Germany raises hurdles for asylum seekers from west Balkans

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany will be less likely to grant political asylum to people from the Western Balkans after its upper house of parliament on Friday agreed to upgrade Serbia, Bosnia and Macedonia to "safe" countries where basic human rights are guaranteed.

Arguing that 99 percent of requests from these countries are already rejected for lack of evidence of the risk of torture or inhumane treatment, Berlin has moved to tackle public concern at a rise in asylum applications which hit a 14-year high in 2013.