The UN Security Council will discuss the alarming humanitarian situation in Syria and the recent displacement of tens of thousands of people fleeing a Russian-backed assault around Aleppo, New Zealand's UN envoy said on February 9.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande stressed on February 7 the migrant crisis, which brought more than a million people to the European Union last year, needs an EU-level solution.

Aid trucks and ambulances entered Syria from Turkey on February 7 to help tens of thousands of people who have fled an escalating government assault on Aleppo, as air strikes targeted villages on the road linking the city to the Turkish border.

The death toll from an earthquake in southern Taiwan at the weekend climbed to 35 on Febraury 8, with more than 100 people still listed as missing under a 17-storey building that collapsed and where all rescue efforts are being focused.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) launched a long-range rocket carrying what it called a satellite, drawing renewed international condemnation just weeks after it carried out a nuclear bomb test.

More than 3,100 pregnant Colombian women are infected with the mosquito-borne Zika virus, President Juan Manuel Santos said on February 6, as the disease continues its rapid spread across the Americas.

A researcher sits in a laboratory in Indonesia, his arms extended over clear plastic boxes buzzing with mosquitoes: over the next 20 minutes, tiny bumps develop on his skin as the insects bite dozens of times.

A powerful earthquake toppled a 17-story apartment building in southern Taiwan on Saturday, killing at least two people, including a 10-day-old girl, and triggering frantic efforts to rescue dozens of people feared trapped inside.

Two cases of Zika being transmitted through blood transfusions were reported in Brazil on February 4, adding to concerns over the virus that has been linked to severe birth defects and is typically spread through mosquito bites.

Russia said on February 4 it suspected Turkey was preparing a military incursion into Syria, as a Syrian army source said Aleppo would soon be encircled by government forces with Russian air support.