The UN refugee agency says persecution and conflict in places like Syria and Afghanistan raised the number of refugees and internally displaced people worldwide to a record 65.3 million at the end of last year.

European Union leaders have pressed Turkey to take back thousands of migrants and prevent others from setting off for Europe. But will that really offer a solution, asks Ann Cahill, Europe Correspondent

This week the Irish Examiner printed this incredible image of thousands of people queuing for food aid on the war-torn streets of Syria. Serene Assir talks to residents of the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk where fighting off starvation and death has become a daily reality.

The chief of the UN relief agency supporting Palestinian refugees said he is “deeply disturbed and shaken” by the despair and destruction he had seen in a besieged camp in the Syrian capital.

The winner of reality show Arab Idol can’t stop adding titles.

The Gaza Strip will soon become entirely dependent on foreign aid and face “disastrous consequences” if the Hamas-run territory remains sealed off, the UN warned.

The UN refugee agency began pulling foreign staff out of large swathes of southern and eastern Afghanistan today in the wake of the killing of a French worker, a decision that could affect tens of thousands of Afghan returnees.

A FRENCH woman working for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was shot dead yesterday in the Afghan town of Ghazni when two men on a motorcycle opened fire on her vehicle with a pistol.