:00:20. > :00:23.From here in the world's newsroom, we send out correspondents to bring
:00:24. > :00:25.you the best stories from across the globe.
:00:26. > :00:27.This week: Trapped by the siege of Aleppo.
:00:28. > :00:29.Quentin Sommerville speaks to some of the millions of Syrians
:00:30. > :00:39.And we talk to rebel fighters who rejected the ceasefire.
:00:40. > :00:43.TRANSLATION: We only recognise this call for a ceasefire by the UN to be
:00:44. > :00:45.nothing but the chance to give the regime a chance
:00:46. > :00:47.to catch its breath after the defeat they suffered.
:00:48. > :00:51.Two years after the first outbreak, Tulip Mazumder returns
:00:52. > :01:01.to Sierra Leone to see how its health system is coping.
:01:02. > :01:03.Could killer whales solve the mystery of the menopause?
:01:04. > :01:05.Victoria Gill joins scientists trying to find out why
:01:06. > :01:07.orcas stop having babies so early in life.
:01:08. > :01:09.This is a unique population of killer whales.
:01:10. > :01:11.They have been monitored closely for 40 years,
:01:12. > :01:20.and it is all that time that has made this response possible.
:01:21. > :01:23.And what a marvellous moment! Silva wins gold!
:01:24. > :01:25.And from the favelas of Rio to Olympic gold, we meet
:01:26. > :01:27.the Brazilian judo champion whose success has brought cheer
:01:28. > :01:31.I think it is very important to show the world that the
:01:32. > :01:43.child of a favela can conquer the world.
:01:44. > :01:46.The world looks on this week at the desperation of civilians
:01:47. > :01:48.caught up in the civil war in Syria deepened.
:01:49. > :01:50.The ceasefire calls came and went, the fighting deepened.
:01:51. > :01:52.Civilians without food were forced to cook leaves from trees,
:01:53. > :01:54.doctors warned that if attacks on medical facilities continue,
:01:55. > :01:56.there would be none left within a month.
:01:57. > :01:58.The city is split between the rebel-held east
:01:59. > :02:01.Quentin Sommerville has gained exclusive access to the homes
:02:02. > :02:04.of some civilians and two fighters on the front line.
:02:05. > :02:30.In this neighbourhood, the shops and the factories are gone.
:02:31. > :02:32.Here, there are only battlefields and front lines.
:02:33. > :02:34.These rebels, along with jihadists, attack the regime's siege.
:02:35. > :02:59.Thank God, says a fighter, we made it, we stepped on you,
:03:00. > :03:03.The miracle of Aleppo is that people still survive here.
:03:04. > :03:05.A clockwork lamp is Mohammed's only light.
:03:06. > :03:13.The situation here has become even more desperate.
:03:14. > :03:25.TRANSLATION: We wash with our hands. There is no water.
:03:26. > :03:28.Sometimes, we are cut off for four or five days,
:03:29. > :03:45.You have to go outside to the well. We have nothing here.
:03:46. > :03:48.She is just one woman with six children, and they are among
:03:49. > :03:51.2 million people the UN says are now suffering across rebel-held East
:03:52. > :03:55.TRANSLATION: I used to cook from aid we got a while back,
:03:56. > :03:57.but that is finished. We don't have any food, nothing.
:03:58. > :04:03.We cook leaves off the trees. The situation is horrendous.
:04:04. > :04:06.The UN wants a ceasefire for the city, but a rebel
:04:07. > :04:07.commander spokesman remotely dismisses the idea.
:04:08. > :04:09.TRANSLATION: To be honest, this UN stance is biased.
:04:10. > :04:12.When Aleppo was under siege, and the injuries and wounds
:04:13. > :04:14.were becoming rotten because of the lack of medical care,
:04:15. > :04:16.and people suffered from shortages, we did not hear
:04:17. > :04:19.We as military fighters only understand these calls
:04:20. > :04:22.for a ceasefire by the UN to be nothing but to give a chance
:04:23. > :04:25.for the regime to catch its breath after the big defeat
:04:26. > :04:47.One of his men took our cameraman on a tour, and they are keen to show
:04:48. > :04:50.that they have regained control of this part of Aleppo,
:04:51. > :04:58.But aid is only trickling through these ruins.
:04:59. > :05:27.Aleppo is still divided by war and united by suffering.
:05:28. > :05:29.No flowers for London tonight, a Chinese Valentine's to forget.
:05:30. > :05:32.Now, you wouldn't normally associate killer whales with the menopause,
:05:33. > :05:35.but British scientists have been studying them for the past 40 years
:05:36. > :05:38.Humans and killer whales are two of only three species that
:05:39. > :05:41.have evolved to stop having babies about halfway through their lives.
:05:42. > :05:43.Victoria Gill joined researchers on a very unusual
:05:44. > :05:46.Visibly close family bonds, and these orcas have something else
:05:47. > :05:48.in common with humans, something very rare.
:05:49. > :05:50.Female killer whales go through a kind of menopause.
