World | WPN World People News

A boy clutches and looks through a chain-link fence, on a rainy day near the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia town of Gevgelija, on the border with Greece. September 2015

Europe is backing into an even greater refugee crisis by tightening border restrictions on the hundreds of thousands who have fled war and conflict in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries.

When people in the UK vote on 23 June on their country’s EU membership, it will have consequences for the whole of Europe. MEPs debated on Wednesday 24 February the possible consequences of the referendum. Most MEPs said the country would be better off in the EU, while others insisted it would benefit from leaving.

The Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank approved Wednesday an additional loan of US$88 million to the Municipality of Teresina, Piauí State capital, in Northeast Brazil. The Teresina Enhancing Municipal Governance and Quality of Life Project seeks to improve the living conditions in Lagoas do Norte, one of the most vulnerable and poor regions of Teresina, where 92,000 people live.

From 21-24 February 2016, UNRWA distributed 19,160 thermal blankets to approximately 5,700 Palestinian refugee and other civilian families from the besieged and hard to reach Syrian communities of Yarmouk, Yalda, Babila and Beit Saham.

A woman at her family’s tomato farm in Tartous, Syria, in 2014. The farm is one of the businesses supported by UNDP Syria, which provide food for conflict-affected Syrians.

UN Assistant High Commissioner for Protection Volker Türk talks to displaced Nigerian children in Malkohi host community, Yola, Nigeria.

EU and NATO coordination has started to tackle the refugee crisis and will be further deepened, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told MEPs and national MPs in the Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday.

"European and national parliaments can play a crucial role in these times and should remain connected", said Ms Mogherini, welcoming the participation of members of national parliaments in the debate with MEPs on Tuesday morning.

Displaced Families at the entrance to the Habbaniyah hotel.

Fishing boats head out into the Bay of Bengal. UNHCR fears thousands could be stranded on smugglers’ boats between the Andaman Sea and the Straits of Malacca and in need of rescue.