Nine refugees die as boat overturns in Aegean Sea

Europe faces a massive refugee crisis, and Greece is the main point of arrival for many people from the Middle East and Africa seeking a better life.

ATHENS-The Greek coast guard said nine people were found dead and up to four were missing near the coast of the eastern Aegean island of Kos early Tuesday after a boat carrying migrants capsized, adding to the death toll in the Aegean.

At a Monday news conference in Turkey, President Barack Obama rebutted the idea that American security demanded an embargo on Syrian refugee resettlement.

“This is not a problem of merely Turkey and Greece”.

“There is a threat level that should be taken seriously, but we have no concrete indications of planning for an attack”, he said.

“It’s vital to keep in mind those who are refugees are fleeing persecution”, said Michael Mitchell, with the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, an organisation working to resettle refugees in the US. “We are concerned about reactions by a few states to end the programs being put in place, backtracking from commitments made to manage the refugee crisis (i.e. relocation), or proposing the erection of more barriers”, UNHCR’s chief spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said. Prosecutors in France said the fingerprints of the attacker matched those recorded in October in Greece.

Before the most recent attacks, the Obama administration announced plans to admit “at least” 10,000 refugees from Syria in the next 12 months, when the nation will take in roughly 85,000 refugees from around the world, according to State Department estimates.

More than 620,000 refugees and migrants have landed on the Greek islands since the start of 2015 from Turkey, many of them are Syrians who continue their journey to other more prosperous European countries to apply for asylum.