Madaya: 'Another 16 starve to death' in besieged Syrian town

Another 16 people have starved to death in the besieged Syrian town of Madaya since UN aid convoys reached it earlier this month, according to charity Medecins Sans Frontieres.
The charity says there are also 33 people in danger of dying.
Brice de la Vigne, MSF operations director, said the situation was "totally unacceptable" when people "should have been evacuated weeks ago".
MSF previously said 30 people died of starvation in the town late last year.
Earlier in January, two emergency convoys of food and aid supplies were delivered to Madaya, where up to 40,000 people are believed to be trapped in appalling conditions.

The report comes as talks on ending the Syrian conflict take place in Geneva.
Negotiators representing Syria's main opposition groups are expected to arrive later on Saturday, after earlier boycotting the launch of the peace talks. Aid deliveries to besieged towns is a key demand from opposition groups.
The UN says some 400,000 people are trapped and in need of emergency assistance in 15 locations in Syria as as part of sieges imposed by the Syrian government-led coalition, as well as by opposition groups.

Media captionSome people in Madaya said they were being forced to eat cats and grass
Madaya, in the mountains 25km (15 miles) north-west of Damascus, has been besieged for six months by government forces and their allies in Lebanon's Hezbollah movement.
Humanitarian agencies have called for hundreds of people to be evacuated immediately for medical treatment.
However, MSF said residents were continuing to die as government coalition forces prevented sick people leaving, and supplies of food and medical supplies getting in.

March 2015: Foah and Kefraya in Idlib province are besieged by rebel groups and the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front, with an estimated 12,500 trapped.
July 2015: Madaya, near Damascus, is besieged by government forces and their allies in Lebanon's Shia Islamist Hezbollah movement.
September 2015: The situation in Foah and Kefraya worsens after the fall of a nearby government air base, where helicopters had been able to land with food supplies. Reports emerge of people eating grass to survive.
October 2015: UN delivers one month's supply of food rations for 20,000 people in Madaya.
December 2015: Dozens of wounded civilians and fighters evacuated from Foah, Kefraya, Zabadani and Madaya. Reports begin to emerge of people starving in Madaya.
January 2016: UN says it has received credible reports of people dying of starvation in Madaya
"It is totally unacceptable that people continue to die from starvation, and that critical medical cases remain in the town when they should have been evacuated weeks ago," said MSF's director of operations.
The 16 recent deaths were reported by health workers supported by MSF in the town. No doctors are present to help, the organisation said.
Previously MSF said almost 30 people had died of starvation at a clinic in Madaya between 1 December and early January.
However, Hezbollah denies there have been any deaths in the town and accuses rebel leaders of preventing people leaving.
More than 40 lorries delivered aid to Madaya earlier this month - including rice, vegetable oil, flour, sugar and salt - for the first time since October.
The UN hopes to deliver further aid to Madaya as well as two northern towns besieged by Sunni rebels, Foah and Kefraya.
What's happening in Syria?
More than 250,000 Syrians have lost their lives in almost five years of conflict, which began with anti-government protests before escalating into a brutal civil war. More than 11 million others have been forced from their homes as forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and rebels opposed to his rule battle each other - as well as jihadist militants from Islamic State.
Why are civilians under siege?
All parties to the conflict are using siege warfare, encircling populated areas, preventing civilians from leaving and blocking humanitarian access in an attempt to force opponents to surrender. Shortages of food, water, medicine, electricity and fuel have led to malnutrition and deaths among vulnerable groups.
Where are the sieges?
Government forces are besieging various locations in the eastern Ghouta area, outside Damascus, as well as the capital's western suburb of Darayya and the nearby mountain towns of Zabadani and Madaya. Rebel forces have encircled the villages of Foah and Kefraya in the northern province of Idlib, while IS militants are besieging government-held areas in the eastern city of Deir al-Zour.

Zika Virus May Have Spread To Common Mosquito

Scientists in the epicentre of the Zika outbreak suspect the virus is being carried by another, more widespread mosquito.

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Scientists in Brazil believe the devastating Zika virus may have already crossed over to the common mosquito, dramatically increasing the risk of it spreading worldwide.

