Syria Troops Advance On Aleppo Killing Dozens

The development comes as France reports it has destroyed an Islamic State training camp in Aleppo province in a joint air raid.

11:52, UK,Thursday 04 February 2016

Government tanks on their way to Nubol and Zahraa

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Rebels in the Syrian city of Aleppo are now surrounded from the north, south and east following advances by government forces and pro-regime fighters.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 100 rebel fighters have been killed in the government offensive launched on Monday.

At least 64 regime troops have also died in the operation, which has been backed by Russian airstrikes.

The Observatory said the bombing campaign has been one of the most intensive in recent months with more than 500 targets hit.

On Thursday, government and allied forces entered two Shia villages that had been under rebel siege.

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Syria's state news agency SANA said there were "mass celebrations" in the streets of Nubol and Zahraa as residents welcomed the troops.

The Al Manar television station of Lebanese militia Hezbollah broadcast what it said was exclusive footage of crowds embracing soldiers and militiamen, who fired into the air as they arrived.

In the footage, fighters and residents waved the Syrian flag and the yellow Hezbollah flag, and some chanted pro-regime slogans, including "God, Syria, Bashar and nothing else," in reference to Syrian president Bashar al Assad.

The two villages had been besieged by rebels since 2012, and reaching them has been a goal of the government, which has also sought to sever key rebel supply routes into Aleppo.

Video: Refugee Crisis: UK To Pledge £1.2bn

Once Syria's economic powerhouse, the city has been divided between government control in the west and rebel control in the east since shortly after fighting there began.

Meanwhile, France says it has destroyed an Islamic State (IS) training camp in a joint air raid with coalition partners.

The defence ministry said the raid took place on Monday around 60 kilometres northeast of Aleppo and that around 20 planes were involved.

"It allowed us to destroy an important site serving as a training camp and weapons store for Daesh (IS)," the ministry said in a statement.

Video: The Sunni-Shia Divide Explained

In another development, US Secretary of State John Kerry has demanded that Russia stops bombing the Syrian opposition, implicitly blaming it for the suspension of peace talks in Geneva.

Reminding Moscow of the UN Security Council resolution passed in December calling for an immediate ceasefire, he said: "Russia has a responsibility, as do all parties, to live up to it."

Mr Kerry was speaking ahead of the international conference in Londonto agree on ways of helping the millions of Syrians displaced by the five-year conflict in their country

Japan Threatens To Shoot Down North Korea Rocket

The proposed satellite launch heightens tensions, but Pyongyang claims to a sovereign right to pursue a space programme.

10:57, UK, Wednesday 03 February 2016

Japan has put its military on alert over North Korean plans for a satellite launch, which are being viewed in the region as a long-range missile test.

South Korea has warned Pyongyang would pay a "severe price" if it went ahead with the move, while China has also raised concerns and called on the regime to exercise restraint.
Reports of the planned launch led to renewed calls by the US for tougher UN sanctions, which already being discussed following North Korea's recent nuclear test.

Pyongyang informed UN agencies this week that it planned to launch an "earth observation satellite" later this month.

Japan has said it will shoot down the missile if it crosses into its airspace and prime minister Shinzo Abe condemned called the plan a "serious provocation".

Video: 6 Jan: N Korea Test H-Bomb

 

In a statement, the government in Seoul said: "North Korea's notice of the plan to launch a long-range missile, coming at a time when there is a discussion for Security Council sanctions on its fourth nuclear test, is a direct challenge to the international community.

"We strongly warn that the North will pay a severe price ...if it goes ahead with the long-range missile launch plan."

US State Department spokesman John Kirby said the UN needed to "send the North Koreans a swift, firm message".

Video: Nuclear Scientists Feted In N Korea

 

However, Pyongyang has said it has a sovereign right to pursue a space programme by launching rockets.
US officials said last week North Korea was believed to be preparing for a test launch of a long-range rocket, after activity at its test site was observed by satellite.

North Korea last launched a long-range rocket in December, 2012, sending what it described as a communications satellite into orbit.

