Pope Francis celebrated Mass on Tuesday for Sweden's tiny Catholic community, made up of many refugees and migrants, praising as ‘blessed’ those in this overwhelmingly non-religious nation who take in asylum seekers.
Germany expects up to 300,000 asylum seekers to arrive this year, less than one-third of the total during 2015's record influx, the Federal Office for Migrants and Refugees (BAMF) said Sunday.
Australia and Papua New Guinea have agreed to close a controversial Australian-funded asylum seeker detention centre on Manus Island, although the ultimate fate of 800 refugees held in the camp remains unclear.
The first Syrians arrived in Germany from Istanbul on Monday under a controversial EU-Turkey migrant pact, an official from the German federal refugee office told AFP.
German police arrested two Algerians suspected of links to the Islamic State group and hunted two others after raids targeting several sites including refugee shelters where some of the suspects lived.
Asylum seekers in a northern English town believe they are easy targets for racist abuse because they have been housed in properties that almost all have red front doors, a local support group manager said on Wednesday.
