Movie stars, models and musicians can often command the media's attention when they promote charitable or environmental causes. Angelina Jolie, Bono, Leonardo Di Caprio are just some of the A-list celebrities lending their famous faces to humanitarian issues, third world debt and climate change.

The head of the Church of England Archbishop Rowan Williams says the British Broadcasting Corporation should air an appeal for humanitarian aid for civilians in the Gaza Strip.

It is hard to imagine how much worse the situation could get, but the confrontation in Gaza could see a dangerous escalation in the coming days as Iran threatens to break the Israeli blockade and deliver urgently needed medical supplies and other aid to the coastal strip.

Humanitarian aid workers responding to devastating flooding in Honduras have received assistance from space, with satellite images of affected areas provided rapidly following activation of the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters.

General Motors continues to support disaster relief efforts and emergency preparedness and has taken several steps to respond to hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

Russia says it is responding to a Serbian request for humanitarian assistance to Kosovo, the disputed territory that recently declared its independence from Belgrade.

A new report by a consortium of British aid agencies says the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is the worst in forty years. VOA's Jim Teeple reports the report blames Israel for the crisis, but Israeli officials say Hamas militants are to blame.

The Chinese government's special representative for Darfur, Liu Guijin, Monday pledged China will provide more humanitarian assistance to people in Sudan's western region of Darfur.

The United Nations has appealed for $265 million in humanitarian aid for Iraqis this year.

While much attention is being focused on Kenya’s political turmoil, the situation in neighboring Somalia has gotten worse in recent weeks. The violence continues on a daily basis and more people are being displaced.

During the past decade, more than 350 million people from around the world have been forced to flee their homes as a result of natural disaster and conflict.

United Nations aid agencies report sharply deteriorating security in Kenya is threatening their ability to provide humanitarian assistance to hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people. The World Food Program says it is neither able to distribute food within Kenya nor to hundreds of thousands of refugees in neighboring countries. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from Geneva.