DUBAI, 2 July 2007 (IRIN) - CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Demand for narcotics outstrips available treatment for drug addicts AFGHANISTAN: Floods kill 17 across seven AFGHANISTAN: Taliban impose rule, hefty taxes in Musa Qala District AFGHANISTAN: Aid agency distributes tents, blankets after floods kill 50 KAZAKHSTAN: Regional cooperation seen as key in fight against drugs PAKISTAN: Storm leaves 66 dead in Karachi PAKISTAN: More effective disaster preparedness urged as storm kills 200 PAKISTAN: Cyclone leaves devastation across Balochistan Province PAKISTAN: Rains leave 100,000 homeless in Balochistan PAKISTAN: Measles campaign to proceed despite monsoon floods SRI LANKA: Post-tsunami jobs increase, incomes decline SRI LANKA: Protecting tsunami orphans from child abuse TAJIKISTAN: Melting glaciers pose growing threat in the Pamirs

TAJIKISTAN: Afghan narcotics fuel drug addiction

AFGHANISTAN: Demand for narcotics outstrips available treatment for drug addicts

Afghanistan produces about 92 percent of the heroin consumed in the world, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). About one million people - or 3.7 percent of Afghanistan's estimated 27 million population - are considered to be addicted to different kinds of narcotics, including heroin, opium and hashish.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72927

AFGHANISTAN: Floods kill 17 across seven regions

Unusual flash floods, and a landslide, have killed at least 17 people, mostly women and children, in seven provinces of Afghanistan, the country's disaster management authority and provincial officials said on 26 June. On 25 June, torrential rain led to a wave of floods in the eastern Kunar Province that resulted in human losses and inflicted damage.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72935

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban impose rule, hefty taxes in Musa Qala District

The bodies of four bearded men still hang from two tall poles at a roundabout in Musa Qala District, Helmand Province, in southern Afghanistan. Musa Qala District is controlled by Taliban insurgents. The four were hanged two days ago allegedly for spying for the Americans and the government of President Hamid Karzai.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72979

AFGHANISTAN: Aid agency distributes tents, blankets after floods kill 50

Floods have killed at least 50 people and injured tens of others in seven provinces in the north, east and south of Afghanistan over the past two days, Afghan officials said. According to Afghanistan's national meteorology department, heavy rain, flooding and storms are unusual at this time of the year.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72981

KAZAKHSTAN: Regional cooperation seen as key in fight against drugs

As Kazakhstan marked international anti-narcotics day on 26 June, health officials expressed cautious optimism that the fight against drugs is showing some progress. There has been a drop in the number of registered drug users, and plans for a regional body which will help combat the drug trade are moving ahead, say officials.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72950

PAKISTAN: Storm leaves 66 dead in Karachi

Pakistan's huge southern port city of Karachi struggled to recover on 25 June from what the authorities called an unprecedented storm. According to a former city mayor, 66 people died and many more were injured after strong winds and heavy rain wreaked havoc.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72908

PAKISTAN: More effective disaster preparedness urged as storm kills 200

Three days after the rainstorm that lashed Paksitan's main port city of Karachi on 23 June, Khursheed Jamshed, 50, is unsure if her 20-year-old son, Pervaiz, has survived. As if the chaos unleashed by the storm was not enough, people in Karachi were bracing for Cyclone Yemyin 03b, which has formed in the Arabian Sea 150km south of Karachi.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72934

PAKISTAN: Cyclone leaves devastation across Balochistan Province

Cyclone Yemyin which struck coastal areas of Pakistan's Sindh and Balochistan provinces over the past few days has killed over a dozen people and inflicted extensive damage to houses and roads along the coast, leaving structures flattened.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72955

PAKISTAN: Rains leave 100,000 homeless in Balochistan

Rains triggered by the cyclone that hit coastal areas of Pakistan this week have continued across Balochistan Province in the southwest of the country, home to some eight million of Pakistan's estimated more than 150 million people.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72968

PAKISTAN: Measles campaign to proceed despite monsoon floods

A major effort in Pakistan to immunise 63 million children against measles will proceed as planned this week, despite recent heavy rains and flooding in the south of the country which took the lives of more than 100 people and affected hundreds of thousands.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73020

SRI LANKA: Post-tsunami jobs increase, incomes decline

The Livelihoods Division at the Reconstruction and Development Agency (RADA) - the main government arm overseeing employment in the aftermath of the tsunami in Sri Lanka - is claiming great success.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72977

SRI LANKA: Protecting tsunami orphans from child abuse

According to the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA), 635 children were orphaned in Sri Lanka after the 2004 tsunami. In southern districts of the country - including Kalutara, Galle, Matara and Hambantota - 137 boys and 129 girls were orphaned.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73017

TAJIKISTAN: Melting glaciers pose growing threat in the Pamirs

Changing climatic conditions and warming temperatures are increasing the risk of natural hazards posed by melting glaciers in the Pamir mountains of eastern Tajikistan. In Tajikistan the impact of climate change is mostly observed on glaciers, say officials.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72916

TAJIKISTAN: Afghan narcotics fuel drug addiction

Tajikistan's Drug Control Agency (DCA) estimates that there are about 55,000-75,000 drug users in the country, of whom 80 percent use heroin, made from opium produced in neighbouring Afghanistan.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72937

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