Britain gives $160m to Syria aid

Britain on Wednesday gave an extra $160 million to provide humanitarian aid for the growing number of Syrians stricken by conflict. The cash boost was announced by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg at the UN General Assembly and takes Britain's total aid to Syria relief operations to more than 500 million pounds ($800 million). The United Nations says more than two million Syrians have fled to surrounding countries and about six million are displaced inside the country which has been at war for two and a half years. Speaking at a meeting called by the European Union and Jordan on the Syrian humanitarian crisis, Clegg said he was pushing other countries to increase contributions to breach a multi-billion dollar shortfall for the United Nations' aid operation. "Britain's humanitarian response to the Syrian crisis has become our largest ever because sadly it reflects the scale, despair and brutality of what's going on," said Britain's International Development Secretary Justine Greening.