'We will fill our stomach with stones'

• The Old City of Homs in Syria has been under siege for nearly two years


• Food and medical supplies have been cut off, leaving hungry, angry residents behind


• The Geneva peace talks produced a small deal to evacuate women and children


• "We do not want your food or your aid supplies. We want to break the siege," resident says

(CNN) -- As nearly 600 days under siege sap the life and dignity out of the Old District in the Syrian city of Homs -- leaving malnourished men with legs like noodles and soot-stained children to dig through homes turned into rubble for bits of firewood -- diplomats in a picturesque Swiss city bicker over aid.

"The situation is unbearable and inhuman. Food, there is none. Medical supplies, there is none. Milk for children, there is none. It is beyond words." Mohammed Abu Yahay tells CNN through a crackly Skype connection.

Diplomats at the Geneva II peace negotiations in the Swiss city reached a yet to be executed deal to evacuate some women and children, according to United Nations mediator Lakhdar Brahimi, but for those affected, the meek agreement is little more than a consolation prize.

''We will fill our stomach with stones. We don't want to eat. We do not want your food or your aid supplies. We want to break the siege. There is nothing here anymore!'' an angry resident yells in one of several social media videos posted online this week by activists hoping to draw attention to their plight.

Media's role in Syrian peace talks

Housing 127,000 refugees

The Geneva peace talks seemed to matter little to residents living on perpetually empty bellies who demanded all parties put aside their differences to break the almost two-year siege of Homs rather than agree to a temporary solution from a reluctant regime.

''We ask Geneva to break the siege and make us safe roads and get us out of here. I need an urgent operation on my leg. ... We have been around one year and eight months under the siege, and also we don't want Ban Ki-moon ... to be worried about us anymore. They have been worrying for more than a year and seven months. Poor them,'' an elderly man with crutches sarcastically says in a video posted on social media websites.

The International Committee of the Red Cross also urged more action, saying that while the aid organization welcomes the agreement to evacuate women and children from the Old City, "a one-shot evacuation will not solve all the problems on the ground," adding that "it is very crucial to allow impartial humanitarian aid into Homs," Dibeh Fakhr, an ICRC spokesman, told CNN Monday.

The appeals appeared to fall on deaf ears, as the opposition Syrian National Coalition and the Syrian government delegation complained to the media Monday about the failures of the other party.

Inside Syria's most dangerous city

The United States blamed the Syrian government for the dire situation, accusing it of waging a "kneel or starve campaign."

"The regime is blocking all convoys of aid to Homs, and has been doing so for months. The U.N. with the Red Cross has been trying to get aid these aid convoys through to the city of Homs; the regime is blocking it. The situation is extremely urgent. Anything the regime says to the contrary is wrong," a senior U.S. official told CNN.

As the bitter winter cold retains its hold on the restive city, activists and residents say starvation and the lack of basic medical care claim lives regularly as Syrian troops and some opposition forces prevent the delivery of aid, according to a report from Human Rights Watch last month.

"Protein, all types of vitamins, vegetables, fruits -- all this is has been extremely scarce over the past eight to 10 months. So for children above the age of 2 and the elderly above 60, they are most vulnerable to the symptoms of malnutrition, and this is where we see the highest rates of mortality." Dr. Mashwan Abo Abdu a neurologist residing in the Old City told CNN.

Tree leaves, grass, olives and stale grain are all that's on the menu at many homes in the old districts of Homs, where many residents say they struggle to get just one meal a day on the table while loved ones with preventable diseases languish in a makeshift medical clinic with "medieval health care."

"The world must help us; they can't watch us drown in a sea of suffering, pain and death and do nothing after more than one and a half years of being under siege" the Rev. Frans, a Dutch Jesuit and longtime Syrian resident, said in broken Arabic on social media.

Months after the start of an uprising against the government of President Bashar al-Assad, the western city and once-thriving industrial center gave birth to an armed rebellion. That triggered a brutal Syrian troop bombardment in what human rights groups called an act of collective punishment on the city.

Over the course of several months, Syrian forces, backed by Hezbollah militants, moved in on the so-called capital of the revolution. They pushed insurgents out of one neighborhood after another until troops established a chokehold around the neighborhoods of Old Homs, separating the district from the Khalidiya area and wresting control of the strategic border city of al-Qusayr.

The approximately 3,000 people left behind suffered in silence for months without a single international aid convoy or international observer breaching the siege as food and medical stores dwindled along with the calcium in children's bones, the milk in mothers' breasts, and the protein in fathers' muscles.

