DHAKA, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) - The death toll from a cyclone that tore through impoverished Bangladesh killing hundreds of people was expected to rise Saturday as relief workers reached some of the worst-hit districts.

COLOMBO, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) - Home to some 1.5 billion people, South Asia is paying a high price to access the Internet as service providers have been slow to deliver cheaper broadband connections, analysts say.

The region has embraced telephones, mobile phones and computers and India has a flourishing software and outsourcing industry, noted industry watchers at the first South Asia Broadband Congress here earlier this month.

But South Asia has lagged behind in hopping onto the broadband bandwagon, observed Sanjay Gupta of India's Midas Communication Technology.

GUWAHATI, India, Sept 16, 2007 (AFP) - Severe flooding in India and Bangladesh claimed 29 more lives overnight as officials warned Sunday there was more rain ahead in a deluge that has marooned or displaced millions.

More than 3,200 people have now been killed in the two countries in what officials are calling the worst monsoon season in decades, which has also ruined hundreds of millions of dollars in crops.

GUWAHATI, India, Sept 15, 2007 (AFP) - Nearly 13.5 million people have been marooned or displaced by floods in India and Bangladesh, officials said on Saturday.

The flooding in South Asia caused by the June-to-September monsoon has been described as the worst in decades, with more than 2,200 people killed by floods and rains in India since it started.

In neighbouring Bangladesh, the number of people killed by flooding topped 1,000 on Saturday, the government said.

GUWAHATI, India, Sept 10, 2007 (AFP) - More than one million people have been evacuated or stranded as rivers in northeastern India and Bangladesh rose to alarming levels and submerged vast swathes of countryside, officials said Monday.

In India's Assam state, the army helped shift an estimated 800,000 people as the Brahmaputra river and its tributaries -- swollen by monsoon rains -- breached their embankments late Sunday.

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan, Sept 1, 2007 (AFP) - Sajila Begum, a 50-year-old survivor of the devastating earthquake that hit Pakistani Kashmir in 2005 killing 74,000 people, says the word 'impossible' is not in her vocabulary.

Since losing her son in the quake that reduced most of her hometown to rubble, Begum has dedicated her life to bringing education to as many of the children in her impoverished neighbourhood as possible.

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan, Aug 29, 2007 (AFP) - From a city of the dead, the quake-battered capital of Pakistani Kashmir has become a city of lights with traditional food served in a stunning riverside setting at its centre.

Beneath a historic bridge that has survived centuries of calamity, locals and expatriate aid workers gather nightly at the region's only riverside food street, now a symbol of hope as Muzaffarabad slowly recovers from the 2005 earthquake that killed 74,000 people.

NEW DELHI, Aug 28, 2007 (AFP) - Three people drowned Tuesday and another 15 were feared dead after a boat capsized in a flood-swollen river in India's eastern Bihar state, an official said.

The accident took place in the Khagaria district as a group of 18 villagers attempted to flee houses submerged after a tributary of the Kosi River breached its banks, Mayank Barware, local administrator of the district, told AFP.

'We have so far recovered three bodies,' Barware said by phone.

NEW DELHI, Aug 27, 2007 (AFP) - The death toll from floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains and snow melt in South Asia since June approached 3,200 Monday as some rivers in India continued to overflow, the government said.

In the massive flood plain of the eastern Indian state of Bihar -- one of the worst-hit areas -- the death toll reached nearly 500 with 20 million people affected, the government's disaster management office said on its website.

DHAKA, Aug 20, 2007 (AFP) - Bangladesh said on Monday it had sought 150 million dollars in assistance from donor agencies following the worst floods in nearly a decade, as the toll from this year's monsoon's season crossed 700.

The government requested the money from donors including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), finance ministry official Aminul Islam Bhuiyan said.

NEW DELHI, Aug 19, 2007 (AFP) - The death toll from floods triggered by heavy rains and snow melt in South Asia topped 2,700 Sunday as some rivers in India continued to overflow, delaying relief efforts, officials said.

In the eastern Indian state of Bihar -- one of the worst hit -- the Ganges and other rivers surged above the danger mark, a government statement said, adding that efforts to distribute food and drinking water had been affected.

