NEWS ALEPPO'S CHILDREN OCT 12 2016, 5:32 AM ET
Aleppo's Children: These 9 Kids Were Killed Since Syria Cease-Fire Ended
by LAWAHEZ JABARI
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Image: Nine children killed in Aleppo
Nine children killed in Aleppo since a cease-fire ended on Sept. 23. Top row: Mutieh Arbash, Noor Kadek, Shahd Ahmad, 2nd row: Shireen Kassuma, Sondos Mikki, Eman Mohammed Bottom row: Hussein Kassomah, Ali Arbash, Amina Sharfu Courtesy of the families
Nine-month-old Noor Mohamed Saed Kadek died in her mother's arms. Sondos Mikki was trying to buy candles for her family when she was killed. Mutieh Arbash, 11, took her last breath alongside her 5-month-old brother.
These are a fraction of the at least 114 kids Save the Children estimates have been killed in rebel-held eastern Aleppo since a U.S. and Russia-brokered cease-fire crumbled into a ferocious bombing campaign on Sept. 23. The World Health Organization says a total of 406 civilians have been killed there since then.
Behind the numbers, each of the children has a story. Here are nine of them.
1. — Sondos Mikki, 10, was trying to help her family because it had no electricity when a barrel bomb fell from the sky, a relative told NBC News.
Barrel bombs are oil drums filled with shrapnel and fuel, dropped from helicopters. Human-rights groups have produced overwhelming evidence that forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have dropped them on their own people, a charge the government denies.
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White Helmet Volunteer's Tears Show Toll of Syria War 0:40
Mikki was out looking for candles when she was killed by one that hit her neighborhood of Salah al-Din on Sept. 23.
"She loved life and was always smiling," said a relative, who like the other victims' family members interviewed for this story asked not to be named for fear of reprisals. "Her dream was that the war would finish so she could continue school."
2. — Four-year-old Amina Sharfu was killed in a rocket attack the same day on the al-Maysar neighborhood, according to her relatives.
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FROM OCT. 4: Aleppo's Bombed Hospitals Overflow With Victims 2:15
3. — The following day, 9-month-old Noor Mohamed Saed Kadek was being carried by her mother when both of them were killed in a rocket attack, family members told NBC News.
Her relatives said Kadek's mother was searching for milk to feed her in the al-Sukkari area at the time.
"Just as they reached a local park the attack took place, murdering both mother and daughter," a relative said.
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A Short History of Syria's Civil War 1:45
4. — A barrel bomb hit the home of 11-year-old Mutieh Arbash, who was killed along with her mother and baby brother on Sept. 25.
"Mutieh was a sensitive girl. She would always be heartbroken whenever she learned of a child's death," one of her relatives said. "She lived in fear of her life daily, constantly asking if she would be next. Her dream in life was to finish school and leave the war behind."
5. — Her brother, Ali Arbash, was just 5 months old when the barrel bomb hit their home in the Bab al-Nairab neighborhood.
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FROM OCT. 3: Seven-Year-Old Uses Twitter to Tell Horrors of Aleppo 1:17
6. — Among the children killed on Sept. 26 was Shahd Ahmad, according to her relatives.
The 11-year-old had already been forced to move to a different house three days earlier after a rocket attack hit her family's home, killing their father.
"Shahd was very sad that she lost her father, her house and her belongings," a family member said. "She was scared of death all the time."
She was killed after a rocket attack hit the family's new home in the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood.
"She was a lovely girl, very smart," the relative added. "Her dream was to become a doctor. She was scared of death each time children were killed."
7. — On Sept. 28, 7-year-old Hussein Kassomeh was killed in another barrel-bomb attack in Bab al-Nairab, according to relatives.
"Hussein was a lover of animals," one family member said.
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'White Helmet' Rescue Worker Describes Aleppo's Devastation 1:43
8. — A barrel-bomb attack in the same district on the same day killed 3-year-old Shireen Kassuma, her relatives said.
9. — Eman Mohammed was playing with her brother and sisters when a rocket attack struck the rebel-held neighborhood of al Shaar, according to family members.
The 4-year-old was killed and her siblings were wounded, they said.