"I have personally seen so many infants die due to lack of adequate treatment or professional care because we have no pediatricians, incubators, or obstetricians. So from the moment a child is conceived, they suffer under this siege," said Dr. Abo Ramez, who along with colleagues, issued a list of needed medical supplies to the international community, including powdered milk for infants and vials of electrolytes.

In the gray ruins of the Old City, a simple fall may shatter a child's thin, malnourished bones, and stunted toddlers smile with teeth blackened by decay as they play hide-and-seek. Doctors tell CNN that without intervention from the international community, "more people will die."

"I think that there is a lack of pressure from the international community on the barbaric regime. It is inhuman that they are fighting us over a loaf of bread. Cutting of water, electricity, and preventing any aid organization from entering. This situation reflects poorly on the international community to help these besieged areas," Ramez said.

Palestinian refugees starving to death in Syrian camp, human rights groups say

McCain faces revenge of 'wacko birds'

The GOP in John McCain's state has censured him for not being conservative enough.

• Arizona GOP censured John McCain for being insufficiently conservative


• Ruben Navarrette says McCain has been admirable when he's been a maverick


• His willingness to challenge orthodoxy is refreshing, Navarrette says


• Navarrette: But when McCain faced right-wing challenger, he adopted wild stands

Editor's note: Ruben Navarrette is a CNN contributor and a nationally syndicated columnist with the Washington Post Writers Group. Follow him on Twitter @rubennavarrette.

San Diego, California (CNN) -- John McCain is stuck in an ideological no-man's land. The Arizona senator is not sufficiently liberal for liberals. But nor is he conservative enough for conservatives.

In an extraordinary gesture on Saturday, the Arizona Republican Party formally censured McCain, who is one of the most respected and powerful elected officials in the state. Those who adopted the resolution cited a legislative record that they say is insufficiently conservative on issues such as immigration reform and funding Obamacare.

They also seem upset that McCain has worked with Democrats to pass legislation dealing with issues such as campaign finance reform. McCain has always been a hawk on national defense, and his pro-life credentials are solid. But, on other issues, he is a moderate -- at least by Arizona standards.

Arizona GOP rebukes McCain for not being conservative enough

Former Sen. Jon Kyl, who represented Arizona in the Senate for three terms and whose own conservative credentials were rarely called into question by Republicans, stood by McCain. He told the Arizona Republic that McCain's record was "very conservative," and he called the resolution "wacky."

There's that word again -- or at least a variation of it. Do you remember when McCain got in a rhetoric shoving match with Senate rookie Ted Cruz of Texas? Last year, McCain called Cruz, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Rep. Justin Amash, R-Michigan, "wacko birds." He later apologized.

Partly, that's what this vote in Arizona is about. It's revenge of the wacko birds. During that tussle with the tea party faction of the Senate, many of the Republican faithful -- both in Arizona and around the country -- made it known that they preferred the confrontational approach on issues such as whether to fund Obamacare.

McCain: Reform the NSA

GOP image problem over jobless benefits

McCain: I'm a great admirer of ...

McCain: Keep economic sanctions on Iran

McCain and other senators within the Republican establishment such as Lindsey Graham of South Carolina were seen as much too accommodating. Obviously, there are plenty of Republicans with good memories.

During their tussle, Cruz tweaked McCain by appearing to include him in what the tea party party favorite called the Senate's "surrender caucus." Cruz later denied using those words, but audio of Cruz's appearance on the Sean Hannity radio show proved otherwise.

For McCain, whose record of military service is well-known, any talk of surrender is tantamount to fighting words.

Perhaps. But I've seen McCain surrender before -- to right-wing Republicans in his home state when his political career seems jeopardized. That record is also fairly well-known and not nearly as commendable.

I first met McCain in the late 1990s when I was a reporter and metro columnist for The Arizona Republic. I wrote some nice things about him and praised his ability to carve out an average of 60% of the Hispanic vote in his re-election campaigns.

By the time McCain ran for president the first time, in 2000, I'd left the newspaper and returned to graduate school. I was a big fan of the "maverick" aboard the "Straight Talk Express" who, according to the marketing, had gotten crossways with stuffy Senate colleagues by putting solutions ahead of partisanship and working with Democrats.

Twice during the campaign, I bumped into McCain, and he recognized me on sight. He would shake my hand enthusiastically. In 2008, when he ran again, I interviewed him and wrote a column laying out the case that he was a better choice for Latinos than Barack Obama.

