders from the Americo-Liberian ruling class comprised of the descendants of former US slaves.
Quickly establishing a regime of terror, Doe had 13 members of the government he had overthrown publicly executed on a beach and his regime subsequently jailed or persecuted many of its opponents.
He was elected in a 1985 presidential vote that many observers said was marked by fraud.
The brutality of his regime, combined with declining economic conditions and favoritism toward the Krahn ethnic group of which he was a member, led to increased unpopularity.
Russian missile attack kills five in Ukraine’s southeast
- At least four of the wounded were in severe condition and were taken to hospital
- Officials gave no immediate details on damage in the city
KYIV: A Russian missile attack on Friday killed at least five people and wounded more than 20 in the industrial city of Samar in Ukraine’s southeast, officials said, the second strike on the city in three days.
At least four of the wounded were in severe condition and were taken to hospital, regional governor Serhiy Lysak said on the Telegram messaging app.
Officials gave no immediate details on damage in the city, where an attack on an unidentified infrastructure facility on Tuesday killed two people.
Hundreds of kilometers to the south, in the Kherson region, authorities urged residents on Friday to prepare for extended periods without power after a Russian attack hit a key energy facility.
Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on Telegram that “Russians decided to plunge the region into darkness.”
In recent weeks Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukrainian cities, particularly its capital Kyiv, more than three years into the war that followed its full-scale invasion.
The Ukrainian air force said Russia had launched 363 long-range drones and eight missiles overnight into Friday, targeting a small western city of Starokostiantyniv, home to an important air base. There were no details on damage.
Oslo police announce rape and sexual assault charges against son of Norwegian crown princess
- Oslo Police Attorney Andreas Kruszewski said Høiby was cooperative during police questioning
- “I cannot go into further detail about the number of victims in the case”
OSLO: Oslo police on Friday announced charges against Marius Borg Høiby, the eldest son of Norway’s crown princess, on multiple counts including rape, sexual assault and bodily harm after a months-long investigation of a case that involved a “double-digit” number of alleged victims.
Høiby, the son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit and stepson of the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Haakon, has been under scrutiny since he was repeatedly arrested in 2024 amid allegations of rape and on preliminary charges of bodily harm and criminal damage.
Oslo Police Attorney Andreas Kruszewski said Høiby was cooperative during police questioning, which is now complete. Evidence in the case was drawn from sources including text-messages, witness testimonies and police searches, the police attorney said.
The charges included one case of rape involving intercourse and two cases of rape without intercourse, four cases of sexual assault and two cases of bodily harm, Kruszewksi said at a news conference.
“I cannot go into further detail about the number of victims in the case beyond confirming that it is a double-digit number,” he said.
Defense attorney Petar Sekulic, in an email to The Associated Press, said Høiby was “absolutely taking the accusations very seriously, but doesn’t acknowledge any wrongdoing in most of the cases — especially the cases regarding sexual abuse and violence.”
The case was top news in Norway, where the royals are popular.
Høiby, 28, previously lived with the royal couple and their two children, Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus, but now lives in a separate house nearby, according to Sekulic.
Høiby remains free pending a possible trial and is entitled to a presumption of innocence until a court rules otherwise.
Norway’s future queen made headlines in 2001 when she married Haakon because she was a single mother who had lived a freewheeling life with a companion who had been convicted on drug charges.
Indian entrepreneurs look to Middle East for further boost amid small business boom
- Micro, small and medium enterprises contribute about 30% to India’s GDP
- Industry players are particularly optimistic about business growth with Saudi Arabia
NEW DELHI: Indian entrepreneurs are increasingly looking to expand into the Middle East as small businesses in India seek to make the most of their strong growth trajectory.
The country boasts around 63 million micro, small and medium enterprises, up from 47.7 million in July 2024, latest government data shows. The sector contributes to some 30 percent of India’s GDP and 45 percent of its exports.
Amid the boom, Indian entrepreneurs seeking to scale up their businesses are now eyeing collaborations across various sectors with their counterparts in the Middle East.
“We are working with, at present, with … Bahrain, you know, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, by attending various exhibitions, fairs organized by these countries. We are taking world-class Indian MSME delegations to these countries, hundreds of MSMEs, for (business) matchmaking,” Vijay Kumar, director general of the World Association for Small and Medium Enterprises, told Arab News at the 2025 MSME Day in New Delhi.
He added he was particularly optimistic about the potential for growth for Indian businesses and their counterparts in Saudi Arabia, saying that they were already collaborating.
"(The) future is very good for Saudi MSMEs and Indian MSMEs,” he said. “I’m sure in the coming years not only things will be multiplied … (but) thousands of Saudi MSMEs and Indian MSMEs (will) start (feeling the) benefits and become the global partner(s) for export and providing employment to their own countries.”
The rising interest toward the Middle East is due to the region’s business landscape and its wealth of opportunities, according to Naveen Sharma, chairman of Athena Ventures.
“The reason for Indian MSMEs’ expansion is that nowadays Indian MSMEs are doing very well. They are now flushed with funds, they have the right technology, they have good processes. So they are very keen to expand, and (the) Middle East is a very fertile business environment in which Indian MSMEs can really flourish,” he told Arab News.
“Already many of them have invested there, and as you may be knowing because of the free trade agreements, because of the liberal trade policies, liberal tax policies, many Indian MSMEs are also making Gulf countries their hubs for billing and logistics, all those things.”
The government has described small and medium businesses as the “backbone” of the Indian economy and a key pillar of growth as the sector has emerged as the second-largest employer in the country after agriculture, generating more than 281 million jobs.
Rimjhim Saikia, an entrepreneur and WASME’s joint director, said small and medium enterprises were contributing to transform India into a developed nation.
“We are progressing towards that and a big role is being played by the MSMEs,” Saikia told Arab News.
She said she had witnessed more engagements between India and the Middle East in her sector, adding that there was “a lot of scope for Indian MSMEs to join hands” with their counterparts from the region.
“This is the right time, I would say, for Indian SMEs to actually look towards the Middle East,” she said.
Many small and medium businesses are collaborating with Middle Eastern countries in prominent sectors, including hospitality, pharmaceuticals and textiles.
Having brought over two dozen Indian entrepreneurs to Saudi Arabia herself last September, she said the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 transformation project in particular held massive potential.
“(The) 2030 vision is very important for Saudi, but that also holds a lot of importance for Indian MSMEs because, with the Vision 2030 opens up a plethora of opportunities … both in the manufacturing and the trading sector,” she added.
“I think for everyone, every MSME, there is a lot of hope for a very good … future in the Middle East, particularly in Saudi (Arabia) for expanding their business.”
