U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
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Integrated Regional Information Network

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e-mail: irin@irin.org.pk


Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 147
22 - 28 October 2007


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Insecurity complicates aid delivery for 1,600 displaced
   families in Uruzgan
AFGHANISTAN: One month to avert mass displacement in Ghor
AFGHANISTAN: Attacks threaten girls' schooling in Shindand
AFGHANISTAN: Abdul Bari, Afghanistan: "I go to school risking my life
   and my parents' lives"
BANGLADESH: Floods and erosion destroy schools
NEPAL: Street children sniff glue to beat hunger pangs
NEPAL: Groundwater exploitation heightens health dangers
NEPAL: Danger of more deaths due to diarrhoea outbreak
PAKISTAN: Rural road access on the remake in quake-hit north
PAKISTAN: Education the first casualty in Swat
SRI LANKA: Tourism industry hit by renewed conflict


AFGHANISTAN: Insecurity complicates aid delivery for 1,600 displaced 
families in Uruzgan

Protracted armed conflict between Taliban insurgents and Afghan and 
international forces in Uruzgan province in central Afghanistan has 
displaced about 1,600 families, according to officials.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74907


AFGHANISTAN: One month to avert mass displacement in Ghor

The government of Afghanistan, the UN and humanitarian agencies are 
expected to assist tens of thousands of food-insecure people in several 
districts of Ghor province in central-west Afghanistan before the first 
snowfalls in late November, which usually block the roads, aid workers 
told IRIN on 22 October.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74919


AFGHANISTAN: Attacks threaten girls' schooling in Shindand

More than 1,500 female students have not attended classes for several 
days after unidentified assailants attacked their school in Shindand 
district in the western Afghan province of Herat, education officials 
told IRIN.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74975


AFGHANISTAN: Abdul Bari, Afghanistan: "I go to school risking my life 
and my parents' lives"

After the Taliban burnt a school in our village and told villagers to 
send their children to Madrasas in Pakistan for their education, my 
father sent us to Lashkargah to continue our studies.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75021


BANGLADESH: Floods and erosion destroy schools

By Bangladeshi standards, the Banari Multilateral School is very old. 
More than 500 students from nearby villages are enrolled, mostly from 
very poor families, their parents being fishermen or agricultural 
labourers, with only a handful having small plots of land.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74909


NEPAL: Street children sniff glue to beat hunger pangs

Bhim Pariyar, who grew up on the streets of the capital, Kathmandu, 
huddled in a corner with other boys like him, all trying to warm 
themselves around the fire they had made by burning plastic, paper and 
tyres.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74899


NEPAL: Groundwater exploitation heightens health dangers

In the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, it is a daily drudgery for many 
residents, especially the poorest, to wake up before dawn to queue for 
water at the city taps or to start the electric water pumps to extract 
underground water.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74952


NEPAL: Danger of more deaths due to diarrhoea outbreak

Health workers are increasingly concerned about the risk of a diarrhoea 
outbreak in the hills and southern plains of Nepal if adequate medical 
supplies, health assistance and sanitation are not provided.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74986


PAKISTAN: Rural road access on the remake in quake-hit north

For Muhammad Zaman, the road connecting his village to the next - and 
onward to Muzaffarabad, the provincial capital of quake-affected 
Pakistani-administered Kashmir - is not just important, it is a 
lifeline.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74931


PAKISTAN: Education the first casualty in Swat

Teachers and educators working in Pakistan's Swat valley have expressed 
concern over growing insecurity in the area, after a fresh round of 
violence hit the once idyllic valley in the North West Frontier Province 
(NWFP).

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74998


SRI LANKA: Tourism industry hit by renewed conflict

The drop in Sri Lanka's tourist arrivals, mainly because of security 
concerns, has been precipitous in recent months, leaving thousands of 
people on part-time pay or jobless.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74928


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