More refugees granted asylum in Europe last year

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s statistical agency says more people were granted asylum across the 28-nation bloc last year mostly because of a high influx of refugees fleeing the war in Syria.

Eurostat said Thursday the number of accepted asylum seekers rose by 17 percent to 135,700 in 2013 from 116,200 a year earlier, meaning about one in three applications was accepted out of a total of 462,000.