Syria conflict: Half of population in urgent need of aid - UN

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says that half of Syria's population now "urgently need humanitarian aid".

He was speaking at a donor conference in Kuwait to raise funds for the worsening humanitarian crisis.
The UN is asking for $6.5bn (£4bn) over the coming year for Syria, its biggest ever request for a single crisis.
Meanwhile, Syria's deputy foreign minister has said Western intelligence agencies have visited Damascus to discuss combating radical Islamists.
New pledges "Half of the total population of Syrian people, nearly 9.3 million individuals, urgently need humanitarian aid," Mr Ban said.
It is thought that around that many people have been displaced by the war, both within the country and beyond.
The UN says more than 100,000 people have died since the uprising began.
So far the following countries have promised money at the Kuwait conference:

• Hosts Kuwait announced a pledge of $500m (£304m)
• Saudi Arabia pledged $250m (£152m) and Qatar $60m (£36m)
• The US promised $380m (£231m) in new contributions
• EU countries as a whole have pledged $753m (£459m)
• Norway said it would contribute $75m (£46m)

Those pledges represent roughly a third of the amount that the UN says it needs.
Refugee camps outside Syria's borders are barely coping and reports from some besieged communities inside the country say people are dying from starvation.