UN summit ends with pledges and lingering pessimism

UNITED NATIONS: US President Barack Obama called for greater urgency in the fight against the world’s social ills as a UN poverty summit ended with tens of billions of dollars of pledges but lingering pessimism about the impact.

Obama unveiled a new “big hearted” but “hard headed” US aid policy to push the poorest countries toward prosperity. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon launched a 40 billion dollar drive to save the lives of millions of women and children. Britain, China and Japan also promised more help.

But many leaders still accused wealthy nations of failing to keep their promises to provide assistance. Aid groups said millions would still die unnecessarily in the final five years of UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) initiative launched in 2000.

Obama and the UN chief highlighted advances made to reduce poverty and disease, spread education and

World Bank boosts flood support to $1bn

WASHINGTON: The World Bank has increased funding to help Pakistan cope with catastrophic flooding by $100 million, to a total of $1 billion, the bank said in a statement on Wednesday.

“The World Bank is committed to helping the people of Pakistan during this time of need and has made US$1 billion available to finance immediate recovery needs and longer-term reconstruction,” the statement quoted World Bank President Robert Zoellick as telling Pakistani Finance Minister Hafeez Shaikh in Washington.

The funds are being diverted to flood use from money already earmarked for Pakistan. They will come from the International Development Association, the bank’s fund for the poorest countries, and are concessional and carry no interest payments, the statement said.

Zoellick also told Shaikh that continued economic, institutional and governance reforms were critical to

World Bank boosts flood support to $1bn

WASHINGTON: The World Bank has increased funding to help Pakistan cope with catastrophic flooding by $100 million, to a total of $1 billion, the bank said in a statement on Wednesday.

“The World Bank is committed to helping the people of Pakistan during this time of need and has made US$1 billion available to finance immediate recovery needs and longer-term reconstruction,” the statement quoted World Bank President Robert Zoellick as telling Pakistani Finance Minister Hafeez Shaikh in Washington.

The funds are being diverted to flood use from money already earmarked for Pakistan. They will come from the International Development Association, the bank’s fund for the poorest countries, and are concessional and carry no interest payments, the statement said.

Zoellick also told Shaikh that continued economic, institutional and governance reforms were critical to

Longest Solar Eclipse of The Century Enthrals World

KARACHI, Pakistan News: The longest partial solar eclipse of this century occurs in half of the world including Pakistan today.
The eclipse was visible in Karachi at 10:45am, in Lahore it was seen at around 11:24am. Meanwhile, to ward off the evils such an eclipse brings along, Salatul Kasoof was performed in Masjid-al-Harram, Saudi Arabia, which was attended by a large number of people.
The eclipse hit India at 11:00am and would continue till 3:30pm. Started from Chad, Africa at 9:00am and moving from Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, China and Myanmar, the eclipse would conclude at Shandong at around 2:00am in night in Pakistan Standard Time. The next such eclipse would occur on December 23, 3043.

40,000 to 50,000 killed in Haiti Earthquake

PANAMA CITY: Between 40,000 and 50,000 people were killed in the Haiti quake.

“The main figures have been given by the Haiti government, and they are talking about 40,000 to 50,000 people having been killed,” Head of the Americas zone of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

“The scale of this event means the toll will be high and the figure given by the government is likely the right one,” he said.

Castellanos added that “at least three million people had been directly affected. That’s to say a third of the population.”

Haitian officials had earlier warned that the overall death toll from the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that ripped across the poorest nation in the Americas on Tuesday may top 100,000.

US Reopens Embassy in Yemen Capital

SANAA : The United States embassy in Yemen reopened on Tuesday, an embassy official said, a day after Yemeni forces killed two al Qaeda militants they said were behind a threat that had forced US and European missions to close.

“We are reopened,” a US embassy official said. The embassy had closed on Sunday in response to what it said were al Qaeda threats and came as concern grew about stability in the poorest Arab country.

The British and French embassies resumed operations but remained closed to the public, diplomats at those embassies said.

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