Population

The UN refugee agency has urged the European Union to overhaul its policy toward Syrian refugees, warning the number of fatal accidents at sea could rise further as winter approaches.

The Council of Europe Development Bank will provide funds to help Montenegro build houses for wartime refugees who have been in temporary accommodation for over 15 years.

BELGRADE/GENEVA - Ivica Dacic, Serbian First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, has conferred with Antonio Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, in Geneva, and informed him about the position and problems of refugees from Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina in Serbia and of over 200,000 internally displaced persons from Kosovo-Metohija.

Turks are expected to live around four year less on average than their European counterparts, according to life expectancy data announced on Oct. 1 by the country’s statistics body.

Greece’s population shrank by 17,660 people last year as deaths outpaced births, according to the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT).

There were a total of 94,134 births in Greece last year, which was 6.2 percent down on 2012.

Almost 86 percent of the children were born to Greek mothers, whose average age was 31.5.

The UN-backed tribunal for Rwanda on Monday upheld the life sentences for two former heads of the ex-ruling party for genocide crimes committed in 1994.

More than 3,000 migrants have died trying to cross the Mediterranean so far this year, more than double the previous peak in 2011, the International Organisation for Migration said Sept 29.

The number of asylum seekers from Afghanistan has increased more than four times in the last year, Bulgaria's State Agency for Refugees told Dnevnik.bg.

Since the beginning of the year, a total of 1397 Afghans have been accommodated in the Agency's centers, while their number in 2013 was 310.

Greek Cypriot emergency services launched a rescue mission Sept. 25 for about 300 people thought to be Syrian refugees - mostly women and children - on a boat stricken in rough seas

Cypriot emergency services launched a rescue mission Sept. 25 for about 300 people thought to be Syrian refugees - mostly women and children - on a boat stricken in rough seas