Aftermath of war

Cyprus intercepted a vessel carrying 101 Syrians off its coast on Tuesday, police said, one of the largest arrivals of refugees from the neighboring country in recent months.

The Syrians were loaded at sea onto a coastguard vessel and from there led to a harbour in the south-east of the island.

At least 12 people died on Jan. 11 when a boat loaded with asylum-seekers sank in the Ionian Sea, the Greek coastguard said.

"So far 12 bodies have been recovered. The search and rescue operation continues," the coastguard said.

Greece's new asylum law, which goes into effect on January 1, will facilitate the return of more people to Turkey under the terms of the 2016 EU-Turkey deal designed to curb migration across the Aegean, officials say.

In Myanmar, a revival of the decades-long repression of the Rohingya has displaced hundreds of thousands. Add to that extreme poverty and climate-related pressures — in Africa's Sahel region and elsewhere — and it is little wonder why the number of displaced people has been rising fast.

Most Greek adolescents are in favor of equal opportunities for migrants, according to a survey carried out by the University Mental Health Research Institute last year and whose results were made public on Wednesday on the occasion of International Migrants Day. 

The EU Commission announced on Dec. 18 that it will provide financial support to member states who made a collective pledge of more than 30,000 refugee resettlement places.

EU member countries made the pledge during the two-day Global Refugee Forum in Geneva, which was co‐hosted by the UN and Switzerland and co-convened by Turkey, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Germany and Pakistan.

Turkish foreign minister on Dec. 17 discussed the voluntary return of Syrians with his counterparts from Iraq, Lebanon, and Jordan.

Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu met with Iraq's Mohamed Ali Alhakim, Jordan's Ayman Safadi and Lebanon's Gebran Bassil in Geneva, Switzerland where he attended the three-day Global Refugee Forum.

The United Nations urged governments, businesses and others on Tuesday to "reboot" the world's response to refugees as the number of people fleeing their homes rises along with hostility to migrants.

The first-ever Global Refugee Forum in Geneva is a chance for the world to build a "more equitable response" to the refugee crisis, the UN chief said on Dec. 17.

Safe return of refugees and establishing a permanent stability in Syria is as important as fight against terrorism, the Turkish president said on Dec. 17.