Taddese Dinku had been a cartographer and surveyor in Ethiopia for nearly four decades when in June 2014, at the age of 64, he was arrested by local police at his home in Addis Ababa. He was told it was because he would not join the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, the country's ruling political party, which is known for ruthlessly quashing dissent.
Two days after the first 136 deportations of refugees and migrants from the Greek island of Lesvos to Dikili, Turkey, local society here remains skeptical about the deal between EU and Turkey, especially concerning the reduction of arrivals on Greek shores.
Last fall, soccer fans celebrated refugee children at a legendary Munich stadium; today, European voters are boosting anti-immigrant political parties and governments are closing their gates to new arrivals. The refrain of Europe's migrant crisis has changed from "welcome" to "enough already."
The number of asylum applications submitted in Austria last week dropped to a low not seen since April 2015, on the back of stricter asylum policy imposed by the government.
Algerian and German governments have reached an agreement to deport the Algerians who illegally entered Germany a year ago.
The Bundestag, or lower house of the German parliament, passed on Thursday a package of new regulations to tighten asylum rules in an effort to deal with an unprecedented influx of refugees.
Australia on Monday (Feb 22) said an asylum seeker baby whom doctors had refused to discharge from hospital is expected to be returned to a remote Pacific detention camp as a deterrent to people smugglers.
Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner announced further planned reductions to the asylum seeker intake limits imposed on Friday.
Austrian Minister of the Interior Johanna Mikl-Leitner on Monday stated that in her view Austria will limit the number of asylum seekers accepted in 2016 to a fixed 37,500.
The German government agreed on Tuesday to a faster expulsion of criminal foreigners in the wake of the New Year's Eve assaults on women in Cologne by mainly Arab and North African male suspects.
While demonstrators gathered in Cologne, Germany, on Sunday to protest against assaults allegedly done by asylum seekers, there have been question marks over media reports about similar sexual harassment that took place in Helsinki, Finland.
After scores of women reported sexual assaults and muggings by men on New Year's Eve in the western German city of Cologne, German police have identified a total of 31 suspects, most of whom were asylum seekers, German media Focus Online reported on Friday.
Almost a million migrants are estimated to have arrived on European shores by sea alone in 2015, according to the International Organization for Migration, while the European statistics agency Eurostat has counted 980,000 asylum requests across EU member states so far this year.
The Finnish government published its action plan on asylum policies on Tuesday, sending a clear message of tightening up amid the ongoing refugee crisis.
With about 50,000 to 60,000 new arrivals of refugees by the end of this year, the Dutch public services announced Monday that they are working together to make sure that all steps from registration to eventual repatriation or permit granting proceed safely and smoothly.
Party leaders of Germany's ruling coalition have agreed on Thursday on plans to establish special registration centers for refugees in Germany, with an aim to speed up asylum procedures for those who have little chance to get asylum.
Finnish Minister for the Interior Petteri Orpo said on Tuesday there are former "Islamic State" (IS) fighters among those who are now staying in Finland and aiming to get asylum status.
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