Catastrophic floods devastate Pakistan with death toll nearly 1300, hundreds of thousands of people are living in relief camps

The flood situation in Pakistan is grim. Death toll is nearly 1,300 even as relief operations continue. Humanitarian aid in the form of basic necessities like food, shelter, medicines are the need of the hour. Aid has started to flow in from a number of countries. The first such assistance flight from France has landed in Islamabad. Innumerable number of people are forced to live in relief camps across Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, and Punjab. Agencies of the government as well as private NGOs are continuing with their relief operations. These are described as a "humanitarian disaster of epic proportions." Large portions of the country continue to be submerged under water. This is especially in the provinces of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh in the south. On a rough estimate, nearly 1.5 million houses have suffered damages. Moreover, a large number of livestock has perished in the floods. 1,300 Dead In Pakistan's Devastating Floods, Over 5 Lakh Displaced.

Initial estimate of the damages have been put at USD 10 billion. However, international organizations are carrying out surveys. More than 700,000 families have received a lump some cash relief (per family). An amount of ₹ 18.25 billion has been already been disbursed on this account. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif went to a social media platform and wrote - "Despite challenges, Benazir Income Support Programme rolled out its operations within no time.” The authorities have called on the international community to support Pakistan. They have also assured the nation that the government would try to bring back normalcy at the earliest. The floods have drowned nearly a third of the country and affected more than 33 million people. The natural calamity came after four heatwaves and multiple raging forest fires. These highlight the effects of climate change in this part of Asia.

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Bird flu in ducks - initially 800,000 birds to be culled in France

Outbreak of bird flu in France has forced the authorities to take a decision to cull 800,000 birds in the first instance. Accordingly, huundreds of thousands of ducks are to be culled in three areas of France. The drastic measure will cover all free range ducks, plus geese, in the Gers, Landes and Hautes-Pyrenees areas.
The exercise will continue for more than two weeks. The areas that have been identified as affected are in southwestern France, where most foie gras - made from duck and goose liver - is produced.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 4 January 2017.

All birds will not be culled - an exception has been made for farms which confine their birds and run a full production cycle - from ducklings to end products. The virus has spread quickly over the last month and, the agricultural ministry of France has indicated that the principle is to quickly kill the species most affected to date by the virus.
Initially, 800,000 birds would be killed in the next week and more could be added if the virus can not be brought under control. The H5N8 strain of the virus has been discovered in several other European countries, and in Israel, in the last two months. It kills poultry but, it has not been detected in humans.


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Birthday cake responsible for 13 deaths in Normandy, France

It was a tragic birthday party in the basement of the Cuba Libre bar in Rouen, Normandy. It had been hired for the birthday party and ended up in a tragedy that killed 13 persons. It is believed that a woman who had been carrying the cake adorned with candles tripped as she brought it downstairs.
The incident happened shortly after midnight.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 6 August 2016.

In the ensuing blaze, 13 people were killed. The walls and low ceiling quickly ignited when the candles of the cake were lit and it fell on the floor. The ceiling and walls were covered in foam padding in order to help sound-proof the room. It is believed that this material led to the flames spreading quickly.
The dead were aged between 18 and 25 and several of them could have succumbed to the fumes. Six people were injured in the blaze and one of them is in a critical condition. It is not thought to be terror-related - the venue of the tragedy was a few miles from Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray where a Catholic priest was murdered in his church late last month by two Islamic States sympathizers.


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In spite of the terror attacks on Paris, tourists continue to be attracted by France and the overall number of tourists visiting France in 2015 have gone up marginally as compared with the year before to reach an all-time high. AS per official Government figures, 84.5 million tourists visited continental France, an increase of 0.9 per cent from 2014 and this was a record of sorts.
This has been reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 9 April 2016.

