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Countries that refuse to take in refugees will face penalties under the new rules

EU Commission proposes easing visas for Turks

The European Commission has issued sweeping and controversial new proposals on how to manage the refugee crisis and has backed plans to relax visa rules for Turkey.

News • 04 May 16

Twenty-six people were rescued from the boat which sank yesterday

Migrants missing after boat sinks off Libya

Eighty-four migrants are missing after an inflatable craft sank off the coast of Libya, according to survivors cited by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

News • 30 Apr 16

Ahmet Davutoglu was speaking at a press conference following a visit to a refugee camp on the Syrian border

Visa-free travel 'vital' to migrant deal

Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has told German Chancellor Angela Merkel and top EU officials that gaining visa-free travel for Turkish citizens was "vital" to the success of a crucial migrant deal.

News • 23 Apr 16

Migrants are stopped from attempting a Mediterranean crossing after a police raid on their hideout in Tripoli, Libya

Italian minister call on Libya to seal borders

Italy said it hoped Libya's UN-backed unity government could restore control of the country's borders to limit migrant flows from north and south.

News • 17 Apr 16

Thousands of people have been stranded in Greece since Balkan borders were closed

Greece to begin ruling on asylum applications

Greece said authorities would start ruling on asylum applications from hundreds of migrants and refugees in the next two weeks, in a major test of a new deal to try to control the flow of people desperate to reach Europe.

News • 12 Apr 16

More than one million refugees have arrived in Europe in the past year

Plan to overhaul Dublin Regulation considered

The European Commission has presented far reaching proposals on changing Europe's migration and asylum policies in the light of the influx of more than one million refugees in the past year.

News • 06 Apr 16

People shout 'No Turkey' at the port in Chios where refugees and migrants who broke out from Vial detention centre are camped out

Uncertainty prevails ahead of migrant returns

There was little sign of preparation on either side of the Aegean less than 24 hours before Greece was due to begin returning migrants to Turkey.

News • 03 Apr 16

Greece will begin sending back refugees and migrants to Turkey, with the first group of returned people due to arrive in Turkey on Monday

Migrant numbers arriving in Germany plummet

The number of migrants entering Germany from Austria fell more than seven times in March to below 5,000 due to the introduction of border controls by countries along the Balkans migrant route, an interior ministry official said today.

News • 02 Apr 16

UN chief Ban Ki-moon addresses delegates in Geneva

Ban wants global action over Syrian refugee crisis

The refugee crisis caused by Syria's war requires an "exponential" rise in global solidarity, according to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who was speaking as he opened a conference on securing resettlement places for those displaced.

News • 30 Mar 16

Pope Francis described the Brussels attacks as a 'gesture of war'

Pope Francis condemns arms makers after Brussels

Pope Francis has washed and kissed the feet of refugees, including three Muslim men, and condemned arms makers as partly responsible for Islamist militant attacks that killed at least 31 people in Brussels.

World • 25 Mar 16

The people used a rope to help them cross a swollen river

Hundreds ford river to enter Macedonia

Hundreds of people today marched out of a Greek transit camp, hiked for hours along muddy paths, and forded a rain-swollen river to get around a border fence and cross into Macedonia.

News • 14 Mar 16

A body in a coffin is removed from the scene in Turkey

Baby among five refugees drowned off Turkey

Five Afghans, including a baby and two small children, have drowned as they tried to sail from Turkey to Greece.

News • 10 Mar 16

Hungary is sending more police and army troops to its southern borders

Macedonia closes borders to illegal migrants

Macedonia has closed its borders completely to illegal migrants after Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia announced tight new restrictions on migrant entry, a police official said.

News • 09 Mar 16

Austria has come under fire for capping its intake of refugees

Austria to shun refugee quota system - minister

Austria does not want to take part in any quota system for distributing refugees among European countries because it has done enough on its own, its defence minister was quoted as saying.

News • 06 Mar 16

Gardaí said the refugees are being processed by immigration

Refugees are discovered at Rosslare Port

A number of refugees have been discovered at Rosslare Port in Co Wexford.

News • 01 Mar 16

Refugees tried to break through the border fence

Teargas fired as refugees cross Greek border

Macedonian police fired teargas to disperse hundreds of migrants and refugees who stormed the border from Greece as a deeply divided Europe traded barbs over the biggest humanitarian crisis in decades.

News • 29 Feb 16

GfK's headline household confidence index was forecast to inch higher to 9.5 points in March from 9.4 points

German consumer confidence edges higher - survey

Consumer confidence in Germany is improving slightly, continuing to shrug off terror warnings and economic uncertainties regarding the massive influx of refugees, a poll found today.

Business • 25 Feb 16

Migrants arrive at Syria's border with Turkey

EU-Turkey migrant deal an illusion, says Hungary

Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban has said the European Union's promise of money and other concessions for Turkey in return for preventing more people leaving its shores for Europe is an "illusion".

News • 25 Feb 16

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutolgu said violence in the north of Aleppo had forced 200,000 people to flee

Turkey will not shut gates to refugees - PM

Some 70,000 Syrian refugees could reach the Turkish border if the military campaign there continues at this intensity, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutolgu said, adding Turkey will not shut its gates to the refugees.

News • 09 Feb 16

Thousands of Syrians, mostly women and children, have fled toward the Turkish border since Friday from the northern Syrian city of Aleppo

Turkey will let in Syrian refugees 'if necessary'

Turkey is ready "if necessary" to let in tens of thousands of Syrian refugees trapped on its border after fleeing a regime assault, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said.

News • 07 Feb 16

The European Commission reduces its 2016 growth estimate for the euro zone to 1.7% from 1.8%

EU cuts euro zone growth forecasts

The EU today cut its euro zone growth forecasts for this year, warning that the slowdown in China and Europe's biggest migrant crisis since World War II posed real risks.

Business • 04 Feb 16

Rescued migrants arrive in Canakkale's Kucukkuyu district in Turkey

At least 37 dead after migrant boat sinks

Turkish coastguard officials recovered bodies washed up on a beach after yet another migrant boat trying to reach Europe sank, leaving up to 37 dead, according to local media.

News • 30 Jan 16

$German government expects GDP to expand by 1.7% in 2016, fractionally slower than an earlier forecast of 1.8%.$

Germany pares back 2016 growth forecast to 1.7%

The German government has trimmed back its economic forecast for the current year, but insisted that Europe's biggest economy was still "in good shape".

Business • 27 Jan 16

Angela Merkel popularity has dropped since sexual assaults in Cologne on New Year's Eve were blamed on migrants

Merkel under pressure from allies over refugees

A prominent ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel has threatened to take her government to court over its "open doors" refugee policy as political pressure grows for the chancellor to reduce the number of new arrivals.

News • 18 Jan 16

The measure chiefly applies to the over 2.2m Syrians who have fled the almost five-year conflict for the safety of Turkey, as well as some 300,000 Iraqis

Turkey is to grant work permits to Syrian refugees

Turkey is to grant work permits to Syrian refugees, according to an official statement, in a key move that could allow Syrians to build more prosperous and stable lives in the country.

News • 15 Jan 16