Reuters, Berlin
The number of people with an immigrant background in Germany rose 8.5 percent to a record 18.6 million in 2016, largely due to an increase in refugees, the Federal Statistics Office said on Tuesday.
Just over a fifth of the population – 22.5 percent – were first or second generation immigrants with at least one parent born without German citizenship, the office said.
KSA to launch Red Sea tourism resorts
AFP, Riyadh
Saudi Arabia on Tuesday announced the launch of a massive tourism project that will turn 50 islands and a string of sites on the Red Sea coast into luxury resorts.
The plan is part of efforts to diversify the ultraconservative kingdom’s oil-dependent economy following a slump in energy prices.
Venezuela security agents seize
opposition leaders
Reuters, Caracas
Venezuelan security officials seized two opposition leaders from their homes in overnight raids, their families said on Tuesday, after they urged protests against a new legislative superbody widely denounced as anti-democratic.
Leopoldo Lopez and Antonio Ledezma were both under house arrest, the former for his role in leading street protests against President Nicolas Maduro in 2014 and the latter on charges of plotting a coup.
Elephants, tigers kill one human a day in India
AFP, Bangalore
Endangered elephants and tigers are killing one person a day in India as humans put a growing squeeze on their habitat, according to new government figures.
But man is in turn killing a leopard a day as the man-animal tussle for space reaches new heights.
India has lost vast swathes of forests to urbanisation in recent decades, forcing animals into human-occupied zones.
According to the environment ministry, 1,144 people were killed in attacks across India in 1,143 days between April 2014 and May this year.
