A nationwide fund raising campaign in the United Arab Emirates UAE Red Crescent under the slogan “Your Help” has so far raised more than 20 million dollars of aid for Pakistan flood victims over its first four days. The fund raising campaign will carry on until August 30, 2010.
It said a live TV fund raising campaign was being run on several Emirati television channels. Pakistan has a close ties with the oil-rich Emirates, where hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis live and work, mostly laborers.
For nearly a month, torrential monsoon …

The sheer magnitude of the disaster makes providing relief to flood victims a monumental task. The challenges confronting the state are considerable and have overwhelmed Pakistan’s already fragile infrastructure. Yet just worrying about the problems will not ease the sufferings: the issues have to be identified and effective solutions need to be found and implemented.
Take the example of conditions at relief camps across the country. The major challenge is the provision of food, shelter and medical care. But as reports have made clear, even the provision of these basic needs …

Last year Hamas planted around 150,000 olive and fruit trees in Gaza.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi can certainly be put in the ranks of politicians and leaders with a penchant for making absurd remarks – a group that includes Bush Jr and our very own President Zardari and his predecessor Musharraf, to cite just the tip of the iceberg. Given how the whole international community has failed to deliver on flood aid because of the lack of credibility of the government, it was incredible to hear Qureshi state his “horror” over the fact that the issue of transparent use of aid …

A US drone strike killed five militants in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal belt near the Afghan border. The strike hit the Dandey Darpa Khel area, about five kilometres from Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan district, a known hub for Taliban and Al-Qaeda linked militants.
“The US drone fired three missiles and hit a house used by militants. Five militants have been killed,” A senior security official in Peshawar said. An intelligence official in Miranshah also confirmed the attack and the toll. The Monday attack is the second in three days, …

A dramatic hostage-taking in the Philippines capital ended with six bus passengers dead Monday after shots rang out and police stormed the vehicle. The hostage-taker also died, police said. Five hostages were brought to the Manila Hospital, two of them dead on arrival and three alive without injuries. The Manila Doctors Hospital reported it received four dead and one woman in critical condition.
The incident started when a dismissed policeman armed with a M16 rifle seized the busload of Hong Kong tourists to demand his reinstatement in the force. Police officer …

Floods in Pakistan have destroyed or extensively damaged crops over 4.25 million acres of land, Food Minister Nazar Muhammad Gondal said. The total areas under cultivation is about 23 million hectares, food ministry officials say.
“The floods have destroyed or extensively damaged crops, including cotton, rice, sugarcane, maize and others over an area of 4.25 million acres,” the Food Minister said.
According to an estimated breakdown of losses prepared by the food ministry, rice was the worst hit with an area of 1.51 million acres destroyed by the floods.
Industry officials say that …

The Supreme Court has taken notice of the double murder of two brothers.

Dollar for Dollar: Canada announced matching donations for flood relief in Pakistan

The response to UN appeal for rescue and relief operation in flood-affected areas of Pakistan rose dramatically to over 800 million dollars by Friday and more pledges were expected to come in, according to Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
Over the last two days of the UN General Assembly’s special session on Pakistan, the funding in response to a UN appeal for $460 million doubled.
The foreign minister, who had come to New York to attend the special United Nations General Assembly session on Pakistan’s floods, noted that the ‘tremendous response’ to …