Reuters, Stockholm
Sweden’s Migration Agency said on Thursday it expected up to 140,000 asylum seekers in 2016 but the government said it would not allow numbers to get anywhere near that, and vowed to introduce further measures to curb the influx if needed.
Sweden took in 163,000 asylum seekers last year, twice the previous record set during the Balkan wars of the 1990s. The arrivals have put a huge strain on housing and other welfare services in the Nordic country.
Earthquake shakes Tokyo, no tsunami risk
AP, Tokyo
An earthquake has struck close to Tokyo, shaking much of the metropolitan region. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, and no tsunami risk.
The Japan Meteorological Agency said the 7:41 a.m. Friday morning quake had a preliminary magnitude of 4.6. The epicenter was in Kawasaki city, just south of the border with Tokyo.
Iraq building security wall around Baghdad
AFP, Baghdad
Iraq is building a three-metre-high security wall and trench defences around Baghdad in an effort to thwart jihadist attacks, a security official said on Thursday. The aim is to prevent the infiltration of “terrorists” and car bombs into the city, Brigadier General Saad Maan said.
Pakistan hold talks with Afghanistan
Dawn.com, Islamabad
The chief of Afghanistan’s spy agency met his Pakistani counterpart here on Thursday in what is being described as a first step towards bridging the trust gap between the two intelligence agencies and exploring the prospects of cooperation in fighting terrorism.
The meeting of the head of Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security, Masoud Andrabi with Inter-Services Intelligence director general Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar was the first high-level engagement between the two agencies since Afghan authorities succumbed to domestic political pressure and shelved ISI-NDS cooperation agreement weeks after it was signed in last May.
