Asylum requests fell by 10 percent last year in France , which lost its place as the most popular destination for asylum seekers in Europe , an official report showed Thursday.

Agence France Presse reports that the number of applications was down by 9.7 percent, at 35,520, in line with a trend begun in 2004.  Confirming estimates from the French refugee office OFPRA.  France still had the second highest number of asylum seekers in the European Union in 2007, after Sweden, which handled 36,207 applications -- a 50-percent increase year-on-year -- and ahead of Germany, Greece and Britain.

Asylum requests are also falling towards traditional host nations Germany and Austria , but have boomed on the EU's southern and eastern borders: in Greece , Italy , Spain and Poland , the report showed.

The head of the asylum seeker rights group CFDA, Patrick Delouvin, said the fall in France was due 'largely to government measures restricting access to our territory and intended to dissuade asylum seekers from coming.'   French authorities granted refugee status to 8,781 people in 2007, or 29.9 percent of applicants, compared to 19.5 percent the previous year.

The largest groups of first-time asylum applicants were Kosovo Albanians, Turks, and Russians -- many of them Chechens.    France counts 130,926 people with official refugee status, with applications by Malians, Eritreans and Rwandans the most often accepted.   Most likely to have their applications turned down are Turks, Chinese and citizens of the Democratic Republic of Congo.  

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The European Jewish Press reports that the prestigious 2008 Israel Prize for 'lifetime achievement and special contribution to society and the State of Israel' will be awarded to the Jewish Agency for Israel , the governmental body in charge of immigration, the Israel Prize Committee and the Ministry of Education announced in Jerusalem .

The prize, Israel 's highest civilian honor to organizations and individuals, will be presented to the agency next month, on Israel 's 60th Independence Day, for its work as a pioneering force in the establishment of the State of Israel and its contributions to shaping Israeli society in the 21st century.

In making the announcement, the Committee noted the Jewish Agency's 'tireless efforts' as a pioneering force in the establishment of the State of Israel and its continuing contributions in strengthening Israeli society, partnering the people of Israel with Jewish communities around the world, and deepening the connection of the Jewish next generation throughout the world.

'Receiving the Israel Prize on Israel 's 60th anniversary is a symbolic expression of the central contribution of the Jewish Agency to the establishment of the State of Israel and to the strengthening of Israeli society over the last 80 years,' Jewish Agency Chairman Zeev Bielski said.

'In being named for the Israel Prize, we recognize the role of the Jewish communities and federations around the world which have stood behind the work of the Jewish Agency over the decades, and especially our founding partners, the United Jewish Communities and Keren Hayesod,' Bielski said.

The Jewish Agency was established by the World Zionist Organization (WZO) at the 16th Zionist Congress, in August 11, 1929 as a partnership between the WZO and non-Zionist Jewish leaders, among them Louis Marshall , Leon Blum, and Felix Warburg.

Also known as the 'Sochnut', it served as the pre-state Jewish government before the establishment of Israel and later became the organization in charge of immigration and absorption of Jews from around the world.