Dr Abdul Wahid Soomro (MNA Pakistan Peoples Party)

KARACHI: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani Saturday said relief efforts would be extended to six months as floods ravage more southern towns in the worst disaster to hit the country.
A month after monsoons triggered catastrophic flooding throughout the country, submerging an area the size of England, eight million remain dependent on handouts for their survival, which they say are too slow coming.
“In the current circumstances and urgent needs, the relief phase which was earlier planned to end on October 30, now will continue for six months,” Gilani told the lower house of the federal parliament.
“Early recovery phase shall be completed by December 30, while damage and need assessment by World Bank and Asian Development Bank would be completed by September 30,” he added.
Authorities in Sindh province were busy evacuating more people to safety in several flooded towns around 350 kilometres north of Karachi as officials said thousands more tents were urgently needed.

ISLAMABAD: The three Pakistan players suspended over allegations of spot-fixing have denied any knowledge of the wrongdoing by the businessman at the centre of the scandal, according to the Pakistan Cricket Board’s legal adviser.

“The players have informed the police that the man was their agent, but they had no knowledge about his illegal activities,” legal adviser Tafazzul Rizvi told private television channels in Pakistan.

“They (players) all went to record statements voluntarily to the police station.”

British tabloid News of the World has accused agent Mazhar Majeed of accepting money in exchange for getting fast bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir to bowl intentional no-balls during last week’s fourth test against England at Lord’s.

“Players all around the world have their agents and it’s not something new,” Rizvi said.
“Mazhar had been associated with different Pakistan players as an agent for the last six to seven years.”

How Speculators Could Help Heal Pakistan
A new tax on obscure currency trades could pay for aid in the world’s hotspots.

by Eric PapeAugust 27, 2010

From the earthquake that ended the lives of 230,000 Haitians to the historic floodwaters that are putting nearly 14 million people at risk in Pakistan, it’s a tumultuous year for the developing world and a trying one for the leaders of wealthy nations trying to help them. Those leaders could be forgiven for disaster fatigue if the Pakistan floods—which would cover much of England—weren’t the worst natural catastrophe in modern history, according to the United Nations’ humanitarian office. (A spokesman there recently declared that the ongoing floods, in which 1,600 have already died, are far “worse than the tsunami, the 2005 Pakistan earthquake, and the Haiti earthquake” combined.)

ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet was informed on Wednesday that economic losses inflicted by the floods were estimated at $43 billion, almost equal to the expenditures incurred on the war on terror over the past nine years.
The floods have affected 79 of the 124 districts — 24 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 19 in Sindh, 12 in Punjab, 10 in Balochistan and seven each in Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the government had released massive funds to the provinces under the 7th National Finance Commission Award and relief funds would be disbursed after the Council of Common Interests evolved a mechanism.

He said the national economy had grown by 4.1 per cent last year and was expected to grow four per cent this year, but it might end up at 2.5 per cent, causing massive job losses and affecting incomes of thousands of families.

The prime minister said the devastation might also affect revenue collection and increase expenditures, widening the budget deficit.


It would hit the textile and sugar sectors and in turn affect the balance of payments and external resource stability, he said.

Mr Gilani said growth of the manufacturing sector might fall far below the target of 5.6 per cent.

He also said that inflation might increase to 15-20 per cent, much more than the 9.5 per cent target.

THATTA: Jannan Soorjo summoned the energy to give birth in the filthy Pakistan graveyard that has become her refuge from the flood – but she cannot produce the milk to feed her sickly newborn.
The 26-year-old looks down helplessly at her crying son, who was brought rudely into the world early Tuesday morning in a makeshift relief camp set up in a historic Sufi burial site in the watery southern province of Sindh.
Wearing a tattered red traditional Sindhi dress with a thin scarf covering her head, a frail Jannan says she has not eaten enough to produce food for the baby – named Juma after his grandfather.
“I haven't been able to breastfeed him since he was born. We have nothing else to feed him to stop him crying,” says a weary Jannan, sitting on a dirty scarf laid out on the concrete ground in the 14th-century graveyard.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday approved four Eid-ul-Fitr holidays from September 10 to 13.

He has urged the nation not to forget their brothers and sisters affected by the devastating floods on this sacred occasion.

All government institutions will remain close from Friday to Monday next week.

LONDON: The International Cricket Council said on Thursday it has charged Pakistan's Salman Butt, Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif with various offences under its anti-corruption code.
The players “have been officially notified of the offences they are alleged to have committed and have been provisionally suspended pending a decision on those charges”, the ICC said in a statement on its website.
“In accordance with the provisions of the code, this means they are immediately barred from participating in all cricket and related activities until the case has been concluded.”
Test captain Butt and fast bowlers Aamer and Asif were all named in News of the World report which alleged they were involved in a “spot-fixing” scam by bowling deliberate no-balls in last week's Test match with England in exchange for cash.
The trio has protested their innocence and the ICC said they have the right to contest their suspension, and have two weeks to request a hearing before anti-corruption tribunal where they can defend themselves.