NEW DELHI, Aug 18, 2007 (AFP) - Food shortages loom in South Asian nations hit by torrential rains, floods and landslides affecting more than 28 million people, the United Nations said on Saturday.

The food situation gives 'serious cause for concern' due to loss of animals and unfavourable crop prospects following damage to recently planted crops, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on its website.

NEW DELHI, Aug 16, 2007 (AFP) - The death toll from the worst floods in decades across South Asia rose above 2,600 Thursday, as officials were still trying to find dozens missing and feared drowned in India.

Heavy monsoon rains and snow melt since late July have caused the flooding in Nepal, India and Bangladesh, with losses estimated at nearly one billion dollars and major outbreaks of water-borne disease.

The death toll in India neared 1,900 while in Nepal, officials put the new death toll at 117. In Bangladesh, 642 people have died.

THE HAGUE, Aug 15, 2007 (AFP) - The Netherlands pledged 500,000 euros (674,000 dollars) Wednesday to help Nepal cope with the effects of the worst floods in decades in South Asia.

'The aid will be distributed through the World Food Program and is meant to relieve the serious food shortages in Nepal,' Development Aid Minister Bert Koenders said.

Some 300,000 people were affected by the flooding in Nepal and the death toll stands at around 100, the ministry said.

DHAKA, Aug 15, 2007 (AFP) - The monsoon death toll in Bangladesh crossed 600 Wednesday as thousands more were taken ill with water-borne diseases in flood-hit districts, officials said.

At least 5,000 people were admitted to hospitals with diarrhoea in the last 24 hours, bringing the number of patients to about 60,000 in August, health official Aisha Akhter said.

The death toll rose by 38 overnight, said Akhter, raising the tally for this year's monsoon season to 607.

NEW DELHI, Aug 14, 2007 (AFP) - The cost of South Asia's worst flooding in decades has reached nearly one billion dollars, officials said Tuesday, as Bangladesh struggled to cope with a major outbreak of water-borne disease.

Losses in India's worst-hit northeast amounted to 875 million dollars so far, including damage to crops and property, India's home ministry said, while Bangladesh said it had counted crop damage of at least 86 million dollars.

DHAKA, Aug 14, 2007 (AFP) - Bangladesh was struggling to cope Tuesday with a major outbreak of disease as officials said some 100,000 people had been admitted to hospital in August after the worst South Asian flooding in decades.

The victims were suffering from diarrhoea and other water-borne diseases, the health department said, with clean water in short supply.

At least 100,000 people had been admitted to hospital, stretching the impoverished country's medical facilities, the department added, but stopped short of calling the situation an epidemic.

SAMASTIPUR, India, Aug 14, 2007 (AFP) - Dukhia Manjhi returned to his shelter in despair after a first visit to his village since it was swamped by the area's worst floods in decades revealed how little the waters had left.

'Nothing -- there's nothing to go back to,' said Manhji, housed in one of thousands of plastic-covered huts in Bihar state, where the floods affected some 15 million people according to official figures.

'The floods have washed away the fertile soil and there's nothing to rebuild our home.'

NEW DELHI, Aug 13, 2007 (AFP) - Villagers returned home to ruins as flood waters continued to recede on Monday but the toll from the annual monsoon flooding across South Asia rose to 2,300, officials said.

Tens of thousands are still housed in shelters while millions more are dependent on food and medical aid but displaced people began heading home in India and Bangladesh, at least to check out what remains of their homes.

NEW DELHI, Aug 12, 2007 (AFP) - The death toll from South Asia's worst floods in 30 years topped 2,200 on Sunday as torrential monsoon rains resumed in several parts of the subcontinent, officials said.

The floods have affected 30 million people in India, Bangladesh and Nepal since the start of the annual monsoon season in June, and many are still dependent on food and drinking water provided by relief workers.

NEW DELHI, Aug 12, 2007 (AFP) - The millions of people hit by some of the worst flooding in South Asia for decades continued to depend on aid supplies of food and clean water on Sunday as the inundation slowly receded.