:05:51. > :05:54.So this team has come to the Pacific coast to work out why any species
:05:55. > :06:12.should evolve to stop reproducing so early in life.
:06:13. > :06:18.They will have their last calf in their late 30s or 40s,
:06:19. > :06:20.but potentially can live until 80, 90, or possibly the oldest
:06:21. > :06:23.So our interest in this from an evolutionary
:06:24. > :06:25.perspective, because that is really hard to explain.
:06:26. > :06:30.While it is familiar to us, it is a phenomenon seen
:06:31. > :06:32.only in humans and two marine mammal species.
:06:33. > :06:34.Even long-lived wild apes and elephants don't go
:06:35. > :06:37.To study it, the scientists work with conservationists here who have
:06:38. > :06:39.painstakingly documented the lives of these orcas.
:06:40. > :06:42.This is a unique population of killer whales, in that they have
:06:43. > :06:44.been followed and monitored, watched closely for 40 years,
:06:45. > :06:47.and it is only all of that time that has made this
:06:48. > :06:51.We take photographs and get individual pictures,
:06:52. > :06:52.identification pictures, on everybody, and then
:06:53. > :06:55.we see who has new babies, and we see who is missing,
:06:56. > :06:59.and we do this over and over over all the years, and we have
:07:00. > :07:10.kept very good track of what the total population has.
:07:11. > :07:12.This is what has given insight into the crucial role that females
:07:13. > :07:14.are playing in their later, post-productive lives.
:07:15. > :07:17.So we have got a male here, and his mother is just close by,
:07:18. > :07:23.This is the kind of social interaction?
:07:24. > :07:27.Just the kind of social interaction you want.
:07:28. > :07:30.Yes, just this kind of bond between mother and son.
:07:31. > :07:33.The centre's vast library of killer whale data has allowed the team
:07:34. > :07:34.to reveal how menopause benefits this species.
:07:35. > :07:37.They discovered that all the females lead their pod as it hunts,
:07:38. > :07:39.and adult sons depend on their postmenopausal mothers
:07:40. > :07:50.They keep the group alive, they help support individuals,
:07:51. > :07:52.they survive for longer, and by unpicking the importance
:07:53. > :07:54.of these killer whales, we can start to unravel
:07:55. > :08:06.The team here will continue to watch from the surface as these animals
:08:07. > :08:24.reveal the evolutionary secrets and key parts of our own lives.
:08:25. > :08:32.Now, to undoubtedly the biggest event of the week now, the Olympics.
:08:33. > :08:35.Every nation has their Olympic heroes, but for the host nation,
:08:36. > :08:38.Brazil, there can be no one who has brought such joy as Rafaela Silva,
:08:39. > :08:41.whose gold medal in judo marks a fairytale rise from a childhood in
:08:42. > :08:45.We have met the Olympic champion who learned judo
:08:46. > :08:47.just so she could defend herself growing up.
:08:48. > :08:48.Brazil's first gold medal in the Rio Olympics,
:08:49. > :08:50.a lifetime achievement for the judoka Rafaela Silva.
:08:51. > :08:53.She came from the favela, the City Of God, and rose
:08:54. > :09:00.TRANSLATION: I lived in a very aggressive world.
:09:01. > :09:03.The children couldn't play, and we had to rush home whenever
:09:04. > :09:07.Now the girl who fled stray bullets is being chased for
:09:08. > :09:10.I think it is very important to show someon from a favela
:09:11. > :09:25.Rafaela won the women's 57-kilogram final.
:09:26. > :09:27.It is a highly symbolic victory for Brazil.
:09:28. > :09:43.This is the home where she grew up, just outside the City Of God.
:09:44. > :09:47.Her mother told me that she put her in judo as a little girl
:09:48. > :09:49.because she was getting into fights in the streets.
:09:50. > :09:52.Now, her face is on every newspaper and on the family T-shirts.
:09:53. > :09:54.In London 2012, Rafaela was disqualified early on,
:09:55. > :09:55.and suffered a wave of racist attacks.
:09:56. > :10:16.A short drive away, this is Rafaela's second home,
:10:17. > :10:18.her training centre, one of the judo schools run
:10:19. > :10:21.by the Reaction Institute, an NGO that takes judo to poor
:10:22. > :10:25.Here, her victory is shared by everyone.
:10:26. > :10:26.We are very proud, because it is someone who came
:10:27. > :10:28.from the same place we did, so then you think, wow,
:10:29. > :10:33.Rafaela says she has no idea where she would be if it were not
:10:34. > :10:37.With all the scepticism ahead of the Rio Olympics,
:10:38. > :10:40.Rafaela's story has ignited Brazilian pride and will inspire
:10:41. > :10:41.many children like her for years to come.
:10:42. > :10:43.And that is all from Reporters this week.
:10:44. > :11:08.From me and the whole team here in London, goodbye for now.
:11:09. > :11:15.temperatures in the mid-20s to day in southern parts of England. Plenty
:11:16. > :11:19.of sunshine in Devon, lovely picture that one. Similar scene, blue skies
:11:20. > :11:20.in Gwyneth,