Desperate times in Pakistan

The poor country slowly recovers from epic floods

These unprecedented floods pose unprecedented logistical challenges, and this requires an extraordinary effort by the international community.”

- John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator

The breach near Tatta has been half-plugged, and fortunately the flood has also changed its course and is moving away from the city and population areas.”

- Senior city official Hadi Bakhsh Kalhoro

The water is still 2 kilometres away from Thatta, where the armed forces and the local administrative workers are working on war footing to save the city. The army brought a maximum of resources to try to fill up the breach. Almost all the people have left Thatta to safer place, all shops and schools are closed.”

- Hadi Bakhsh Kalhoro

The tolls of the roads

$11.5 million

The value of the Yamaka motorcycle-assembly plant, which has seen its launch pushed back until at least next year, according to the project’s Cambodian investor.

$41.2 million

The amount of money that the Thai government reportedly pledged to resume funding for a road construction project in Cambodian

$41.2 million

The amount of money that officials from the Cambodian government said they planned on rejecting from Thailand to help build roads.

$1.50 to $6

The fine that traffic police will reportedly fine drunk moto-drivers in Kandal and Kampong Speu provinces beginning September 1. Police are still waiting to recieve breathalizers.

10

The number of metres that Hun Sen announced will be scaled back from the construction plan along a 1 kilometre stretch of National Road 6 in Russey Keo.

1

The number of months before Ford plans to begin sales of its Thailand-made Fiesta vehicles to ASEAN customers, according to a press release on Sunday.

Little animals making big news

A frog the size of a pea found in Borneo’s jungles

ASIA’S tiniest frog, a creature the size of a pea, has been discovered in a national park in Malaysia’s Sarawak state on Borneo island, researchers said.

Two Hamburg University colleagues discovered the orange-and-red frog when returning from a field trip at the Kubah National Park in 2004. They finally announced their discovery after taxonomic journal Zootaxa published their findings.

“We heard the calls of this frog and we knew the calls of all frogs in the area and this was different,” Das said.

“At first we couldn’t see it but eventually we found it and I had to trap the frog in one of my baby son’s clean white diapers in order to really see what it looked like, it was so tiny.” AFP

STUDY OF ANTS COULD UNLOCK SECRETS ABOUT HUMANS

Scientists in the United States said they have mapped the entire genome sequences of two different species of ants for the first time, potentially providing insight into human ageing and behaviour.

“Ants are extremely social creatures and their ability to survive depends on their community in a very similar way to humans,” said research project leader Danny Reinberg, a professor of biochemistry at New York University Langone.

“Whether ... workers, soldiers or queens, ants seem to be a perfect fit to study whether epigenetics influences behaviour and ageing.”

Big Stories

After months of ongoing protests, residents of Phnom Penh’s Boeung Kak lakeside said last week that authorities had promised to temporarily halt the filling of the lake after part of their commune experienced chronic flooding.

Laywers for former Tuol Sleng prison chief Kaing Guek Eav announced last week that they would appeal last month’s verdict at the Khmer Rouge tribunal, saying the case fell outside the court’s jurisdiction

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is believed to be visiting China, possibly accompanied by his son and heir apparent, ahead of a looming power shift in the communist state. The trip coincided with a diplomatic mission from former US president Jimmy Carter.

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