DUBAI, 22 October 2007 (IRIN) - AFGHANISTAN: Widespread child marriage blamed for domestic violence AFGHANISTAN: More executions scheduled amid growing calls for death penalty moratorium AFGHANISTAN: ICRC warns of growing humanitarian emergency BANGLADESH: Tornado season begins in earnest BANGLADESH: Flood migrants pour into Dhaka NEPAL: Schools identified as key in earthquake preparedness NEPAL: Displaced hill Nepalese gradually returning home PAKISTAN: Lack of healthcare access keeps child mortality high in Balochistan PAKISTAN: Thousands displaced by renewed fighting in Waziristan SRI LANKA: UN's Louise Arbour concerned about human rights violations

AFGHANISTAN: Widespread child marriage blamed for domestic violence

Fifteen-year-old Razia (not her real name) has been imprisoned in Kandahar Province, southern Afghanistan, for escaping from her husband's house and eloping with another man.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74793

AFGHANISTAN: More executions scheduled amid growing calls for death penalty moratorium

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is expected to sign in the near future the death warrants of about 30 prisoners indicted for various crimes by the country's Supreme Court, Abdul Rasheed Rashid, a member of the Supreme Court Council, told IRIN in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on 17 October.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74819

AFGHANISTAN: ICRC warns of growing humanitarian emergency

Intensifying armed conflict has restricted independent humanitarian access and has caused a complex humanitarian emergency in huge swathes of already impoverished Afghanistan, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has warned.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74894

BANGLADESH: Tornado season begins in earnest

A spate of deadly tornadoes has struck parts of Bangladesh following this year's annual monsoon season. On 15 October three tornadoes tore through the southern districts of Barisal, Gopalganj and Bhola, killing seven people and destroying over 500 houses. According to the United News of Bangladesh news service, at least 3,000 people were left homeless.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74817

BANGLADESH: Flood migrants pour into Dhaka

Forty-seven year old Mohammad Munaf Majhi looks 10 years older than his age. His wrinkled face and desperate look suggest that not all is well with him.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74846

NEPAL: Schools identified as key in earthquake preparedness

Earthquake-resistant building trainer Balkrishna Kasula is worried that thousands of schools in seismically active zones throughout the country are poorly built and vulnerable to earthquakes.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74788

NEPAL: Displaced hill Nepalese gradually returning home

For the first time since 1999, Akal Bahadur Shahi is able to celebrate Dasain - the most important festival for Hindus in Nepal - in his remote Kalikakhetu village, Jumla District, nearly 700km northwest of the capital, Kathmandu.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74844

PAKISTAN: Lack of healthcare access keeps child mortality high in Balochistan

Sandra Bisin, a spokeswoman for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in the capital, Islamabad, told IRIN: "Child mortality is high in Balochistan, with about 16 out of 100 children dying before their fifth birthday." She explained that in the rest of Pakistan "it is nearly 10 out of 100 children that die" before reaching the age of five.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74825

PAKISTAN: Thousands displaced by renewed fighting in Waziristan

After over a week of fierce fighting in and around the town of Mirali, in Pakistan's tribal North Waziristan Agency, lying along the country's mountainous north-western border with Afghanistan, some semblance of normal life is returning slowly.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74895

SRI LANKA: UN's Louise Arbour concerned about human rights violations

M. Malaravan, a young doctor from the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, has been trying to wake up from a terrible, 10-month nightmare: Since 15 December 2006, he has been searching frantically for his father-in-law who went missing after attending an academic conference in Colombo.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74787

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