Germany tightens asylum rules to cope with refugee influx

German lawmakers approved a raft of measures on Thursday to tackle the refugee crisis, including speeding up asylum and deportation procedures, facilitating the construction of asylum shelters and lowering cash incentives for economic migrants. Germany expects a record influx of more than 800,000 migrants this year, by far the most in the European Union. With the new legislation, Berlin is aiming to better cope with the unprecedented numbers of new arrivals and to stem the influx.