"She loved to play with her siblings, loved to paint and she spent days pretending that she was attending school," one family member told NBC News. "She was always carrying a notebook begging her mum to let her go with her siblings to school."
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LAWAHEZ JABARI
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CONTRIBUTORS ALEXANDER SMITH
TOPICS WORLD, WORLD, MIDEAST
FIRST PUBLISHED OCT 12 2016, 5:22 AM ET
NEXT STORY Today in Pictures: Oct. 12
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NEWS GALLERY OCT 12 2016, 7:15 PM ET
Today in Pictures: Oct. 12
Donald Trump kisses a "Women for Trump" sign, Shiite Muslims mark Ashoura and North Carolina still swamped by floodwaters.
10 PHOTOS
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Vehicles at a business are surrounded by floodwaters from Hurricane Matthew in Lumberton, North Carolina, on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016. Twenty people in North Carolina have been killed by floodwaters and tens of thousands remained without power after Hurricane Matthew swamped the state with record rains, the governor said Wednesday.
PHOTOS: North Carolina Wades Through Post-Hurricane Flooding
Chuck Burton / AP
2. Inmates watch as drug suspects are processed inside a police station in Manila, Philippines. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte took office on June 30 vowing to expand policies from Davao, the southern city where he was formerly mayor, such as his anti-drug campaign. The crackdown has left about 3,600 suspected drug pushers and users dead, including more than 1,500 suspects killed in gunbattles with police. The killings have been widely condemned from human rights advocates, and the United States, European Union and United Nations
Dondi Tawatao / Getty Images
3.
Members of the Civil Defense, often called "White Helmets," carry an injured man after an air strike in the rebel-held Douma neighborhood of Damascus.
PHOTOS: Syria's "White Helmets," Angels on the Frontline
BASSAM KHABIEH / Reuters
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4. Members of La Legion, an elite unit of the Spanish Army, sing during a military parade as they celebrate a holiday known as "Dia de la Hispanidad," or Hispanic Day, in Madrid. Almost a year into Spain's political deadlock, the country is celebrating its National Day with a military parade of over 3,000 soldiers marching through Madrid and aircraft drawing trails of red and yellow smoke in the sky to represent the flag.
Daniel Ochoa de Olza / AP
5.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump kisses a "Women for Trump" sign during a campaign rally in Lakeland, Florida. More than fifty elected officials have announced their opposition to the Republican nominee and House Speaker Paul Ryan distanced himself even further from the candidate Monday.
Evan Vucci / AP
6. A fighter from Libyan forces allied with the U.N.-backed government aims his weapon through an opening in a wall as forces advance into the last area controlled by ISIS in the coastal city of Sirte, Libya. Libyan pro-government forces are surrounding the militants after a five-month campaign backed by U.S. air strikes, military officials say.
ISMAIL ZETOUNY / Reuters
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7. An Iranian Shiite Muslim woman mourns after covering herself with mud during Ashoura rituals in Khorramabad, Iran. Shiites mark Ashoura, the tenth day of the Muslim month of Muharram, to commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, a grandson of Prophet Muhammad and one of Shiite Islam's most beloved saints, during the 7th century Battle of Karbala in present-day Iraq.
Ebrahim Noroozi / AP
8.
An Afghan man carries a wounded girl after an attack by gunmen at the Karte Sakhi shrine in Kabul, late on Oct. 11. Grieving worshippers described desperately trying to shelter their children against a hail of gunfire in Kabul that killed at least 18 people gathering to mark Ashoura, one of the most important festivals of the Shiite calendar.
ROHULLAH AMIN / AFP - Getty Images
9. A Shia Muslim boy prepares to receive an incision during the mourning procession on the tenth day of Muharram, which marks the day of Ashoura, in Chennai, India. Ashoura commemorates the death in 680 AD of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Imam Hussein. Hussein was killed along with 72 friends and family members in the battle of Karbala. The ceremony is symbolic to show regret for not being able to fight with Hussein.
ARUN SANKAR / AFP - Getty Images
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10. Chicago Cubs players celebrate around pitcher Aroldis Chapman, center foreground, after defeating the San Francisco Giants in Game 4 of baseball's National League Division Series on Tuesday night. The Cubs won 6-5 and will move on to the National League Champsionship Series.
