France confirms it will receive 30,000 refugees

France will receive 30,000 refugees in the next two years, president Francois Hollande confirmed Wednesday (18 November).

The figure had first been announced by prime minister Manuel Valls in September.

But what had been interpreted as French reluctance to play its part in relieving other countries facing massive arrivals can now, in the wake of Friday's Paris terror attacks, be seen as a political gesture.

"Some want to establish a link between the influx of refugees coming...