The Brazilian government is already struggling to contain a growing public health disaster.

There are suspicions the mosquito-borne virus is linked to more than 4,000 babies with brain deformities in South America's largest country.

Dr Van Der Linden spotted the link between the virus and microcephaly

The authorities have called troops out on to the street and deployed teams of health workers to try to combat the spread but so far those at the forefront admit they are nowhere near succeeding.

Up until now, it was thought the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is confined to the tropics, was solely spreading the virus.

 'My Prince': Mum's Pride And Pain

But scientists at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Recife, Pernambuco State, in the northeast of the country, believe otherwise.

They say they are as little as a month away from confirming that the virus is also being carried and transmitted by the much more common Culex mosquito.

There are 20 times more Culex mosquitos in existence as the Aedes aegypti and they are significantly more widespread - breeding throughout most of the Americas, parts of Africa and Asia - so increasing the chances of the virus spreading.

The lead research scientist at the foundation, Constancia Ayres, told Sky News that if her suspicions are confirmed, the implications are huge. 

"It means much more combined efforts from a lot of other countries are going to be needed to combat this virus," she said.

Video: What Is The Zika Virus?

Dr Vanessa Van Der Linden, from the Barao de Lucena Hospital in Recife, was the first person to spot a possible link between the Zika virus and a spike in the increase in microcephaly births, a dangerous condition where babies are born with abnormally small heads.

"I saw three cases of microcephaly in one day last August when normally I would see one maybe every three months," she said.

"It was very strange."

She said so little was known about the virus and its effects, she and the other doctors were learning "as we go along".

The virus has no cure and no vaccine and although efforts have now been stepped up to develop one, it's far too late for the thousands already condemned to a lifetime of struggle - where their hearing and sight may be affected, where their brain development will be limited and their life expectancy shortened.

Video: The Breeding Ground Slums For Zika

Dr Angela Rocha is from the Oswaldo Cruz University Hospital, which has seen more than 300 microcephaly cases in the last five months.

She said: "We just don't know much about this virus at all. The mothers ask me ,'Will it get better? Will my baby's head grow?'

"And I have to tell them 'no, it's never going to get better'."

Madaya Siege: Aid Worker Warns Time Is Running Out for Desperately Sick in Starving Town

Madaya Siege: Aid Worker Warns Time Is Running Out for Desperately Sick in Starving Town

Time was running out for hundreds of sick and starving civilians needing immediate medical care in the besieged Syrian town of Madaya, a top aid worker said Tuesday.

An aid convoy entered the blockaded town on Monday, bearing desperately-needed food and supplies for thousands. Dozens are thought to have died from starvation or a lack of medical care in Madaya, and activists say some of the town's inhabitants were reduced to eating leaves.

The World Health Organization (WHO) was on Tuesday conducting door-to-door assessments to figure out who required immediate evacuation. The initial estimate of evacuations was 400 but could jump dramatically, according to WHO's Syria representative Elisabeth Hoff. "We have approached the Syrian government, but we still do not have a proper dialogue on [evacuations]," she said, adding that time was running out for those who were ill. "We cannot wait for these negotiations to take place, we need to start to treat these people immediately."

Horrific images of emaciated residents and tales of desperation have emerged from Madaya, which has been blockaded for six months by government and pro-government forces.

Trucks carrying food and medical supplies reached Madaya near the Lebanese border Monday and began to distribute aid as part of an agreement between warring sides.
But until a deal to evacuate residents is reached, Hoff said the WHO was working to bring mobile medical units into Madaya to treat the most severe cases.

Another convoy was simultaneously delivering aid to two Shiite villages, al Foua and Kefraya, in the northwestern province of Idlib some 200 miles away. Rebel fighters in military fatigues and with scarves covering their faces inspected the aid vehicles in the rain before they entered.

Madaya is besieged by pro-Syrian government forces, while the two villages in Idlib province are encircled by rebels fighting the Syrian government.

