'Dam is about to burst'

King Abdullah of Jordan said his country is at "boiling point" because of an influx of hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees. Ahead of a donor conference on Syria, the king told the BBC that there was enormous pressure on Jordan's social services, infrastructure and economy.

"Sooner or later, I think, the dam is going to burst," he warned. He said the international community would have to offer more help if it wanted Jordan to keep taking refugees.

The UN is seeking $7.7bn to fund aid operations for 22.5 million people in Syria and neighbouring countries next year. However, only 43% of its 2015 appeal for $2.9bn was funded.

British charity Oxfam on Monday said it was time for concrete action on stumping up aid and not just words and pledges to help the millions of refugees from Syria's conflict.

"Rich countries meeting in London this week must commit to real changes that will improve the lives of millions of Syrians," Oxfam said in a report. "Aid funding and resettlement places offered so far were often so low as to be little more than token gestures," it said.

Host country Britain has said the donor conference Thursday will urge participating countries to double the amount of money they are giving to tackle the humanitarian crisis.

The Turkish coastguard yesterday recovered the bodies of nine migrants including two babies after their boat sank just a short distance from land while trying to reach Europe.

The coastguard said it discovered the boat half capsized only 25 metres from the coastline after it set off from the western town of Seferihisar in an apparent bid to reach Greece, reports AFP.

Meanwhile, Finland's centrist Prime Minister Juha Sipila has backtracked from his plans to house asylum seekers at his country house for security reasons, a government official said yesterday.