Then came the senator's radical makeover.

In 2010, McCain found himself running for re-election against J.D. Hayworth, a former congressman turned right-wing radio talk show host. With polls showing that McCain was vulnerable to being turned out of office, the maverick became the conformist. He seemed determined to "out crazy" Hayworth on immigration, supporting the Arizona immigration law. That statute was opposed by 70% of Hispanics nationwide.

I harshly criticized McCain for being so quick to throw Hispanics under the bus. I had hoped that someone who withstood five and a half years of torture in a North Vietnamese prison camp would have been stronger and able to resist those in his own party who tried to pull him to the nativist fringe -- and, by all appearances, succeeded in getting their way.

The low point had to have been in June 2011, when McCain -- with no evidence to back it up -- blamed some Arizona wildfires on illegal immigrants. The real culprits turned out to be two campers who had been careless about putting out their campfire, and wound up being fined $3.7 million in damages. The senator wound up with huevos rancheros on his face.

Now, as McCain decides whether to run again for re-election in 2016 -- when he'll be 80, and for what would be his sixth term in the Senate -- he seems to be drifting back to the middle.

On immigration, he is signaling that he is ready to support the kind of comprehensive solution that he once championed. Perhaps in response to that, the crazies on the far right are -- through gestures like this resolution -- pulling again.

Let's hope that, this time, he is stronger and better able to resist. It would be nice to have the maverick back for good.

Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion.

Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ruben Navarrette

Obama calls for 'year of action'

• President Barack Obama calls on the GOP to stop fighting his health care plan


• "America must move off a permanent war footing," Obama says


• He asks Congress not to refight Obamacare battles

Watch the State of the Union address live starting at 9 p.m. ET on CNN TV, CNN.com, iPad, iPhone, and Android.

Washington (CNN) -- The year of action. That's what 2014 is all about for President Barack Obama, and it was the underlying theme of Tuesday night's State of the Union address.

"Let's make this a year of action," Obama said. "That's what most Americans want -- for all of us in this chamber to focus on their lives, their hopes, their aspirations."

It's an optimistic goal for a President with a 43% approval rating entering his sixth year in office and facing a determined opposition otherwise known as the House of Representatives.

Speaking from the lectern inside the House chamber for his fifth State of the Union address, Obama outlined his goals and priorities that included economic opportunity, energy and education.

Search the transcript of Obama's speech

Quotes from State of the Union speeches

Quotes from State of the Union speeches

Quotes from State of the Union speeches

Quotes from State of the Union speeches

Quotes from State of the Union speeches

Quotes from State of the Union speeches

Quotes from State of the Union speeches

Quotes from State of the Union speeches

Obama: Time to fix immigration system

Obama: End 'Mad Men' workplace policies

Obama makes a case for healthcare reform

"... What I offer tonight is a set of concrete, practical proposals to speed up growth, strengthen the middle class, and build new ladders of opportunity into the middle class. Some require congressional action, and I'm eager to work with all of you. But America does not stand still, and neither will I," Obama said during his speech.

In other words, with up to 535 members of Congress sitting in the same room during his speech, the President told them that he's going to go around them if necessary. One way is by using his pen to sign executive orders -- unilateral presidential directives.

Obama called for more government support to rebuild the nation's infrastructure, but warned he was willing to go it alone.

"I will act on my own to slash bureaucracy and streamline the permitting process for key projects, so we can get more construction workers on the job as fast as possible," he said.

The Republican Party has balked at the idea.

Speaking to reporters earlier Tuesday, House Speaker John Boehner said Republicans are "just not going to sit here and let the President trample all over us."

Obama also chided congressional Republicans for trying to undermine his signature health care law, which passed in 2010 without GOP support.

"The American people aren't interested in refighting old battles," Obama said.

"Let's not have another 40-something votes to repeal a law that's already helping millions of Americans. ...The first 40 were plenty. ... We all owe it to the American people to say what we're for, not just what we're against."

This year's State of the Union is a defining test for Obama

Separately, the President also unveiled a proposal for a new type of account that allows Americans to save for retirement.

Obama said he will order the U.S. Treasury to create a new federal retirement savings account called MyRA, a savings bond that he added would guarantee "a decent return with no risk of losing what you put in." It will be available to those whose jobs don't offer traditional retirement savings programs, he said.

Additionally, Obama called for:

-- Eliminating $4 billion in tax subsidies for the fossil fuel industries "that don't need it" and instead "invest more in fuels of the future that do.