Turkey: 'IS suicide bomber' kills 10 in Istanbul Sultanahmet district

Turkey: 'IS suicide bomber' kills 10 in Istanbul Sultanahmet district

A suspected member of the Islamic State (IS) group has killed 10 people, at least eight of them German tourists, in a suicide bomb attack in the Turkish city of Istanbul, officials say.
They say the Syrian national carried out the attack in the Sultanahmet district, near the famous Blue Mosque.
Fifteen people were wounded, many of them also German.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey was the "top target for all terrorist groups in the region".
His country, he added, was "fighting against all of them equally".

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu telephoned German Chancellor Angela Merkel to offer his condolences, the Anadolu news agency quoted his office as saying.
Mr Davutoglu later said: "We have determined that the perpetrator of the attack is a foreigner who is a member of Daesh (IS)."
He vowed to find and punish those linked to the bomber and pledged to continue the fight against IS militants.
Turkey's Deputy PM Numan Kurtulmus said earlier: "It has been identified that the suicide bomber is Syrian and his connections are being investigated."

The suspect was said to have been born in 1988 and was identified from body parts.
Some Turkish media said the suspect was a Syrian citizen but had been born in Saudi Arabia.
Mr Kurtulmus said the suspect was not on Turkey's militant watch-list and was believed to have recently crossed into Turkey from Syria.
Turkey last year took a more active role against IS in Syria, carrying out air strikes and allowing US warplanes to use its Incirlik base for missions.
'Further trouble'
Eyewitness Murat Manaz said: "It was a suicide bomb. I went there and saw it and came back to the hotel. There was chaos. Everybody was running somewhere.
"Policemen did not see this coming. They were distressed but at the same time they were trying to evacuate the area because they said there was a possibility that a second bomb could go off."

Bishop Pat Buckley, from Northern Ireland, had been taking photos in Sultanahmet Square shortly before the blast and had moved on into the Blue Mosque.
He told the BBC: "I have lived in Northern Ireland since the 70s, and I have heard explosions, and this was incredibly loud. I saw dust through the doorway of the mosque and I could smell the explosives."
He added: "I am slightly worried because there is talk here that they are expecting further trouble and we have been warned to avoid crowds."
One Norwegian was confirmed among the injured.
Mrs Merkel had earlier expressed "serious concern" about the casualties, saying a German tourist group had been affected.
She added: "Today Istanbul was hit; Paris has been hit, Tunisia has been hit, Ankara has been hit before. International terrorism is once again showing its cruel and inhuman face today."
Germany currently provides the largest number of tourists visiting Turkey. In 2014, 23.6 million people visited, with the top three:
Germans - 5.1 million (21.5%)
Russians - 3.7 million (15.6%)
Britons - 1.5 million (6.3%)

Image copyrightAP
What is the security situation in Turkey?
Turkey faces myriad security threats and establishing which group is behind this latest attack will be a matter of urgency. The Islamic State group has been blamed for three bombings in Turkey in the past year, including an attack in Ankara that killed more than 100 people. Violence has also soared between Turkish security forces and PKK militants, battling for more autonomy for the Kurds, after a ceasefire agreement broke down in July. A PKK offshoot, the TAK, fired a mortar at Istanbul airport last month. Far left groups are also active in Turkey, and a female suicide bomber attacked a police station in Istanbul's Sultanahmet district last year.
Who could be behind the latest attack?
President Erdogan has blamed a "suicide bomber of Syrian origin". The conflict in Syria has not only seen the rise of IS but also strengthened the PKK's offshoot in Syria, known as the YPG. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but correspondents point out that IS was similarly silent following previous attacks last year that were widely blamed on the jihadist group.
How is the Turkish government responding?
Last year Turkey agreed to take a more active role in the US-led campaign against IS, carrying out air strikes in Syria. It also allowed US warplanes to strike IS targets from its base in Incirlik and moved to tighten security along its 900km (560 mile) border with Syria. Meanwhile Turkish forces have also been targeting Kurdish militants in northern Iraq. And violence has flared in Turkey's mainly Kurdish south-east, where the Turkish military says it has killed some 600 PKK militants over the past month, according to Anadolou Agency.