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The Commission on 4 March presented a detailed Roadmap of the concrete steps needed to return order to the management of the EU's external and internal borders. The creation of the Schengen area without internal borders has brought important benefits to European citizens and business alike, yet in recent months the system has been severely tested by the refugee crisis. The European Council of 18-19 February set the clear mandate of restoring the normal functioning of the Schengen area, and to do so in a concerted manner, while giving full support to Member States facing difficult circumstances.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will separately identify the renminbi (RMB) in its official foreign exchange reserves database starting October 1, 2016. The change will be reflected in the survey for the fourth quarter of 2016 that will be published at the end of March 2017.

In July 2015, when Special Agent Paul Zukas began his first day on the job at the FBI legal attaché office in Warsaw, Poland, little did he know his initial case would involve helping the country’s Ministry of Culture and National Heritage recover a treasured painting allegedly looted by Nazi soldiers during World War II.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (shaking hands) arrives at Ouagadougou International Airport where he was met by Foreign Minister Alpha Barry of Burkina Faso.

"Our parliament should become a leading democratic, legislative and European institution in Ukraine," said Volodymyr Groysman, chairman of the Ukrainian parliament, at the Ukraine Week conference at the European Parliament in Brussels on 29 February-2 March. Participants discussed how to improve the quality of the legislative process in Ukraine’s parliament, as well as its efficiency and transparency in managing European affairs.

More than a week has passed since Tropical Cyclone Winston ripped through Fiji, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake. The latest data indicates that an estimated 347,000 people (40 per cent of the country’s total population), including 120,000 children, are directly impacted by the second-strongest storm to ever make landfall (second only to Super Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines).

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.