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Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 156
24 - 30 December 2007


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban must stop executing civilians - rights watchdog
AFGHANISTAN: Nazia, Afghanistan, "My husband cut off my ears and nose
   and broke my teeth"
AFGHANISTAN: Blocked roads threaten food security
INDONESIA: Evacuation, rescue efforts under way after landslides,
   flooding
PAKISTAN: Women battle to gain voice through literacy drive
PAKISTAN: People face tough times after Bhutto assassination
SRI LANKA: Mixed fortunes at large post-tsunami housing project
SRI LANKA: Post-tsunami recovery a success for most but not all
SRI LANKA: Tsunami aid "missing", says anti-corruption group
SRI LANKA: A nation slowly forgetting a tragedy
THAILAND: Disaster warning operations established but problems remain


AFGHANISTAN: Taliban must stop executing civilians - rights watchdog

A 60-year-old woman and her 17-year-old grandson who were travelling to 
their home in Dehrawod District, central Uruzgan Province, were briefly 
interrogated and then forced out of a bus on 12 December, eyewitnesses 
and provincial officials said.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75997


AFGHANISTAN: Nazia, Afghanistan, "My husband cut off my ears and nose 
and broke my teeth"

Doctors at a hospital in Qalat, capital of Zabul Province in southern 
Afghanistan, are treating a brutally tortured woman whose husband cut 
off both her ears and nose, broke her teeth and shaved her head only 
three months after their marriage. The victim, 16-year-old Nazia, is 
also suffering from psychiatric distress due to her experience, 
according to a doctor in Qalat hospital.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76003


AFGHANISTAN: Blocked roads threaten food security

Heavy snowfall has blocked roads to at least 10 districts in Badakhshan 
Province, northeastern Afghanistan, Monshi Abdul Majid, the governor of 
Badakhshan, told IRIN on 27 December.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76018


INDONESIA: Evacuation, rescue efforts under way after landslides, 
flooding

Torrential rains throughout Indonesia since mid-December have caused 
numerous landslides in central Java and extensive flooding in most of 
Java, West Sumatra and West Nusa Tenggara, and killed over 100 people in 
all. Rescue efforts are still under way and the final death toll is yet 
to be determined.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76031


PAKISTAN: Women battle to gain voice through literacy drive

With Pakistan's female adult literacy rate as low as 36 percent, 
according to the UN, Shahida, married with a one year-old daughter, 
believes it is up to the women in her community to bring about change, 
if not for themselves, then for their daughters.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76004


PAKISTAN: People face tough times after Bhutto assassination

The violence that has erupted across Pakistan following the killing of 
former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in the northern Punjab city of 
Rawalpindi on the evening of 27 December, has come as a terrible 
reminder of what havoc political turmoil can wreak on the lives of 
citizens.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76030


SRI LANKA: Mixed fortunes at large post-tsunami housing project

There is no lack of ceremonial plaques at Siribopura, Sri Lanka's 
largest tsunami housing site, 240km south of the Sri Lankan capital, 
Colombo. The over 1,500 houses on the 240-hectare site - funded by 
donors - are a mixture of the good and the bad: some are well kept and 
others are coming off their foundations. There are new houses, some 
still sturdy, while others are falling down.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75979


SRI LANKA: Post-tsunami recovery a success for most but not all

Sri Lanka poured millions of dollars in foreign aid into tsunami relief 
since December 2004, but three years later, some survivors still 
languish in welfare shelters while others live in new settlements 
lacking basic facilities.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75981


SRI LANKA: Tsunami aid "missing", says anti-corruption group

Over US$500 million in tsunami aid given to Sri Lanka has gone 
"missing", an anti-corruption organisation has charged. Transparency 
International Sri Lanka (TISL) said its investigations had revealed a 
gap between the amounts disbursed by foreign aid agencies and what has 
been spent on relief and recovery projects since the 2004 tsunami.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76025


SRI LANKA: A nation slowly forgetting a tragedy

She tried to hold them back in vain, but slowly tears streaked down the 
cheeks of W. M. Priyanthi as she waited near the tsunami memorial in 
Pereliya, a southern coastal village 90km south of the capital, Colombo.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76029


THAILAND: Disaster warning operations established but problems remain

As the third anniversary of the devastating December 2004 tsunami 
approaches, Thailand's fledgling National Disaster Warning Centre (NDWC) 
is growing but not without hiccups.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75980


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