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05/26/2012

Kabul, May 26, 2012 (AFP) - The death toll from flash floods in a northern Afghan province has hit 50 -- most of them women and children -- an official said on Saturday, a week after the disaster struck.

The floods that inundated Sari Pul province were triggered by torrential rain and have left thousands of people homeless, provincial governor Abdul Jabar Haqbeen told AFP.

"The floods have killed 50 people so far, mostly women and children," he said.

05/25/2012 09:20 GMT

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, May 25, 2012 (AFP) - Bomb blasts in Afghanistan Friday killed three people and wounded nine, officials said, as French President Francois Hollande visited to discuss the early withdrawal of troops.

Two passengers died and three were injured when a bus struck a roadside bomb in southern Helmand province, said Daud Ahmadi, the Helmand government spokesman.

"It was a bomb planted by the enemy," he said, referring to Taliban insurgents trying to bring down President Hamid Karzai's Western-backed government.

May 24 2012 -- The Independent Election Commission (IEC) travelled to Bamyan where it held a consultative meeting on proposed amendments to the Election Law. At the same time, the head of the IEC, Fazl Ahmad Manawi, called on the international community to provide technical and financial support.

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Despite intensive efforts to stamp out polio in the three endemic countries, experts report that the number of cases in Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan actually doubled over the past year.

For this reason, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has announced a shift to "emergency mode" to fight this disease which can cause paralysis in its victims, most of whom are children.

24 May 2012 - Civil society organizations throughout the country are holding elections today to select delegates who will attend a special preparatory conference in Kabul where they will create a platform and messages for the upcoming Tokyo Conference where issues of development in Afghanistan will be discussed. Selected delegates will gather in Kabul on May 29 and 30.

On May 22, four Medair relief workers were abducted by a group of armed men during a visit to relief project sites in Badakhshan province, Afghanistan.

"Medair is working closely with the relevant authorities and doing all we can to secure the safe and swift release of our colleagues. We have informed the families and are in close contact with them. Our thoughts are with our colleagues and their families,” says Medair spokesperson, Aurélien Demaurex.