The water and power department of Gilgit-Baltistan is setting up another hydro power project of 16MW in the Naltar valley where an 18MW project has already been established by a Chinese firm, officials said.

The officials said that the government was harnessing the hydro power potential of the region to produce cheapest mode of energy.

The officials said the 18MW project was catering to needs of the population of the Gilgit city, but there was need to set up another power project to cater to the growing number of power consumers.

The delayed response and less intervention from the government in early framework for the rehabilitation of rain flooded affected peoples jeopardise the lives of 4.8 million including 2.4 million children and 1.2 million women.

This was stated by members of People Accountability Commission on Floods (PACF) while launching Civil Society Floods Situation Report (CSFR) in a press conference held at Hyderabad Press Club on Tuesday.

Pakistan may be interested in importing the cholera vaccine which was tested and introduced in India in 2009 with the help of Seoul’s International Vaccine Institute. In the capital to attend the fourth meeting of the South Asian Forum for Health Research, a group of eight nations with common health challenges, Huma Quraishi, the Pakistani representative, said she did not know a cholera vaccine was available in the region.

An application was moved in the Supreme Court on Monday, requesting the court to restrain the Balochistan chief minister and head of the Mines and Minerals Development Directorate from granting approval to a newly licensees to start exploration at Reko Diq gold and copper mines.

Former minister and Senator Azam Khan Swati filed the application through his counsel Tariq Asad.

The government of Japan has decided to extend financial support of $96,660 (approximately Rs 8.3 million) to NGO RORWALI for the construction of Concrete Irrigation Channel in Village Thakhtabad, Peshawar, said a press release issued here on Monday.

The agreement for the project was signed between Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan Hiroshi OE and RORWALI Chairman, Shabbir Ahmad Khan here at the ambassador's residence.

The project is expected to benefit about 1,300 households (approximately 13,000 individuals).

UN chief Ban Ki-moon has appealed to eight countries, including India, to ratify the CTBT to bring the global nuclear test ban into force.

The UN Secretary-General made the appeal after Indonesia became the 157th country to adopt the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

Besides India, China, North Korea, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Pakistan and the US are the other nations in a core group of 44 nuclear countries which did not ratify the treaty.

The 44 nations, which must ratify the CTBT to bring it into force, all have nuclear weapons or atomic programmes.

The overall environmental performance is improving in Sri Lanka and it has been ranked as a moderate performer, according to the 2012 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) released during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last week.

Bandipora—In occupied Kashmir, the level of water contamination in various blocks of Bandipora district has increased three-fold making it unfit for human consumption.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Minister of Higher Education Qazi Muhammad Asad distributed cheques worth Rs 100,00 to the families of the men who were killed a fortnight ago in a phosphate mine collapse in the village of Tarnawi.

King Abdullah's Relief Campaign for Pakistani People will provide funds amounting to US $120,000 to Helping Hand for Relief and Development (HHRD) with the purpose to install water pumps and filtration plants in the flood-ravaged areas of Punjab and Sindh.

In this connection, KARCPP signed a Memorandum of Understanding with HHRD, here on Friday, under which the latter would install water pumps and filtration plants in the flood-affected areas, especially hospitals and mosques, aimed at providing safe and clean drinking water to the community.