-- Women who make 77 cents for each dollar a man earns to get equal pay for equal work, adding "that is wrong, and in 2014, it's an embarrassment."

-- Setting new fuel standards for American trucks to help reduce U.S. oil imports "and what we pay at the pump."

-- Reworking the corporate tax code. He urged Congress to work with him to close "wasteful, complicated loopholes that punish businesses investing here" and instead "lower tax rates for businesses that create jobs right here at home."

-- Congress to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay in 2014.

Obama also reiterated that he will veto any new sanctions bill from Congress that would derail talks on preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, adding that "for the sake of our national security, we must give diplomacy a chance to succeed."

Brazile: Obama's message: A dysfunctional Congress, but we'll get it done anyway

Even as the President cited a growing economy and increasing corporate profits, Obama said average wages have been flat.

He announced an executive order impacting the minimum wage, an issue that has not received a lot of traction yet in Congress as Republicans largely oppose any federal increase, saying it will place a burden on employers.

He asked Congress to get on board with a Democratic proposal to raise the federal minimum to $10.10 per hour.

Obama also promised an executive order to raise the minimum wage for some government contract workers. While the action is relatively narrow and affects less than half a million people, the hope is that this will spur Congress to follow suit for all low-wage workers in the U.S.

John Edwards says Dems should do more on poverty

Tom Cohen and Leigh Ann Caldwell reported and wrote from Washington; Chelsea J. Carter wrote from Atlanta; CNN's Becky Brittain, Brianna Keilar, Jim Acosta, Dana Bash, Deirdre Walsh, Jake Tapper and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

CNY travel rush in real time

Chinese social network Baidu has developed a moving map of Chinese people as they travel home for Chinese New Year.

• Chinese web giant Baidu develops moving map of Lunar New Year travelers


• Map works by pulling location data from mobile phones

(CNN) -- With a bit of technical ingenuity, Chinese web giant Baidu has developed a moving map of travelers as they return home for Lunar New Year, which begins this week.

The map, which updates hourly, works by pulling location data from users' mobile phones as they travel across the country.

Users can click to see which routes and cities have the most traffic at any given moment.

The Lunar New Year, also known as spring festival in China, is a hectic time for the country of over 1.3 billion people, as hundreds of millions leave the cities to visit their relatives, many of whom remain in the countryside.

Although the country is rapidly urbanizing, a huge number of city-dwelling Chinese are considered migrant workers, and do not enjoy full legal and social rights in urban areas.

View the map here. (In Chinese)

China's struggle to urbanize

Migrant workers remain vulnerable

Legendary folk singer Pete Seeger dies

Legendary folk singer and political activist Pete Seeger died of natural causes on January 27, his grandson told CNN. He was 94. Pictured, Seeger performs on stage in 1970.

Seeger, center, performs with his group, the Weavers, at the Blue Angel nightclub in New York, circa 1948.

Musician Alan Lomax, center, and Seeger sing and play instruments as they practice for a concert in 1959.

Seeger, center, appears as a musical guest on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour with Tom Smothers, left, and Dick Smothers in 1967.

Seeger appears with Johnny Cash on "The Johnny Cash Show" in 1970.

Seeger participates in a shoreside festival at the Hudson River in New York in 1978.

Seeger, from left, Lee Hays, Ronnie Gilbert and Fred Hellerman rehearse for a reunion concert of the Weavers in 1980.

Seeger poses for a photograph in Beacon, New York, in 1995.

Seeger participates in a protest march in New York City on the eve of the 2004 Republican National Convention.

Seeger performs with Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, left, and Bruce Springsteen, right, at "We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration At The Lincoln Memorial" in 2009.

Seeger performs during the 2009 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize special outdoor tribute at Hunts Point Riverside Park in New York City in 2009.

Seeger sings with Occupy Wall Street protesters in October 2011 in New York City.

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• Pete Seeger dies of natural causes in a New York hospital, his family says


• His career spanned more than 70 years, often courting controversy


• He is known for songs like "Where Have All the Flowers Gone"

(CNN) -- Pete Seeger, the man considered to be one of the pioneers of contemporary folk music who inspired legions of activist singer-songwriters, died Monday.

He was 94.

Seeger's best known songs include "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)" and "If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)."

But his influence extended far beyond individual hits.

Folk icon Pete Seeger dies at 94

Click through to see people who passed away in 2014.

Legendary folk singer Pete Seeger, known for classics such as "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" and "If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)," died of natural causes in New York, his grandson told CNN. He was 94.

