Splash Instablog

                              Greece's government was racing Thursday to finalize a plan of reforms for its third bailout, hoping this time to get its European partners' approval and to stave off a looming, potentially catastrophic exit from Europe's joint currency, the euro. Details of Greece's reforms are to be submitted Thursday to give creditors time to review them ahead of a summit of the European Union's 28 members on Sunday. Hopes for a deal rose after Donald Tusk, who chairs the EU summits, said Greece's plan would have to be accompanied by creditors' suggestions on how to make the country's debt manageable in the longer term.  

More than 4 million Syrians have fled abroad since the 2011 outbreak of civil war, the largest number from any crisis in almost 25 years, the United Nations said Thursday. A recent wave of people leaving Syria and an update of Turkish statistics confirmed the tragic milestone, according to the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR. The agency said 7.6 million additional people have been displaced from their homes within Syria by the fighting. Syrian refugees cross into Turkey from Syria over and through a hole on the border fence in Akcakale, Sanliurfa province, southeastern Turkey. Marking a tragic milestone, the United Nations said in a statement on Thursday, July 9, 2015 that over 4 million Syrians have fled to other countries since the outbreak of civil war in their country more than four years ago.