Ben Margot / AP
TOPICS PHOTO, 2016 ELECTION, POLITICS NEWS, U.S. NEWS, WORLD
FIRST PUBLISHED OCT 12 2016, 7:08 PM ET
NEXT STORY Street Photographer Captures Mexico's Complexity Over 30 Years
NEWS GALLERY OCT 12 2016, 6:09 PM ET
Street Photographer Captures Mexico's Complexity Over 30 Years
by NATALIA JIMENEZ
Alex Webb's vibrant Mexican street scenes, taken over three decades, are published in his new book "Alex Webb: La Calle."
12 PHOTOS
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"The truth is that the history of Mexico is a history in the image of its geography: abrupt and tortuous. Each historical period is like a plateau surrounded by tall mountains and separated from the other plateaus by precipices and divides." — Octavio Paz
Throughout Mexico, life spills onto the streets, as sidewalks and avenues become a place to gather, learn or entertain. Alex Webb was first drawn to the richness and complexity that plays out in the country's "calles," or streets, over three decades ago.
"I was startled and fascinated by this country, so close to the United States and yet so far culturally," Webb, who grew up in New England, told NBC News. "I was intrigued by the vibrancy — the sense of energy — of life on the street in Mexico."
After early visits to border towns where the influence of American culture was unavoidable, Webb continued to return, each time venturing deeper into the country and always letting his curiosity guide his camera.
"Between 1975 and 2007, I photographed in Mexico more consistently than any other place in the world," he said.
The increasing violence Mexico has recently faced from the drug cartels prompted Webb to revisit his work in the country.
"Though the Mexico that I have experienced over the years has sometimes had a violent edge, the level of brutality — beheadings, bodies hung from road overpasses —in the current drug wars seems alien to the world of Mexico that I encountered when I first started making trips to Oaxaca in the early 1980s," he said.
Webb's visual explorations from his time in Mexico come together in "La Calle," published this fall by Aperture. Essays by Mexican authors accompany Webb's images, articulating what the country's streets mean to them. Together they create a glimpse of a country fighting to balance its rich history with a modern culture.
The allure of Mexico's culture may never fade for Webb, despite fewer recent visits.
"Interestingly enough, now that I am trying to photograph more in the United States, I find myself drawn to the vibrant street life in Mexican communities in such disparate places as Indianapolis and Brooklyn."
Above: León, Guanajuato, 1987
Alex Webb / Magnum Photos
2.
Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, 1996
Alex Webb / Magnum Photos
3. Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, 1985
Alex Webb / Magnum Photos
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4. Oaxaca, Oaxaca, 1990
Alex Webb / Magnum Photos
5. Ciudad Madero, Tamaulipas, 1983
Alex Webb / Magnum Photos
6. Tijuana, Baja California, 1991
Alex Webb / Magnum Photos
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7. Norogachi, Chihuahua, 1995
Alex Webb / Magnum Photos
8. Boquillas del Carmen, Coahuila, 1979
Alex Webb / Magnum Photos
9.
Morelia, Michoacán, 1984
Alex Webb / Magnum Photos
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10.
Ciudad México, DF, 1984
Alex Webb / Magnum Photos
11. Tenosique, Tabasco, 2007
Alex Webb / Magnum Photos
12.
Tijuana, Baja California, 1999
"Alex Webb: La Calle, Photographs from Mexico" was published by Aperture. An exhibit of the photographs is currently on view at the Aperture Gallery in New York City until Oct. 26, 2016.
Alex Webb / Magnum Photos
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Natalia Jimenez
NATALIA JIMENEZ
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TOPICS WORLD, LATIN AMERICA, LATINO, MEXICO, PHOTO, TRAVEL
FIRST PUBLISHED OCT 12 2016, 3:42 PM ET
NEXT STORY Feds to Fund Plans to Take on Zika Virus With Drones
HEALTH ZIKA VIRUS OUTBREAK OCT 12 2016, 5:36 PM ET
Feds to Fund Plans to Take on Zika Virus With Drones
by MAGGIE FOX
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Two groups that want to deploy drones to fight Zika won support from the federal government Wednesday.