Video: Timeline: The Korean Division

 

Last month, North Korea claimed it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb although doubt was cast on this by the US and South Korean officials.

They said the blast was too small for it to have been a full-fledged hydrogen bomb.

Zika Outbreak Declared International Emergency

The move by world health scientists comes amid fears the mosquito-borne disease is linked to birth defects and spreading rapidly.

03:42, UK, Tuesday 02 February 2016

Video: Zika Outbreak Is Global Emergency

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By Alex Crawford, Special Correspondent

The World Health Organisation has declared the Zika virus outbreak an international emergency.

There are growing fears that the mosquito-borne disease is linked to birth defects and spreading rapidly.
The WHO said the spread of the Zika virus in South America was an "extraordinary event" and there could be up to four million cases in the region this year.

In Brazil, baby Milena has microcephaly or small head

The organisation's chief, Dr Margaret Chan, said an international co-ordinated response was needed to improve detection and control mosquito populations, although restrictions on travel or trade were not necessary.
At the moment, there is no vaccine for the disease and no known cure.

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The WHO said it was "strongly suspected" that a surge in cases of microcephaly - where a baby is born with an abnormally small head and brain - was caused by the virus.
But Brazilian researchers are convinced Zika is behind more than 4,000 confirmed and suspected cases in South America's largest country. The disease is also in 23 other nations and territories in the region.
Brazil is due to host the Olympics this summer and pregnant women have been urged not to attend due to the risk of foetal brain damage.
Health minister Marcel Castro said the virus cannot be transmitted from person to person, only by mosquito, but claimed the epidemic is worse than believed because in 80% of the cases the infected people have no symptoms.

Video: WHO Chief On Zika Outbreak

The Brazilian doctor who first spotted the possible link has warned of a second wave of malformed babies in her country by the end of 2016, if the infection is not contained.
Dr Vanessa van der Linden, a paediatric neurologist in Recife in northeast Brazil, said she noticed a dramatic increase in the number of babies suffering from microcephaly last August.
Many of the mothers had also contracted the Zika virus in the first few months of pregnancy.
She said: "In the same day in August, I saw three patients with microcephaly…that is with 27cm or 28cm head circumference", she told Sky News (the normal circumference for a newborn is 34-37cm).

Video: U.S. And Brazil Join To Fight Zika

"And I thought, this is something strange because it's not normal."
The infection is usually mild, causing flu-like symptoms and sometimes a rash. Brazil first suffered from an outbreak around this time last year.
"We then noticed about six months later, after the Zika epidemic, there was a big rise in the number of babies being born with these brain abnormalities," Dr van der Linden said.
Many mothers complained of having Zika-symptoms in the first few months of pregnancy.

Video: What Is The Zika Virus?

Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff has declared 'war' on the Aedes aegypti mosquito.
She has signed a new measure allowing health officials to have access - by force is necessary - to any building to eradicate mosquito breeding grounds - even if the property's owner cannot be located.
But despite sending troops out onto the streets to try to combat the virus spreading by killing its host, she has been heavily criticised for not doing enough.
"We're afraid," one woman said. "No-one who is pregnant is safe."

Video: Zika Virus 'Spreading Explosively'

Fear and ignorance are a potent combination and young mother Girlania Maria da Silva said she no longer goes outside with her four-month-old baby daughter Emily because of all the whispering and pointing at her little girl.
She said: "I think people look at her think 'my God, look at that girl with the small head. What a horrible thing. She looks more like a doll'."
"I have even heard them say doll. But I control myself and I know that this is just a test that we're going to get through."
However, Brazilian scientists believe the virus may have crossed over to the much more common Culex mosquito which will have huge implications in how the virus spreads and the levels of people it affects.

Video: Where Zika Virus Has Spread

Zika was first identified in 1947 in a Ugandan forest.
But until last year it was not believed to cause any serious effects as about 80% of infected people never experience symptoms.
The WHO last declared a global health emergency over the ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014.