UN - Top Stories

1. Smurf your voice: Global campaign urges everyone to speak up for a better future

   The Smurfs are back – and this time they are smurfing up a global storm. Teaming up with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Paramount Pictures, the iconic blue characters are leading a campaign that encourages children and grownups everywhere to “Speak Up” for a better world.

2. No fuel, no aid, no escape: UN agencies warn of looming collapse in Gaza

   The fuel crisis in Gaza has reached a breaking point, threatening to bring all humanitarian operations to a halt and endangering the lives of everyone reliant on aid inside the enclave, UN agencies warned in a powerful joint statement on Saturday.

3. World Horse Day: Honoring humanity’s oldest and most loyal companion

   Spacious paddocks, green pastures, and a devoted all-female staff: on Long Island, a strip of land surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean near New York City, horses once destined for slaughter are given a second chance – to live, and to help people heal. The farm, founded in 2010 by Marisa Striano, is named after her beloved horse, Spirit. It offers healing – for both horses and humans in need.

4. Lifesaver: Study shows vaccine campaigns cut deaths by nearly 60 per cent

   Emergency vaccination campaigns have slashed deaths from major infectious disease outbreaks by nearly 60 per cent since 2000, according to a new study published this week.

5. Gazans dying in search of food, ‘starkest illustration’ of their desperation

   Humanitarian needs in the Gaza Strip “have never been higher” while the ability to assist the population has “never been more constrained,” a senior official with the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday in New York.