Facing an unstaunchable flood of migrants and refugees, Germany yesterday said it was reaching breaking point and would enact emergency controls.

Tony Bishop has added his voice to calls for wealthy investor migrants to be required to channel a portion of their funds into productive investments.

The truth is that there is no orderly queue that provides resettlement for refugees, writes Murdoch Stephens. "If a queue system existed it would take us 191 years to get to the end of the queue."

Money from wealthy migrants is going to waste - sitting in back accounts and bonds, not helping New Zealand grow as it could.

Don't go. It is illegal for you to go," the Serbian police tell us. "You are not refugees."

Bob Geldof is taking four families. Finland's PM is opening up his holiday home. When it comes to the refugee crises, there are ironies and glimpses of humour, writes Rodney Hide.

Raybon Kan writes: Everyone loves a list. Even Schindler had one. So, here are the top five worst reasons against doubling the refugee quota.

Just a few kilometres from the Serbian-Hungarian border, a large group of refugees has gathered beneath a small copse of trees, sheltering themselves and their few bags of luggage from the rain.

While eastern Europe's new European Union member states are being asked to absorb the fewest, they are putting up the fiercest resistance to plans to spread the refugees more evenly across the 28-nation bloc.

As many others recoil, Europe's greying powerhouse Germany senses opportunity.

This tragedy requires a humanitarian response - economic cost should not be the primary concern in our country's decision in how to act, writes Justin Duckworth, Anglican Bishop of Wellington.

It's often said that magic is the art of misdirection. In the debate on the Syrian refugee crisis, misdirection seems ubiquitous, writes Dr Zain Ali.

My role, as a journalist, should be to act as a witness; to report on the situation as a bystander and then leave it as I found it, but an incident in 2013 changed my perspective, writes Rachel Smalley.

A starving, homeless, Muslim child is every bit as precious as a starving, homeless, Christian child. Neither should be discriminated against.

Kiwi photographers Matthew and Hannah Beames were looking forward to two days of sun, sand and surf when they arrived on the Greek island of Kos this week.

'Thank you in the name of all the refugees," is the first thing the Syrian father-of-three says to us at the Mangere refugee resettlement centre.

For millions of Syrians and other people displaced by conflict in their home countries, the Western Balkan Route can be a road towards refuge in Europe.

European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker is trying to build political support for a mandatory scheme to relocate some 160,000 refugees

Syrian refugees Lilas and Basal Slik have been sleeping soundly this year for the first time in their lives.

Immigration Minister confirms New Zealand will take a total of 750 Syrian refugees - 600 in an emergency intake over and above the usual annual quota of 750.

Europe, with its ageing population, needs to increase its younger population by several million to avoid a situation where pension systems grow unsustainable.

If Assad's forces collapse, we will see millions trying to force their way into Europe as radical religious groups seek to cleanse the area, writes Alexander Gillespie.

John Key knows he can limit the damage if he can re-position himself quickly, without being accused of flip-flopping too obviously, writes Bryan Gould. A carefully choreographed and well-practised process of cautious change is under way.

Church communities around New Zealand can host and settle an extra 1200 Syrian refugees, the Anglican and Catholic Church says.

The one-off intake will go "over and above" New Zealand's annual refugee quota, but will not number into the thousands, Prime Minister says.

The poet W.H. Auden said about suffering: it takes place while someone is eating or just walking dully along or doing a Pump class, writes Deborah Hill Cone.

After being shouted at and manhandled in Hungary, a country that did not want them, thousands of refugees stared at the cheering crowd in Germany.

The leaders of the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches will put on a united front, asking the Prime Minister to increase the number of refugees New Zealand lets in.