The fastest-growing Jewish population in the world is in Germany, and it is expected to soar by a third in the next two years, according to Paul Spiegel, leader of the Central Council of Jews. Spiegel forecasts that there will be around 130,000 Jews in Germany by 2005, saying he welcomes the increase as a sign that Germany was "on the way to normality." Most Jewish immigrants to Germany arrive from countries in the former Soviet Union, such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Following the Holocaust, only 15,000 Jews lived in Germany, compared to 560,000 before Hitler came to power.

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With 26.6 percent of the vote, Switzerland's right-wing People’s Party gained 11 seats in the National Council, making it the strongest political force in the nation. The party's leader, Christoph Blocher, wants to ban European Union entry, end illegal immigration and overhaul the federal budget. The party campaigned on a platform that identified immigrants and asylum-seekers as part of Switzerland’s social and economic woes. Blocher said that foreigners were still welcome in Switzerland - so long as they were not illegal immigrants - denying claims that he was xenophobic.

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U.K. Immigration Minister Beverley Hughes said language tests are to become a regular part of the official screening process for migrants who claim asylum in Britain. She said a pilot program using the tests has shown that one in five applicants claiming to be fleeing from Somalia had in fact come from another country. The tests are administered by Home Office language analysts who determine if the asylum seeker's accent is authentic for the country they claim to have come from.