Obama says Merkel is on “right side of history” on refugee crisis

U.S. President Barack Obama on Sunday praised German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s handling of Europe’s migrant crisis in which millions of refugees and migrants have fled war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa.

“She is on the right side of history on this,” Obama said at a news conference with his German counterpart. “In this globalised world, it is very difficult for us to simply build walls.”

Obama said the European Union and United States must move forward with a trade free trade accord still under negotiation which supporters say could boost each economy by some $100 billion.

“It is indisputable” that free trade has strengthened the U.S. economy and also has brought enormous benefits to countries that engage in it, Obama said.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.