Hazara family tell Rachel Smalley they are in Serbia to escape the resurgent Taliban in their home country.

Rachel Smalley reports about a couple's 2000km trip over land and sea with handicapped twins getting closer to their goal: 'To live respectful lives'.

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

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

The Forgotten Millions Campaign travels to the epicentre of the refugee crisis in Europe. Today, we reveal the human toll of the crisis.

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.

Iraq and Syria may have been permanently torn asunder by war and sectarian tensions, the head of the United States Defence Intelligence Agency said yesterday in a frank assessment that is at odds with Obama Administration policy.

Volunteer tells Simon Collins working with refugees has taught her tolerance.

'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.

Why Winston Peters says it is "reasonable" to expect male refugees from Syria to return home and fight.

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.

The Cabinet's response yesterday to the Syrian refugee crisis is no more than a token gesture.

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.

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.

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.

The pre-dawn move eased immediate pressure on Hungary, which has struggled to manage the flow of thousands of migrants arriving daily from non-EU member Serbia.

It wasn't long ago that Iceland went broke. When the Global Financial Crisis hit, the country became a beggar. It couldn't pay its debts. The rest of the world ridiculed it, Heather du Plessis-Allan writes.

This Prime Minister is completing the first year of his third term more popular than any at the same stage in our lifetime.

Prime Minister John Key has rejected claims this morning the government is opening the gates to extra Syrian refugees.

Half protest-march, half procession, the dismal crocodile of refugees left the Keleti station at 10am carrying what meagre possessions they could.

Syrian father Ahmad Barghach is desperate to bring his four children to join him in Auckland - but he's not finding it easy.

No country can stand aside if it wants to be recognised as a fully participating member of the international community, and that includes New Zealand.

Millions of refugees have fled Syria since 2011 but the number New Zealand has taken in would almost fit in one of Auckland's new double-decker buses.

The clandestine programme represents a significant escalation of the CIA's involvement in the war in Syria, enlisting the agency's powerful Counterterrorism Centre.

As the death toll on land and sea continues to grow, the EU summoned ministers to an emergency summit to discuss solutions to the crisis.

New Zealand's annual refugee quota of 750 has not changed since 1987. We're falling shamefully short every year in how much we help refugees.