Merkel’s Party Reaches Compromise on Refugee Numbers
Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party (CDU) struck a compromise with its Bavarian sister party over the number of refugees to be admitted to Germany.
After Merkel’s electoral victory, albeit dented by growth in support of the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD), months of coalition negotiations are expected.
The first step is for the CDU to harmonize policies with its partner Christian Social Union (CSU), who had made a cap on refugee numbers integral to its campaign. Merkel insisted she would not put a limit on the right to asylum, and other potential coalitions have also rejected a cap.
Under the compromise reached on October 8, Germany will take in around 200,000 people on humanitarian grounds each year, but not refer to it as an “upper limit” and never turn people away at the border. Germany received around 280,000 asylum seekers last year.
Militia Captures Libyan City From Smugglers Who Stopped Boats
A Libyan militia seized control of a key smuggling hub from rival militias who had recently cracked down on migrant boats leaving Libya.
The Anti-ISIS Operations Room said it found 4,000 migrants in camps around the coastal city of Sabratha, after they had been trapped by weeks of fighting. They include pregnant women and children, a spokesman told the Associated Press.
The militia was founded last year to oust the so-called Islamic State (ISIS). The group clashed with the Martyr Anas al-Dabashi and Brigade 48 groups in recent weeks after those two militias received support to halt smuggling migrants in an Italian-backed deal, and the number of boats dropped dramatically .
Deadly Shipwreck of Refugee Boat from Myanmar
Another boat taking Rohingya refugees from Myanmar to Bangladesh has capsized, with at least 12 bodies recovered.
Several of the dead were children, Bangladesh authorities said. They estimate the boat was carrying 35 people to Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar, where most of the half a million people who fled Myanmar in recent weeks are sheltering in basic conditions.
A boat carrying dozens of Rohingya passengers sank late last month amid the rapid mass exodus from Myanmar, since August 25 militant attacks sparked a massive campaign of violence in Rakhine state.
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