Rachel Smalley comes face to face with the grim reality of life as a refugee in Turkey as she witnesses how families try to rebuild their lives.

Hundreds of thousands of Syrians are dead, millions are displaced or living as refugees, and 13.5 million people are relying on aid just to sustain their lives.

Rachel Smalley meets a couple of children affected differently by the ordeal but with equally unclear futures.

Every parent does it. I know I do. We have great hopes for our children.

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."

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

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.

Australian combat aircraft could conduct their first missions to bomb Islamic State forces inside a week.

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.

'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.

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.

Russia is building a military base in Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's heartland and the US is worried.

Today the Herald restarts its campaign The Forgotten Millions to help refugees from the Syrian crisis.

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.