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Over 72,000 asylum seekers in April 2023

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:11:05 GMT

In April 2023, 72,630 first-time asylum applicants (non-EU citizens) applied for international protection in EU countries. Compared with April 2022 (54,350), this represents a 34 % increase. There were also 5,310 subsequent applicants, a 5 % decrease compared with April 2022 (5,610). This information comes from the monthly asylum data published by Eurostat. The article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article on monthly asylum statistics. Source dataset: migr_asyappctzmMost first-time asylum applicants were Syrians and AfghansAs in the previous months, in April 2023, Syrians were the largest group of people seeking asylum (9,420 first-time applicants). They were followed by Afghans (7,405), ahead of Venezuelans (5,785), Colombians (4,770) and Turks (4,640).Following Russia's military aggression against Ukraine, there was a significant increase in Ukrainian first-time asylum applicants (from 2,105 in February 2022 to 12 190 in March 2022), bu...

Miss Manners: My fiancee says she must have a diamond, despite my objection

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:11:05 GMT

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I am very much against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and I don’t want to support it by buying a diamond engagement ring, since the stone is likely to come from Russia.Related ArticlesAdvice | Miss Manners: Should we warn our guests about our house’s acoustic anomaly? Advice | Miss Manners: My co-worker said what I did was insulting, but I’ve never heard of this rule Advice | Miss Manners: We accidentally invited them to the wedding. How do we undo it? Advice | Miss Manners: Should I report my mother-in-law for her workplace crime? Advice | Miss Manners: Can we tell the in-laws what wedding gift would be appropriate? I told my fiancee I would like to buy her a ruby, emerald or sapphire ring — her choice — but she says the only ring appropriate for an engagement is a diamond. What is your advice?GENTLE READER: This is not the jewelry department, so Mis...

Dear Abby: We’re nervous about telling our kids this family secret

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:11:05 GMT

DEAR ABBY: My wife and I have been married for 38 years. We were both divorced prior to our marriage. Our marriage is great, and we have demonstrated this to everyone and especially to our boys.Related ArticlesAdvice | Dear Abby: The children’s impersonal fundraising requests annoy me Advice | Dear Abby: The bride’s dramatic cousins unleashed wedding backlash Advice | Dear Abby: This unpleasant couple is ruining my peace and quiet Advice | Dear Abby: He put security cameras everywhere, and now he’s logging our activities Advice | Dear Abby: The photos he takes of me are threatening our marriage We decided early on to not say anything to our children about our prior marriages. The boys are now in their 30s. We raised them with solid values, one school district, long-term home, etc. We have no regrets.We have been updating our living trust and other legal documents and have come across pl...

Bob Marley’s daughter is lauded as the `fairy godmother’ of the Jamaican women’s team.

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:11:05 GMT

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The daughter of reggae legend Bob Marley is something of a “fairy godmother” for the Jamaica team playing in its second Women’s World Cup.Cedella Marley has been a tireless advocate and fundraiser for the Reggae Girlz and helped rescue the team after it was disbanded in 2008. Her work has paid of and Jamaica is in the round of 16. The Reggae Girlz play Colombia on Tuesday night in Melbourne, Australia. “Her support has been really important to us and she’s just the heart of this team,” said Jamaica player Deneisha Blackwood. “She’s just like our fairy godmother. We just appreciate her for everything she has done so far.”The Reggae Girlz were disbanded after failing to qualify for the 2007 World Cup and the 2008 Olympics. In 2014, Bob and Rita Marley’s eldest daughter was alarmed to learn the Jamaican soccer federation had stopped funding the team. Marley hoped to help the Reggae Girlz reach the 2015 World Cup, but the team failed to qual...

Onana, Rice and Nkunku headline the Premier League’s top offseason signings

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:11:05 GMT

In a summer dominated by big-name arrivals in the emerging Saudi league, the English Premier League has made some major signings of its own.Here is a look at six of them who could transform the playing style — and fortunes — of their new teams when the season starts on Friday:___ANDRE ONANA (Manchester United)Rarely are goalkeepers transformational signings but Onana’s arrival at Old Trafford from Inter Milan could be just that. United’s build-up play from the back was weak with David De Gea as goalkeeper, leading to some crucial goals conceded and putting extra pressure on his defenders. Onana will change all that. He can pass cleanly out from his area, short or long, like Ederson Moraes at Manchester City or Alisson Becker at Liverpool, for example. That will leave opposition teams in two minds: do they continue to press high up the field and risk leaving United’s midfielders with more space, or will it force them to sit back deeper and play a more containing gam...

