by Pia Dangelmayer

Every day we’re struck by terrible headlines concerning the refugee crisis in Europe: Austria finds 71 migrants dead in a truck. Hungarian police officers fire teargas at migrants. 50 refugees die in a ship’s hold off the coast of Libya. News like this has become almost commonplace. With the Syrian Civil War raging, ISIS displacing millions in Iraq, Ukraine and Russia at loggerheads, and multiple states in Africa mired in poverty, the number of migrants will surely increase in the months to come. To better understand what is at stake, we’ve compiled some of the best reports from the U.S. and Europe.

The Global Refugee Crisis, Region by Region

The New York Times, August 2015

Why do people leave their country? Why has the United Nations called this migration crisis the worst since World War II? Take a look at the hot spots illuminated by clarifying graphics.

Life on Hold – The struggle of Syrian refugees in Lebanon

Al Jazeera, March 2015

Europeans may feel that they are taking on the biggest influx of refugees, but most Syrians fleeing from war never make it to Europe. While the European Union currently hosts about 350,000 Syrian refugees, Lebanon – a country of 4.5 million – has received nearly 1.5 million. The refugees wait in camps and abandoned buildings. For them, as well as for the country that shelters them, life has changed unalterably.

Why is EU struggling with migrants and asylum?

BBC, August 2015

Another year, another record: Germany is expecting more than 800,000 refugees to arrive by the end of this year, 4 times more than the last. Where do they come from, which routes do they take, and what has caused migrant numbers to rise?

Scenes from a tragedy: just another week in Europe’s migrant crisis - in pictures

The Guardian, August 2015

Refugees arriving on a beach full of tourists in Greece. A fence set up to seal the border in Hungary. Migrants running after trains and trucks to get from France to England. Flight has many faces – some of them shown in these impressive photographs.

On Island of Lesbos, a Microcosm of Greece’s Other Crisis: Migrants

The New York Times, August 2015

The Greek isles are a new hotspot in Europe’s migrant crisis. More than 150,000 refugees have already arrived this year. The islands of Lesbos, Kos or Chios, which are close to the coast of Turkey, can hardly cope with the influx.

Migrants Wait With Hope and Resignation at French Camp Called “The Jungle”

Time, August 2015

The Jungle is in France, more precisely in Calais. It’s a tent city built out of dark and dirty makeshift shelters for more than 3,000 migrants on their way to England. The future they’re longing for is just a 30-minute train ride away, but police officers and barbed wire make the transit almost impossible. Some migrants have risked uncertain crossing, jumping on trucks, hanging on trains, swimming across open water.

Den ganzen Weg nur Todesangst — The Whole Way Scared to Death

Bavaria’s Public Broadcasting Service, January 2015

Muhanad is a Syrian father with two daughters. After studying finance and marketing, he worked in the textile industry in Halab, a city known for its textile mills, until his house was bombed. Muhanad and his family decided to escape from the war – first together to Turkey, and then Muhanad on his own to Germany, a perilous odyssey.

Fortress Europe

Sveriges Radio, 2014/2015

The Swedish Radio has collected stories of Syrian refugees on their way to Europe – Muhanad’s escape is one of the featured episodes. Hatem, another refugee, left Syria for Turkey, then to Indonesia and back, before embarking on a four-month long journey across Greece, Slovenia, France, and Belgium to arrive finally in the United Kingdom.

Mastermind: The evil genius behind the migrant crisis

Newsweek, June 2015

Dead migrants left behind in a truck – the driver is gone. A captain flees from the broken boat on the Mediterranean, leaving the refugees to fend for themselves. Smugglers are too often refugees’ only hope – and their doom.

Is the Ugly German Back? Flames of Hate Haunt a Nation

Spiegel Online International, July 2015

Germany is the EU country that has taken the most asylum seekers. Some Germans feel overwhelmed by the high number – anti-refugee protests online and in the streets, as well as attacks on refugee hostels, are on the rise. But others are standing up against hate.

Germans Open Their Homes To Refugee Roommates

NPR, March 2015

A German couple launched the website “Refugees Welcome” to place asylum-seekers in homes with room to spare.

This Silent Protest Song to Benefit Refugees Just Topped the Charts in Austria

Vice News, August 2015

The Austrian artist Raoul Haspel released a track last month titled "Schweigeminute (Traiskirchen).” It is a minute of silence that serves as an unconventionally inaudible protest song against the treatment of refugees in Europe.

Munich police swamped with refugee donations

The Local, September 2015

Just this week, more than 2,000 refugees arrived at the main train station in Munich. Police, aid organizations, and ordinary citizens came to help, offering food, water, diapers and teddy bears, all to say #refugeeswelcome.

by Cynthia Gordy

As the rules around campaign finance have changed, so has our vocabulary. Yet while the term “dark money” has gone mainstream – referring to dollars flowing in from nonprofit groups that are not required to disclose their donors – there is disagreement over whether the phrase is too loaded to be used by journalists. Organizations branded with the label claim that it unfairly suggests sinister intentions. Groups advocating for more disclosure in campaign finance, however, insist it is appropriate shorthand.

This week, ProPublica reporter Robert Faturechi speaks with leaders from both sides of the debate. First up: Brad Smith, former chairman of the Federal Election Commission (FEC), who remains a powerful voice in calling for less federal regulation of money in politics. He’s followed by Larry Noble, formerly the top lawyer for the FEC and now with the Campaign Legal Center, which supports strong enforcement of campaign finance laws. Both sides make a case for the merits or drawbacks of the phrase “dark money” and take their best shot at recommending alternatives they’d like to see.

Photo: Men walk outside the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street. (Jeff Hutchens/Getty)

Highlights from their conversations:

• Smith says reporters should avoid using the language because “it’s not intended to be a neutral term; it’s intended to create an atmosphere of alarm in the listener that makes it harder for the listener to evaluate objectively what’s going on.” (8:45)
• A zero-tolerance policy against any political spending without public disclosure can come with high costs, says Smith, including the loss of privacy, harassment for voicing one’s political views, and a chilling effect on the advancement of new ideas. (12:10)
• Noble says “dark money” is fair, as it represents “the opposite of sunlight.” In several Supreme Court cases on campaign spending, including Citizens United, justices have emphasized the importance of disclosure and transparency. (20:32)
• Disclosure matters for voters, says Noble, because “you can often tell more about a candidate…by who’s supporting them than you can by what they say.” He argues that only with disclosure can the public know to whom candidates are beholden. (23:56)

Listen to this podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud or Stitcher. For more on Faturechi’s reporting on campaign finance, read his latest, Could Scott Walker’s Legal Victory Expand PAC Superpowers?