Ruth Robinson Duccini, who played one of the Munchkins in the 1939 classic "The Wizard of Oz," died on January 16. She was 95.

Former Playboy centerfold Cassandra Lynn Hensley was found dead at a friend's home in Los Angeles, the coroner there said on January 17. Hensley was 34. Her cause of death was not immediately known.

Hiroo Onoda, center, salutes after handing over his military sword on Lubang Island in the Philippines in March 1974. Onoda, a former intelligence officer in the Japanese army, had remained on the island for nearly 30 years, refusing to believe his country had surrendered in World War II. He died at a Tokyo hospital on January 16. He was 91.

Russell Johnson, center, stands with Alan Hale Jr., left, and Bob Denver in an episode of "Gilligan's Island" in 1966. Johnson, who played "the professor" Roy Hinkley in the hit television show, passed away January 16 at his home in Washington state, according to his agent, Mike Eisenstadt. Johnson was 89.

Ariel Sharon, whose half century as a military and political leader in Israel was marked with victories and controversies, died on January 11 after eight years in a coma, Israeli Army Radio reported. Sharon was 85.

Franklin McCain, seen center wearing glasses, one of the "Greensboro Four," who made history for their 1960 sit-in at a Greensboro Woolworth's lunch counter, died on January 10 after a brief illness, according to his alma mater, North Carolina A&T State University.

Larry Speakes, who served as President Ronald Reagan's press secretary, died January 10 at his home in Cleveland, Mississippi, following a lengthy illness, according to Bolivar County Coroner Nate Brown. He was 74.

Poet Amiri Baraka, who lost his post as New Jersey's poet laureate because of a controversial poem about the 9/11 terror attacks, died January 9, his agent said. Baraka was 79.

Sir Run Run Shaw, the media tycoon who helped bring Chinese martial arts films to an international audience, died at his home in Hong Kong on January 7 at age 106, the television station he founded said.

Stage, TV and film actress Carmen Zapata, who founded the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts as a means of of introducing "the rich and eloquent history of the diverse Hispanic culture to English-speaking audiences," died on January 5 at her Los Angeles home. She was 86.

Portugal football legend Eusebio, who was top scorer at the 1966 World Cup, died from a heart attack on January 5 at age 71, said his former club, Benfica.

Alicia Rhett, who had been one of the oldest surviving cast members of the classic film "Gone With the Wind," died on January 3 in her longtime hometown of Charleston, South Carolina, a retirement community spokeswoman said. She was 98.

Singer Phil Everly, left -- one half of the groundbreaking, smooth-sounding, record-setting duo the Everly Brothers -- died on January 3, a hospital spokeswoman said. He was 74.

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Photos: People we lost in 2014

His grandson Kitama Cahill Jackson told CNN that the singer died of natural causes at New York Presbyterian Hospital on Monday evening.

Familiar with controversy

In a career spanning more than 70 years, Seeger frequently courted controversy.

"He lived at a time when so many things hadn't been done yet, the idea of making music about something hadn't really been done," Jackson said. "And now people do it all the time."

Seeger's opinions didn't always sit well with authorities.

"From the start, he aspired to use folk music to promote his left-wing political views, and in times of national turmoil that brought him into direct confrontation with the U.S. government, corporate interests, and people who did not share his beliefs," William Ruhlmann wrote in a biography on allmusic.com. "These conflicts shaped his career."

Early career

In 2009, Seeger talked to CNN about the beginnings of his music career in the late 1930s.

"I come from a family of teachers, and I was looking for a job on a newspaper and not getting one," he said in the interview. "I had an aunt who said, 'Peter, I can get five dollars for you if you come and sing some of your songs in my class.' Five dollars? In 1939, you would have to work all day or two days to make five dollars. It seemed like stealing."

But Seeger said he took his aunt up on the offer.

"Pretty soon I was playing school after school, and I never did work on a newspaper," he said "You don't have to play at nightclubs, you don't have to play on TV, just go from college to college to college, and the kids will sing along with you."

Last days

Jackson, Seeger's grandson, said the singer-songwriter had heart surgery in December to replace a valve, which had gone well and had nothing to do with his death.

He said Seeger was in the hospital for six days before his death.

He couldn't speak for the last three days, Jackson said, but his mind never went away and he continued to recognize people.

"He was a second father to me, he was a friend, he was a best friend," Jackson said. "He was just this wonderful, genuine person."

People we've lost in 2014

CNN's Julie Cannold contributed to this report.