Beyoncé takes FedEx Field stage after lightning delay, her tour funds extended Metro service for fans

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:11:05 GMT

After a Flood Watch and lightning scare, Beyoncé said the show must go on during the second night of her Renaissance Tour at FedEx Field — and her tour pitched in to keep Metro running late, to accomodate the weather delays.Over 60,000 concertgoers at FedEx Field were under a shelter in place order at 6:40 p.m. due to lightning in the area. The stadium announced in a tweet that fans inside were being asked to shelter under covered concourse and ramp areas, while concertgoers who were still outside were told to go back to their cars.According to WTOP’s Acacia James, who attended the concert, the weather “really started to cause some problems” in the hours leading up to Beyoncé taking the stage.“There were fans having some medical emergencies, there were, you know, people pushing,” James said. “It was really a crazy situation and there was just no organization.”Storms didn’t break Bey’s soulNearly two hours after the order went int...

‘See the world just like anybody else’: Disability, chronic disease not keeping older travelers from taking off

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:11:05 GMT

This summer, WTOP is taking you on a tour and exploring how adults 50 and older are spending their travels.Southwest Virginia resident Sharon Moore Myers has traveled extensively using a wheelchair. As a four-time Paralympian, she once traveled around the world competing and winning medals in swimming, javelin, the discus and other sports.Myers, now 76, continued her travels after retiring from wheelchair sports and in 1998, she became involved with the Society for Accessible Travel and Hospitality, which works with travel agents and the industry on training to meet the travel needs of people with disabilities.“I want to see the world just like anybody else,” Myers said. So she sought people who were willing to figure out a way, and “made it possible,” she said.Myers has traveled to Peru several times, visiting the jungle and Machu Picchu and going whitewater rafting in the Urubamba River. She has gone on a safari in South Africa, and has traveled to India, Dubai and to severa...

Dan Evans wins his second career ATP title by beating Tallon Griekspoor in Washington

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:11:05 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Dan Evans won his second ATP Tour title by beating Tallon Griekspoor 7-5, 6-3 in a rain-interrupted D.C. Citi Open final on Sunday.Evans, a 33-year-old from Britain, saved four break points in the last game before ending the match with a service winner. He is the oldest champion in Washington since Jimmy Connors was 35 when he won the event in 1988.Evans arrived in Washington with an 8-18 record this season before going 5-0.“I had to keep telling myself it was match-by-match and not so long ago I wasn’t playing great,” he said. “It was a good effort mentally to just stay in the present and keep fighting for each point. And I did a great job of that this week.”Action was suspended Sunday at 2-all in the second set because of a thunderstorm. After play eventually resumed in front of just a smattering of spectators, Evans needed about 25 minutes to wrap up his first championship at a 500-level tournament.Rain returned shortly after the match concluded.“Any title is sp...

Guardiola has won the treble and now Man City manager is aiming for 4 Premier League titles in a row

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:11:05 GMT

Ticker tape was still strewn across the field inside Istanbul’s Ataturk Olimpiyat Stadium and Manchester City fans weren’t done partying in the stands when Pep Guardiola issued an ominous warning to his rivals. Far from feeling sated after finally transferring Man City’s domestic dominance to Europe by winning the Champions League for the first time last season, the City manager was looking to build on his club’s historic treble of trophies. “I don’t want after one Champions League to disappear, so work harder next season and be in there.”Guardiola had completed his ultimate mission by conquering Europe with City, having done so twice as coach of Barcelona, but he made it clear that his ambition was to achieve more. And there are new boundaries for him to break ahead of the new campaign. He can become the first manager to win four straight Premier League titles — something even Alex Ferguson could not do during his dominance with Manchester United. Indeed, no...

Spain election: Far-right Vox vows to back conservative Feijóo ‘for free’

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:11:05 GMT

Spain’s far-right Vox party on Sunday backed down from its long-held position on being included in any national government requiring its support, saying it’s willing to back a minority government headed by the center-right Popular Party even if a future cabinet doesn’t include any of its members.In a statement, the group said its deep concern over Socialist Pedro Sánchez’s plans to remain Spain’s prime minister had led it to revise its position and offer the unconditional support of its 33 MPs to conservative leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who needs a simple majority in the country’s parliament to back his bid to form a government.“We will not be an obstacle to avoid a government of national destruction,” Vox said in its statement.The far-right party said Sánchez’s willingness to forge a support pact with Basque and Catalan separatist groups like EH Bildu, the Basque Nationalist Party, the Republican Left of Catalonia and Junt...