Number seeking asylum up 17%

The number of people seeking asylum in industrialised countries rose by 17 per cent in the first six months of this year compared with the same period in 2010, the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR has said.

It said the total for the year was likely to be more than double and the highest for eight years, partly reflecting crises in North Africa, the Ivory Coast and Somalia.

But in general the main flow came, as in past years, from Afghanistan, China, Serbia and breakaway Kosovo, Iraq and Iran.