Pakistan is amongst the top ten countries on the globe experiencing frequent and intense climate change events such as floods, droughts, cyclones, heavy rains, extremely high temperatures, etc. The
Absence of a parking lot in Aabpara Market causes terrible traffic mess everyday especially during rush hours, affecting motorists and causing road accidents. During a visit to the market on Monday, Daily Times found a lot of shopkeepers and customers parking their vehicles haphazardly in front of the market and on a major stretch of Khayaban-e-Suharwardy.
Climate change poses a serious threat to essential water resources in the Himalayan region putting the livelihoods of 1.3 billion people at risk, experts said Thursday. The mountainous region, home to the world's largest glaciers and permafrost area outside the Polar Regions, has seen rapid glacial melting and dramatic changes in rainfall, experts at the World Water Week conference in Stockholm said.
Wastewater is widely used to irrigate urban agricultural land in developing countries, a practice that has both advantages and disadvantages, a 53-city study presented at a water conference in Stockholm showed Monday. Wastewater agriculture contributes importantly to urban food supplies and helps provide a livelihood for the poor, but can also lead to health risks for consumers, particularly for vegetables consumed uncooked, the report by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) said.
One range officer and five guards of forest department sustained serious injuries on Sunday when some timber smugglers ran their vehicle over them in Shungli Bandy area of Teshil Oghi, Mansehra district. The forest department had deployed a team on Jabor Road near Shingle Bandy forest to restrict illegal cutting. According to police, the forest department team signaled a suspected vehicle to stop, but the driver of the vehicle laden with timber did not stop and ran it over the forest team.
Experts at the Aga Khan University Hospital examined in-house data from 2000 to 2005 and have reached the conclusion that not only were more patients reporting with Dengue but the third and most fatal stage was occurring in more cases.
Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) closed down two poultry feed manufacturing units in Kahuta on Saturday, after finding they were polluting the environment. "We have been receiving complaints against these units since 2003. The manufacturers were told to adopt a proper method of production but they continued to cause environmental degradation,' Pak-EPA Director-General (DG) Asif Shuja Khan told Daily Times on Saturday. He said Environment Minister Hameedullah Jan Afridi directed the Pak-EPA to monitor the units on a complaint of Bahria Town administration.
Germany announced on Wednesday to provide Rs 11 million assistance for flood victims in North West Frontier Province (NWFP). "The German Federal Foreign Office (FFO) is making available Rs 11 million to help flood victims in northwest Pakistan,' said a statement by the German embassy. The embassy said following heavy rainfall, more than 200,000 people in the region bordering Afghanistan had been affected during the last weeks. It said at least 50 people were still missing.
The number of patients infected with the dengue virus in Karachi is on the rise and the total is now at 289 cases, since two new dengue cases were reported in the last 24 hours. Sindh Spokesman on Dengue and Deputy Secretary Health Dr Shakil Malik told Daily Times Wednesday that there are 25 dengue patients admitted at various public health facilities in Karachi, including 11 at Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, two at Civil Hospital Karachi and two at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.
UNESCO's latest Global Monitoring Report has estimated that literacy rate in developing countries has increased from 68 percent to 77 percent between 1985 and 2004. This has brought the overall global average literacy rate to about 82 percent. Pakistan, however, is placed at the lowest rung of the international literacy ladder. The reason for Pakistan's dismal rating on yet another development indicator is due to the simple fact that the literacy ratio in Pakistan still hovers around 50 percent.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on Monday signed three Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with well-known corporate sector firms - Mobilink, Medentech and Unilever Pakistan - to promote health facilities in Pakistan. Speaking on the occasion, USAID, Pakistan, Director (Health, Democracy and Governance) Kathleen McDonald said, "USAID is helping Pakistani communities to have access to clean water and adopt sanitary practices that save lives.'
