• Europe is grappling for answers to its worst refugee crisis since World War-II with the crisis testing the unity of the 28-nation European Union and fuelling anti-immigration sentiment.
• European Union members are struggling to cope with record numbers of people fleeing war and poverty and heading across Europe by land and sea
• Nearly 300,000 people have crossed the Mediterranean this year with 2,373 migrants and refugees dying in a bid to reach Europe, nearly 300 more than the same period last year, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
• Over 2,500 mainly Syrians, Afghans and Pakistanis crossed from Serbia into the European Union, over, under or around a razor-wire barrier into the hands of an over-stretched police force that struggled to fingerprint and process them.
• Hungary, which is part of Europe's Schengen passport-free travel zone, is building a 3.5-metre high fence along its 175-km border with Serbia in a bid to keep them out, taking a hard line on what right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban says is a threat to European security, prosperity and identity.

EXPLAINING REFUGEE, ASYLUM SEEKER & MIGRANT:

• The terms refugee, asylum seeker and migrant are often used interchangeably to describe people on the move but there are major differences and different requirements regarding their treatment. 
• A refugee is a person who has left his or her own country fearing persecution because of race, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, according to the United Nations. Refugees have no protection from their own state. It can be their own government that is threatening to persecute them. Recognition as a refugee provides protection under international laws and conventions, mainly the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, and support from the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) with food, shelter and safety.
• An asylum seeker is someone seeking refugee status. They have fled their country in search of international protection. Those judged to be neither refugees nor in need of any other form of international protection can be sent back to their home countries.
• Migrants and refugees often travel in the same way but migrants choose to leave their country for reasons not related to persecution. They may want to study abroad, reunite with family, or improve the future economic prospects of themselves and their families. A migrant continues to enjoy the protection of his or her own government even when abroad. Refugees have to move to save their lives or preserve their freedom.