Sweden said it expects to expel up to 80,000 migrants whose asylum requests are likely to be rejected, as another 18 people, including children, drowned off Greece yesterday in a desperate bid to reach Europe.
As the continent grapples with efforts to stem a record flow of migrants, Swedish Minister for Home Affairs Anders Ygeman said the mass expulsions of people who arrived in the Scandinavian country last year would require the use of specially chartered aircraft and would be staggered over several years.
“We are talking about 60,000 people, but the number could climb to 80,000,” he told Swedish media, adding that police and migration authorities had been tasked with organizing the scheme.
Photo: TT News Agency via AP
Of the 58,800 asylum requests handled by Swedish migration authorities last year, 55 percent were accepted. However, many of those requests were submitted in 2014, before the large migrant flow began.
Ygeman said he used the 55 percent figure to estimate that about half of the 163,000 asylum requests received last year would likely be rejected.
Sweden, a country of 9.8 million, is among the EU states with the highest proportion of refugees per capita.
More than 1 million people traveled to Europe last year — the majority of them refugees fleeing conflict in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan — in the continent’s worst migration crisis since World War II.
Most cross by boat from Turkey to Greece, with the UN saying more than 46,000 people have turned up on the EU member’s beaches so far this year, while 170 people died making the dangerous journey.
Flimsy boats packed with migrants are still arriving on Greek beaches every day, the passengers undeterred by Europe’s cold, wintry conditions.
Yesterday, the bodies of 18 migrants, including nine children, were discovered off the Greek island of Samos after their boat capsized and 17 others were still missing, the Greek coastguard said, a day after seven other bodies were found near the island of Kos.
With the influx showing little sign of abating despite the cold weather, many countries — including Austria, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and France — have tightened their asylum rules in a bid to discourage new arrivals.
Reflecting the rising tensions, Brussels on Wednesday blasted Greece’s handling of the crisis and warned it could face border controls with the EU’s passport-free Schengen zone if it does not protect the bloc’s frontiers.
Greece is not the only country under fire: Denmark has faced heavy criticism after its lawmakers passed a bill this week allowing authorities to seize valuables from refugees in a bid to deter new arrivals.
Some have likened the move to the Nazis’ confiscation of gold from Jews during the Holocaust, with Human Rights Watch denouncing the bill as “despicable.”
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
RSS