JEDDAH (September 03, 2010): The Organisation of the Islamic Conference on Thursday appealed to Muslims everywhere to direct their zakat tithes to relief for flood-wracked Pakistan. The Jeddah-based pan-Islamic organisation, together with the OIC-sponsored International Islamic Fiqh Academy, said in a statement that Muslims everywhere "should not restrain from helping their Pakistani brothers ... and should not leave them alone to their fate."

ISLAMABAD (September 03, 2010): Dismal conditions in flood-hit areas in Balochistan could force thousands of Pakistanis and Afghan refugees to cross the border into Iran, the UN refugee agency warned on Thursday. Balochistan province was the first to be hit by the country's worst floods, initially displaced some 200,000 people. But the region has been largely ignored after more menacing waters raged in other parts of Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD (September 03, 2010): The US is providing nearly $2 million to a local partner to address the emergency needs of flood-displaced residents in Ghotki, Khairpur, and Thatta districts in Sindh. The money will be used to help approximately 49,000 families in these flood-affected districts through the distribution of emergency shelter kits, household items, and family hygiene kits, said a statement issued by the US Embassy.

LAHORE (September 03, 2010): A sum of 150 million Euros have so far been donated by the Pakistani community, Belgian Government, EU, Belgian public and various NGOs from Belgium for flood affected people of Pakistan, Saba Mohsin Raza Press Counsellor, Embassy of Pakistan, Brussels (Belgium} told Business Recorder in an E-mail message here on Thursday.

ISLAMABAD (September 03, 2010): The Government of Japan has decided to dispatch a 23-member medical team to Pakistan including doctors and nurses to provide medical assistance to the people affected by the recent heavy floods in the country. The Japanese medical team will be arriving in Pakistan on Friday (today) and would start working in collaboration with a local health center in the affected area of Southern Punjab.

PIR SABAK (September 03, 2010): The wife of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on Thursday assured the flood affected people of Pakistan all support of her countrymen in helping rebuild their homes and livelihoods. Emine Erdogan, who along with Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and First Lady Fauzia Gilani, visited a relief camp here at the Pir Sabak village near Nowshera, said the people of Turkey can feel the pain and losses of their Pakistani brethren.

QUETTA (September 03, 2010): The Karachi based US Consul General William J Martin called on Chief Minister Balochistan Nawab Mohammad Aslam Raisani at CM Secretariat here on Thursday. He while expressing grief over the enormity of loss of life and property caused by the recent floods said that the US government is committed to help the flood hit people and will not leave unattended.

ISLAMABAD (September 03, 2010): Former AJK Prime Minister Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry has urged the Government of Pakistan not to accept Indian aid of $5 million, saying that on the one hand India is busy in deluging Pakistan while on the other it is extending helping hands to alleviate sufferings of the flood affected people.

ISLAMABAD (September 03, 2010): At the 5th round of the Chaopraya Dialogue - Track II talks at Bangkok held between leading opinion makers from India and Pakistan from 28-30 August 2010, the Indian delegation offered both their solidarity and support to their Pakistani counterparts.

BEIJING (September 03, 2010): China on Thursday dismissed reports saying troops of the People's Liberation Army are in Gilgit-Baltistan. The International Herald Tribune, the global edition of The New York Times, ran an opinion piece last week that said up to 11,000 soldiers of the People's Liberation Army were in Gilgit.