Sweden

Ameer Mehtr could not afford to pay smugglers to take him from Turkey to Greece so the Syrian refugee swam across in swirling currents, defeating high waves and exhausting circumstances. Swimming the eight kilometer stretch to Europe took a total of seven and a half hours.

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" raked in an estimated $120.5 million in its first full day in U.S. and Canadian theaters, setting an industry record, Disney said on Dec. 19.

The movie is likely to become the highest grossing film in an opening weekend Disney added, while reporting that it had already made $250 million globally.

A Syrian detainee at Trikala prison, aged 32, and his compatriot, aged 22, being sought by the police face murder charges after killing a 27-year-old Syrian (pictured) in Athens. The victim’s body parts were found in a dumpster in Kallithea, south of the Athens center.

Christmas time conjures images of family gatherings, tinsel, gifts and love… What better backdrop for romance? Illustrator Emma Block collaborated with Vashi Jewelers to explore the different ways that the romance of Christmas travels around the world.

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Greece

UK

The meeting between Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on the refugee issue was completed on Thursday.

Mr. Tsipras underlined the importance of cooperation between Greece and Turkey on controlling and managing the refugees flows.

The UN released its annual Human Development Index (HDI) for 2015 and Norway is on the top for the 12th year in a row.

Norway scored 0.944 followed by Australia and Switzerland making them the best countries to live in for health, life expectancy, education and high incomes, whereas Greece ranked 29th with 0.865.

Turkey and eight EU countries as well as the EU Commission will come together to discuss the Syrian refugee issue at a meeting on Dec. 17 in Brussels, where Ankara hopes to learn the number of refugees these countries will receive in the coming year. 

German chancellor Angela Merkel will lead a meeting of eight European states and Turkey on the sidelines of an EU summit on Dec. 17 to discuss plans to resettle refugees from Turkey.

Recently intensified dialogue between Turkey and the EU has already produced the opening of chapter 17, which addresses economic and monetary policy, on Dec. 14, nearly two years after the last chapter was opened. This increased the number of opened chapters to 15 out of 35 with hopes that 2016 will witness the opening of five more chapters.

Bulgaria ranked lowest in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)  per capita among the 28 member states of the European Union last year, according to the latest statistical data published by Eurostat.

In 2014, GDP per capita expressed in Purchasing Power Standards (PPS) ranged between 47% of the EU average in Bulgaria and 266% in Luxembourg - a ratio of nearly one-to-six.