The funding will go to helping them develop drones that could drop off Zika-fighting mosquitoes or ferry lab samples from remote regions.
They join a batch of inventive solutions for fighting Zika and other mosquito-borne diseases being funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
A Vayu drone takes off in a remote village in Madagascar. Vayu via USAID
Delaware-based WeRobotics will use seed money from USAID to develop drones that can carry sterile mosquitoes into hard-to-reach zones. Flooding mosquito populations with sterile insects can greatly reduce populations as lovesick bugs waste time and energy mating with barren sweethearts.
Related: Mosquito Control Vital to Fight Zika
"Usually, when you think about fighting Zika you think of trucks driving up and down and fogging streets," said Wendy Taylor, who directs USAID's Center for Accelerating Innovation and Impact.
But there are plenty of places with packed humanity vulnerable to the Zika-carrying Aedes mosquitoes that are also hard to reach.
"MOSQUITOES ARE PRETTY SMALL AND THEY ARE PRETTY LIGHT SO YOU CAN PACK A LOT OF PUNCH IN THESE SMALL DEVICES."
"Think about Rio — think about the favelas," Taylor said, describing the haphazard neighborhoods that define parts of Brazil's coastal metropolis.
"It might be easier to use a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) instead of driving up and down small, winding streets with a truck."
Related: Here's a Look at Our Tools to Fight Zika
The idea is to pack the drones with sterile mosquitoes and drop them into mosquito hot zones. Or they could deliver a load to hard-to-reach zones that cannot quite be reached by trucks, larger aircraft or people on foot.
"Those little spots can turn into hot spots that spread," Taylor said.
USAID is using $30 million borrowed from Ebola-fighting efforts to pay for its "Grand Challenge" grants.
The Obama administration pulled the Ebola cash when Congress failed to provide a requested $1.9 billion in new funding earlier this year. Part of the money got approved when Congress passed a temporary budget at the end of last month but it won't go to pay back any Ebola funds.
Taylor said all of the projects being funded can fight not only Zika, but a range of mosquito-borne diseases including malaria and yellow fever, as well as dengue fever and chikungunya.
Related: Complete NBC Coverage of the Zika Virus Outbreak
"Mosquitoes are pretty small and they are pretty light so you can pack a lot of punch in these small devices," Taylor said. "That drone can then go back and reload."
Delaware-based WeRobotics will work with United Nations agencies to deliver the sterile mosquitoes. Michigan-based Vayu is working on drones that can deliver medical supplies or ferry lab samples to and from remote regions.
Sandals treated with insect repellent can protect against mosquito bites for as long as six months. Ifakara Research Institute
Other projects getting USAID funding include a group making sandals impregnated with mosquito repellent that protect vulnerable feet and ankles for months; groups working to infect mosquitoes with bacteria called Wolbachia that make them sterile; and a team at Johns Hopkins University making natural insecticides out of soil bacteria.
Related: Scientists Aren't Afraid of GM Mosquitoes
Taylor said the agency got overwhelming response when it sent out a call for new ideas.
"In two months, we ended up getting 900 ideas," she said.
A group called BluSense is working to develop a one-drop blood test that can show on the spot if someone's infected with Zika, or with one of its close relatives such as dengue or chikungunya.
It's tricky to test someone for Zika infection and people who think they may be infected say they sometimes have to wait weeks for results. Having a quick test that can be used in the field would greatly improve efforts to study and fight Zika.
Zika has spread across much of Latin America and the Caribbean, and it's caused outbreaks in south Florida.
The Florida department of health reports more than 1,000 cases of Zika. Most have been carried in by travelers but 172 people have been infected in Florida, presumably by Aedes mosquitoes that live there. Travelers infected with Zika can infect other people sexually and if they are bitten by Aedes mosquitoes when they get back home, those mosquitoes can infect more people.
Maggie Fox
MAGGIE FOX
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TOPICS HEALTH NEWS, KIDS' HEALTH, LATIN AMERICA, LATINO, SCIENCE NEWS, TECH NEWS
FIRST PUBLISHED OCT 12 2016, 5:36 PM ET
NEXT STORY Putin Ally Tells Americans: Vote Trump or Face Nuclear War
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