Flood-devastated Pakistan braces for more storms

PESHAWAR: Pakistan holds crisis talks Wednesday as the country braces for more storms that threaten to deepen a humanitarian disaster after the worst floods in living memory.

With over three million people hit by the flooding, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is to chair an emergency cabinet meeting to speed up the relief work and estimate the damage — expected to run into millions of dollars.

Record rains last week triggered floods and landslides that washed away entire villages and ruined farmland in one of the country”s most impoverished and volatile regions, already hard hit by Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked violence.

The international community has mobilised with offers of aid after the flooding that has claimed the lives of up to 1,500 people and affected 3.2 million, including 1.4 million children, according to UN and Pakistani figures.

“This is a serious humanitarian disaster,” the UN humanitarian coordinator for Pakistan, Martin Mogwanja, told media, saying that discussions were under way to determine whether the situation warranted a fresh appeal for donor aid.

Anger was at boiling point among impoverished survivors complaining they had been abandoned by the government after their livelihoods were swept away and protesting at a “joy ride” visit to Europe by President Asif Ali Zardari.

Pakistan has issued new flood warnings, threatening to compound the misery of hundreds of thousands of desperate victims. Many have been forced to flee disaster areas, their belongings piled into donkey carts and cars, or take refuge in mosques.

Car bomb at N.Ireland police station injures three: police

BELFAST: A car bomb has exploded outside a police station in Northern Ireland, injuring three people in the latest attack to rock the troubled province, police said.

The blast in Newtownhamilton, County Armagh, happened at around 11:25 pm (2225 GMT) Thursday, said a spokeswoman for the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

Three people were hurt and taken to hospital, police said, although their injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.

“Police were made aware that a vehicle had been abandoned in the area after a telephone call was received by a Belfast hospital at around 10:30 pm (2130 GMT),” said the spokeswoman.

“Police were en route to the scene at the time of the explosion.”

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but dissident republicans seeking to destabilise the province”s peace process are usually blamed.

Local lawmaker Dominic Bradley, of the SDLP party, said firemen in the area were alerted to a suspicious vehicle after hearing a series of gunshots at about 10:40 pm (2140 GMT).

Mumbai One Dayer cancelled due to rain

The Seventh and final ODI at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai as expected has been abandoned due to persistent rain without a single ball bowled. Australia finish the 7-ODI Series 4-2. All-rounder Shane Watson was named as the Player of the Series. Both teams now turn into whites to play Test Cricket. India faces Sri Lanka at home while Australia hosts West Indies.

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Mumbai One Dayer cancelled due to rain was first posted on November 11, 2009 at 6:12 pm.