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KABUL -- Sahar Gul, the young Afghan bride whose harrowing ordeal at the hands of her in-laws attracted international media attention, has received some solace after authorities handed down lengthy prison sentences against her tormentors.

The Kabul Sessions Court on May 1 delivered 10-year sentences against Gul's father-in-law, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law, who had been accused of imprisoning and brutally abusing the 15-year-old newlywed. Police are still looking for Gul's husband and brother, both of whom are suspects in the case.

By RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service

OSH, Kyrgyzstan -- Reports from southern Kyrgyzstan say floods have destroyed at least 200 houses in the region of Osh.

Local authorities said heavy rains caused large floods and landslides that hit several towns and villages in the region.

Some residents say their houses were heavily damaged and their livestock and pets missing, while dozens of hectares of arable lands are covered with mud.

Farmers say they will need money to clean their corn and wheat fields and replant.

Cleanup work is under way.

MIRAM SHAH, Pakistan -- At least nine people have been killed in fighting after the Taliban attacked the home of an anti-Taliban tribal leader in northwestern Pakistan.

Villagers who witnessed the fighting say a large group of Taliban attacked Malik Karim Khan's home late on April 18 in the Shawa region of North Waziristan.

They say there was strong resistance from Khan's Meomi Kabul Khel tribe.

Fighting continued on April 19 after efforts to broker a cease-fire failed.

Authorities have said that Russia will send urgent humanitarian aid to Tajikistan to help tackle the aftermath of an unusually cold and long winter.

The Kremlin said on March 30 that Dushanbe has requested help from Moscow.

Tajikistan's agricultural sector has reportedly suffered heavy losses, and many roads and bridges were also damaged as a result of a long spell of cold weather.

More than 20 countries sent humanitarian aid worth $6 million to Tajikistan in January and February.

Russia, Egypt and Iran were among the largest donors.

Heavy snows in the mountains of southern Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have triggered avalanches and left large sections of both countries cut off.

Kyrgyzstan's Deputy Minister for Emergency Situations Mukanbet Kasymaliev said that all roads are blocked in the Chong Alai district of Osh Province.

"Ground transportation links are gone," Kasymaliev said, adding that basic goods are already in short supply there.

The main highway between Osh and the capital, Bishkek, is also closed in places due to avalanches.

While media attention was focused on the aftermath of the Koran burning in Afghanistan last month, a story that otherwise would have made headlines everywhere went virtually unnoticed. It's the story of Shah Mahmood, a young Afghan from war-ravaged Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan who saved a school by giving his life.

By Abubakar Siddique
March 05, 2012

MATHRA, Pakistan -- Shama and her classmates, wearing matching uniforms and singing nursery rhymes, would fit in well in any modern school in the more affluent urban centers of Pakistan.

But the 7-year-old is not studying in an area known for its enlightenment. She is in a dark classroom in an impoverished Pashtun village in a region known for its conservatism.

To the casual observer the thousands of caves that dot the sandstone cliffs of the ancient Afghan city of Bamiyan hearken to another era, when monks visiting the region's famous Buddha statues took residence there.

But for hundreds of Afghans, the caves represent their current reality.

The new residents have been forced to seek refuge in the caves, unable to return to areas they originally fled due to insecurity and the destruction of their former homes and villages.

Officials in Afghanistan say heavy snow and avalanches in the country's far northeast have killed at least 46 people during the past week.

Afghan Presdent Hamid Karzai has declared an emergency in the mountainous northeastern province of Badakhshan and promised a relief fund of $160,000.

A statement from Karzai's office on January 24 quoted provincial officials who updated the death toll and said 60 people have also been injured by recent avalanches.

Afghanistan's harsh winters and mountainous terrain make avalanches an annual hazard.