Key findings

• The past two years show a downturn in violence against aid workers that spiked in a small number of conflict contexts beginning in 2006 and peaking in 2008.

• The recent decline in attacks is mainly due to the shrinking presence of international aid agencies in the most violent settings, Somalia in particular, rather than improving security conditions.

• The incidence of aid worker kidnappings continues to rise dramatically, and the use of major explosives has emerged as a tactic of violence in a small number of settings.

One year after massive floods submerged much of Pakistan, millions of flood survivors are still without permanent shelter and struggling to access food. The disaster exposed Pakistan’s vulnerability to natural disasters and climate change. While some members of Congress are reluctant to extend additional aid to Pakistan, supporting programs that provide shelter and food security to the most vulnerable sectors of Pakistani society would demonstrate America’s commitment to Pakistan’s longer-term interests while helping people rebuild their lives. Therefore, it is critical that the U.S.

PESHAWAR, 1 September 2011 (IRIN) - Abdullah Jan, 28, has lived as a refugee in Nowshera, a town in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa Province (KP), close to its capital Peshawar, since he was two, but now feels it is time to return home to Afghanistan.

"I still associate myself with our home region of Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan," he told IRIN. "My father and I have recently visited our village there, and we intend to return before winter. I want my children to grow up as Afghans, not as persons with an indistinct identity."

By Rabia Ajaib in Pakistan

Roshan Bibi lives with her family in the district of Badin in Sindh province. They have fallen victim to the flash flooding that has hit many Pakistan communities during this monsoon season. Their home was inundated with dirty, muddy water. One of the walls collapsed, injuring Roshan. “I could not get my wounds treated if the Red Crescent health unit did not come to my village,” says Roshan while receiving medicine from staff with the Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS).

QUETTA, Pakistan — A car bomb killed at least five people on Wednesday and wounded 10 more in a Shiite Muslim area of the restive southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, police said.

The bomb exploded in a parking lot after prayers marking the festival of Eid al-Fitr, senior police official Mohammad Hashim told AFP.

"At least five people were killed and 10 others wounded," Hashim said. "The bomb was planted in a car and an unidentified man parked it at the site and left."

HIGHLIGHTS

The Education ERWG continues to support the Government of Pakistan in improving access of children and teachers to quality education facilities. To date the ERWG has reached to 89 percent out of 1.3 million target beneficiaries including 445,724 girls and women and 732,868 boys and men across Pakistan.

• 279 severely damaged schools including 43 girls schools were provided with Transitional School Structures (TSS) services benefitting 36,492 children including 13,039 girls and 371 teachers in Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and KP.

Highlight

Epidemiological week no. 34 (19 - 25 August, 2011)

• 82 districts and 3 agencies provided surveillance data to the DEWS this week from 2,736 health facilities.

• A total of 872,608 consultations were reported through DEWS of which 18% were acute respiratory infections (ARI), 12% skin disease, 11% acute diarrhoea, and 7% suspected Malaria.

By Jennie Matthew (AFP)

ISLAMABAD — The 9/11 attacks that thrust Pakistan into the war on terror have brought the nuclear-armed state to its knees, fighting Islamist radicals at home and risking pariah status abroad.

It was already evening in Pakistan when television channels, recently deregulated by then president General Pervez Musharraf, began broadcasting the terrifying scenes from the twin towers in New York.

• Anxiety spreads as Karachi bleeds

• Call for army intervention

• Threat to Pakistan's stability

• Torture chambers emerge

By Michael Georgy

KARACHI, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Imran Ali's kidnappers jabbed pistols into his sides and led him down a quiet street as fresh ethnic carnage spread fear in Pakistan's biggest city, Karachi.

Two other people blindfolded and held with the construction worker had just been shot at point-blank range. It was his turn.