DUBAI, 30 July 2007 (IRIN) - CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Clashes over pastures threaten to ignite further conflict AFGHANISTAN: Taliban plant hundreds of mines in Helmand Province AFGHANISTAN: UN funds specialists to help investigate mass graves AFGHANISTAN: UNICEF appeals for more aid to help women, children KAZAKHSTAN: Environmentalists call for caution in mercury cleanup in north NEPAL: Hundreds displaced by violence in southeast PAKISTAN: Aid agencies to assess flood-hit areas on 24 July PAKISTAN: Over a million children at risk of disease in flood-hit south – UNICEF PAKISTAN: Flood-affected Afghan refugees receive assistance in Balochistan

SRI LANKA: A vital lifeline for families torn apart SRI LANKA: New security measures slow deliveries to the Vanni TAJIKISTAN: Landslide, earthquake kills 14

AFGHANISTAN: Clashes over pastures threaten to ignite further conflict

Afghanistan will become embroiled in another violent armed conflict, this time between two ethnic groups, if grievances over access to grazing land are not immediately and appropriately addressed, warns the country's human rights commission.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73373

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban plant hundreds of mines in Helmand Province

Provincial officials say Taliban insurgents have planted hundreds of anti-personnel mines in several districts of Helmand in the last six months. Engaged in long battles with Afghan security forces backed by NATO-led international troops, Taliban fighters have turned to landmines to block entry to areas where they operate, said Nabijan Molakhiel, a former police chief.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73390

AFGHANISTAN: UN funds specialists to help investigate mass graves

The UN has invited forensic specialists from an international organisation to help investigate over 80 mass graves discovered in different parts of war-torn Afghanistan, officials told IRIN in Kabul.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73408

AFGHANISTAN: UNICEF appeals for more aid to help women, children

In 2007 floods, diseases, drought and armed conflict have increased the need for humanitarian aid in Afghanistan, the UN Children's Agency (UNICEF) said in its donor update report issued on 26 July. Women and children have been particularly affected, it said.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73444

KAZAKHSTAN: Environmentalists call for caution in mercury cleanup in north

As a long-planned operation to clean up a major source of mercury pollution in northern Kazakhstan gets under way, environmentalists and academics are calling for caution in dealing with the highly toxic substance.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73406

NEPAL: Hundreds displaced by violence in southeast

Local non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the UN, and aid agencies working with internally displaced persons (IDPs) have expressed concern over the newly displaced Nepalese whose numbers are growing.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73398

PAKISTAN: Aid agencies to assess flood-hit areas on 24 July

A joint team from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank, with support from the UN and wider humanitarian community, is to begin a needs assessment in Pakistan's flood-hit provinces of Balochistan and Sindh on 24 July. The area was devastated in late June by cyclone Yemyin, leaving hundreds of thousands homeless and almost 300 dead.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73369

PAKISTAN: Over a million children at risk of disease in flood-hit south – UNICEF

Over a million children are at risk of infectious diseases in Pakistan's flood-affected provinces of Balochistan and Sindh after last month's devastating cyclone Yemyin, which left nearly 300 dead and close to 400,000 homeless.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73400

PAKISTAN: Flood-affected Afghan refugees receive assistance in Balochistan

An estimated 4,000 Afghan refugees living in camps in Pakistan's flood-affected Balochistan Province are now receiving assistance, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has confirmed.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73433

SRI LANKA: A vital lifeline for families torn apart

Thousands of Sri Lankans, separated by fighting between the security forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), are turning to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)and its local partner, the Sri Lanka Red Cross (SLRC), to trace missing family members.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73383

SRI LANKA: New security measures slow deliveries to the Vanni

Heightened security measures and renewed skirmishes between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and government forces are causing severe delays in delivering supplies and price increases in goods and fuel in four northern districts of Sri Lanka, officials said.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73441

TAJIKISTAN: Landslide, earthquake kills 14

An earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale, and a landslide triggered by torrential rains, killed 14 people in Tajikistan over the weekend, according to officials. The landslide ripped through a resort area in the Asht District of northern Soghd Province on 22 July at 2pm local time.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73367

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