Migrants Freeze to Death in the Balkans
Aid agencies have warned that migrants in the Balkans risk freezing to death. Southeast Europe has been gripped by arctic temperatures, already leading to 11 deaths.
The Missing Migrants Project, set up by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), recorded seven deaths in southern Europe in January. There were another four deaths, from hypothermia, at Europe’s land borders with Turkey.
“The snowstorms are still going on and the situation is getting increasingly desperate as thousands are exposed to freezing conditions,” said Help Refugees cofounder Josie Naughton, speaking to Reuters from Thessaloniki in northern Greece.
In Serbia, more than 7,500 people are stranded in freezing conditions, including dozens trapped near the Hungarian border and as many as 1,500 migrants in the capital, Belgrade, where many are sleeping in abandoned buildings, according to Save the Children.
William Lacy Swing, head of the IOM, called on governments to respond to the threat arising from extreme weather conditions by providing shelter, food and other resources.
Germany Posts Big Economic Gains on Back of Refugee Hosting
Germany’s economy expanded at its strongest rate in five years. The 1.9 percent growth in 2016 came on the back of Germany accepting large flows of refugees and migrants.
The preliminary estimate from the Federal Statistics Office showed faster growth than 2015 and economists cited the arrival of refugees as one factor.
Germany saw 280,000 new asylum seekers arrive last year and 890,000 the year before, the German Interior Ministry said on Wednesday. The huge influx has triggered state spending, which has buoyed the economy despite otherwise sluggish trade with the rest of Europe and emerging markets.
The growth rate was slightly higher than expected by economists polled by Reuters. They predicted a rise in gross domestic product (GDP) for 2016 of 1.8 percent.
The economic boost will be welcomed by Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, who faces an election battle later this year and is still under fire for welcoming migrants in 2015.
Photo of Drowned Toddler Led to 100-Fold Increase in Donations
Charity fundraising efforts for refugees were boosted by photos of the body of a Syrian three-year-old. Donations spiked after images of Alan Kurdi were seen all over the world, a new study found.
“People who had been unmoved by the relentlessly rising death toll in Syria suddenly appeared to care much more after having seen Alan’s photograph,” said the report, from the Decision Research institute at the University of Oregon.
The number and size of donations to the Swedish Red Cross leaped 100-fold, found the study’s author, Paul Slovic.
“The main take-home message of this paper is that emotional reactions … can influence actual donation behavior strongly,” Arvid Erlandsson, a contributor to the report, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The researchers also found that interest soon waned and donations went back to previous levels.
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