**Two** kids have reportedly been killed and at the very least 15 injured in a wave of lethal new yr assaults throughout Ukraine, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) consultant mentioned on Wednesday. “Over the last six days, children and families, and the infrastructure they rely on have come under attack in Dnipro, Lviv, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Odesa, and other populated areas”, mentioned Munir Mammadzade. With faculties and well being services destroyed and broken, “Ukraine’s youngest citizens continue to bear the brunt of these attacks. Our heartfelt thoughts are with all those affected”, he continued. Tweet URL > UNICEF_UA At least eight faculties and 10 well being care services, together with a maternity hospital, have been reportedly broken up to now week. Homes have been destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of youngsters have began 2024 “under the sounds of sirens and bombardment, stoking a familiar fear”, mentioned UNICEF’s prime official in Ukraine. “The cumulative impact of reported casualties, damage to infrastructure, and relentless attacks has turned what should be a season of joy into one marred by dread, fear and sorrow.” For kids whose properties have been broken or destroyed, typically with warmth and water reduce off, the state of affairs is especially dire as they’re dealing with temperatures reaching as little as -20°C. “Nearly 1,800 children have been killed or injured since the escalation of the war in Ukraine, according to UN-verified reports. The true number is likely far higher”, added Mr. Mammadzade. He mentioned killing and maiming of youngsters, assaults on faculties and healthcare, are grave violations of youngsters’s rights and should cease. ### **Back up energy for Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant: IAEA** Following discussions with the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) has taken motion to make sure a right away back-up provide of electrical energy is on the market within the occasion of the principle energy line taking place amid the combating, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi mentioned on Wednesday. Frequent energy cuts have remained a critical concern for security and safety on the Russian-held plant, which is Europe’s largest. Electricity provide is essential to chill reactors, even when it’s totally shut down. Since August 2022 – simply months after Russia’s full-scale invasion started, the ZNPP has suffered eight occasions the place offsite energy has been misplaced, famous IAEA. “This means that if the main power supply through the 750 kV switchyard is lost, the back-up line will automatically be able to provide electricity to the plant without manual, and hence delayed, intervention, provided it remains operational,” Mr. Grossi mentioned. “This is a significant development, as it enables independence and redundancy in the site’s power supply scheme, even though overall offsite supply “remains extremely fragile”, he added. ## **Rights consultants’ alarm at dying row ‘experiment’ in US** The imminent execution of a person on dying row within the United States utilizing the untested methodology of inhaling pure nitrogen should be stopped, prime UN-appointed unbiased human rights consultants mentioned on Wednesday. Tweet URL > UN_SPExperts Kenneth Eugene Smith was convicted of homicide in 1988 and sentenced to dying. He is scheduled to be executed on 25 January in Alabama. Authorities failed of their try and execute Mr. Smith in November 2022 by deadly injection. UN Special Rapporteur Morris Tidball-Binz and different prime rights consultants appointed by the Human Rights Council expressed concern that this primary try at nitrogen asphyxiation “would result in a painful and humiliating death”. The consultants added that punishments which trigger pointless extreme ache or struggling “likely violate the Convention against Torture, to which the United States is a party”. ## **‘Super Cereal’ enhance for moms in Timor-Leste: WFP** The Timor-Leste well being ministry and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) on Wednesday signed a brand new settlement to buy shares of so-called Super Cereal, a specialised nutritious meals which may help ease malnutrition in pregnant and breastfeeding moms. It’s designed to help round 10,819 pregnant and breastfeeding ladies in 13 municipalities: “Women and girls of childbearing age face the brunt of nutritious food gaps in the country”, mentioned Alba Cecilia Garzon Olivares, WFP Country Representative, for Timor-Leste. “This, coupled with the impact of COVID-19, increasing food costs, and climate shocks, places women at increased risk of malnutrition”, she added. She mentioned the UN’s emergency meals help company was “delighted” to companion with the Ministry of Health to spice up lifesaving diet “and to support a healthier future for mothers and children in Timor-Leste,” The initiative is a part of Timor-Leste’s broader technique to eradicate stunting and attain the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of zero starvation by 2030.

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