Immediately after the November 13 attacks in which 130 people died, there was a drop of 15 per cent in the numbers of foreign visitors who traveled to Paris in the months of November and December. Before that massacre, two shooters had stormed the office of a satirical newspaper in January and killed a dozen people. Statistically speaking, after a 1.8 per cent increase over the first three quarters, there was a 3.1 per cent drop at national level in the last quarter.
The largest increase was among tourists from Asia - their numbers grew by 22.7 per cent, with Chinese visitors surpassing 2 million. Similarly, the number of Americans also showed an increase by 15.2 per cent to 3.6 million in 2015. However, there was a 1.5 per cent drop in European visitors although the number of British tourists crossing the Channel went up 3.3 per cent.
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Warnings have been issued by wildlife experts that Asian hornets could invade Britain and pose a serious threat to the beleaguered bee population because these species are more hostile than the native hornet and can kill 50 bees a day to feed their larvae. The bee population in Britain is believed to have dropped by a third since 2007.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 29 February 2016.

These Asian hornets had landed up in France accidentally in pottery 12 years ago, and from one nest they spread to Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Belgium. In all probability, these pests could cross the Channel accidentally via imported pot plants, fruit, cut flowers and timber. As cautioned by experts, like all invasive non-native species, once the Asian hornet digs in, it would be incredibly difficult and hugely costly to tackle the menace.
The Asian Hornet has a distinctive appearance – an almost entirely dark abdomen and yellow ends to its legs. It ‘poses a deadly threat to honeybees and other pollinators and any potential sightings should be immediately reported to the relevant authorities.
The Queens build nests in April and rapidly start laying eggs until the hive population reaches about 6,000 insects and, in order to feed the growing population, the hornets start hunting honey bees, chopping them up with their jaws and feeding them to larvae.
The declining population of bees worldwide is a potentially major risk to world food supplies. For some statistics - honey production in the UK fell by 34 per cent in 2015 to 21lbs per colony. This was down from 34lbs the previous year based on a survey of 1,561 beekeepers. Some of the reasons attributed are excessive wind – making it difficult for honeybees to forage.


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This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 5 January 2015.

The 40-year-old had been arrested but even though MPs have condemned the decision to grant asylum to a Sudanese migrant who walked 31 miles through the Channel Tunnel, he will now be given state-funded accommodation in a B&B, flat or house and is entitled to a weekly allowance of £36.95. He will also be allowed free NHS healthcare, prescriptions, dental care and eyesight tests.
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(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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#anorexic #France #models #bodymassindex #ultrathin #health In order to curb the fast growing menace of anorexia, France has imposed a ban on ultra-thin models. Other countries like Israel and Spain have already taken similar action but the decision of France could have a greater impact because France is known to be the country that sets style trends.
The French measures would only apply within France.
This has been reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 4 April 2015.
As explained by Olivier Veran, a neurologist and legislator who championed the anorexia measure, such an action would protect not only the models but also teenagers who strive to imitate the style icons and stop eating food and suffer from various eating disorders.

Under the new legislation, a body mass index (BMI) would be defined and anyone below that level cannot earn money as a model. In case any modeling agency or person violates that, they would face up to six months in prison and 75,000 euros ($80,000) in fines if convicted.
World Health Organization (WHO) defines underweight as a BMI of less than 18.5. As per Britain's National Health Service, anorexia means an adult with BMI less than 17.5. That, in lay man’s language, works out to a woman who is about 5 foot 7 and weighs 112 pounds.
Incidentally, there are websites that explain how to become a perfect anorexic - ingest cotton balls, drink tea and let the cotton balls swell in the stomach to lose appetite.

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A total of 64 suburbs in many major cities have been identified as ghettos and the admission of Prime Minister Manuel Valls that geographic, social and ethnic apartheid exists in France is a signal that there would be a change in the country's approach to immigration. It also, simultaneously, brings to light the magnitude of the problem.
The condition in the ghettos is bad – there is unemployment of 23% in the banlieux (or suburb of a large city) and, the figure soars to 45% among the young people. The average annual income is around £8,300 and, between a third and half of all families are single-parent while about half are immigrants or their children.
A majority of its population is being left behind economically, thereby they get marginalized into ethnic enclaves, do not have any leader and, hence, are vulnerable to Islamist radicalization. France has to accept the fact that it has different communities within it.
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