The heavy rains and flooding have affected nearly 30 million people and killed around 2,200 across India, Bangladesh and Nepal since the start of the monsoon in June.

'The toll is 1,668,' in India said S.S. Singh, from the national disaster management division in the country's home ministry.

SIRAJGANJ, Bangladesh, Aug 12, 2007 (AFP) - On the veranda of a court building that has been her home for two weeks, Bangladeshi flood victim Lily lays out a few meagre ingredients for her first meal in 24 hours.

Since the floods struck, submerging 40 percent of the country and wiping out her family's source of income, Lily has had little to eat and does not know when she will be able to go back to her village, where the water is waist-deep.

DHAKA, Aug 11, 2007 (AFP) - Muddy waters receded in Bangladesh and other parts of South Asia on Saturday but disease and hunger stalked millions of people hit by the worst monsoon flooding in decades.

The inundation has been linked to at least 2,200 deaths in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan, the United Nations said in a statement, as illness loomed over a vast number of people.

Diseases such as diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera and typhoid threatened the millions affected by the deluge who still lack safe drinking water, medicine and hygienic food.

MADHUBANI, India, Aug 11, 2007 (AFP) - Senior bureaucrat Nibha Thakur ran short of cash as she shopped for vegetables in India's eastern Bihar state, where severe floods have pushed basic food prices beyond the reach of millions.

'Survival is now a major issue,' said Thakur, lugging a bagful of potatoes she had just purchased at four times their cost last month.

'We may just have to do with boiled rice in the coming days as everything else is getting out of the reach of even the middle class,' said the civil servant in hard-hit Madhubani district.

DHAKA, Aug 10, 2007 (AFP) - Medics in Bangladesh battled outbreaks of diarrhoea and cholera Friday as international aid began to flow in South Asia to help millions lacking water and food after the worst floods in decades.

The death toll was well above 2,000 on Friday with 16 more deaths reported in Bangladesh, 19 in India's Bihar state and three more in Nepal.

DHAKA, Aug 10, 2007 (AFP) - Health workers in Bangladesh battled diarrhoea and cholera Friday as international aid began to flow in South Asia to help millions lacking water and food after the worst monsoon floods in decades.

The death toll was well above 2,000 on Friday with 16 more deaths reported in Bangladesh and 19 in India's Bihar state overnight.

Rains have halted across much of the massive Himalayan flood plain from southern Nepal to the eastern delta nation of Bangladesh, with the focus now on combating a host of water-borne diseases, health officials said.

DHAKA, Aug 10, 2007 (AFP) - Walking through what looks like a battlefield hospital, doctor Alejandro Cravioto points at hundreds of extra beds set up in tents for Bangladeshi flood victims suffering from water-borne diseases.

'It's like a war-zone situation,' he says, as medical staff patrol the tents with megaphones, urging patients to take their medication and stay hydrated.

RIYADH, Aug 9, 2007 (AFP) - Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah on Thursday ordered the emergency supplies to be rushed to flood-hit Bangladesh, the official SPA news agency reported.

The aid, which will be flown in Saudi aircraft, will comprise mostly food and medicine, the agency reported.

The monarch also ordered that 50 million dollars (37 million euros) be sent to cover urgent needs in the diaster zone, SPA said.

PATNA, India, Aug 9, 2007 (AFP) - The death toll from the worst monsoon floods to hit South Asia in decades passed 2,000 Thursday even as torrents of muddy water receded from millions of acres of farmland and rains shifted west.

Thousands of villages remained under water and threatened by disease, while millions were still displaced, mainly in India and Bangladesh, where the severe floods also destroyed valuable crops.

BARABIH, India, Aug 9, 2007 (AFP) - Thousands of villages in India's Bihar state have been flooded for the last two weeks, but one hamlet has been under at least a foot of water for the last 12 years.

Since 1995, Barabih residents have either got used to living with floods, or left.

In fact about 75 percent of the population has fled, leaving behind 1,400 hardy souls.

BRUSSELS, Aug 9, 2007 (AFP) - European Commission officials on Thursday promised assistance to the victims of the worst flooding in South Asia in decades, expressing concern that the crisis could yet worsen.

'I deeply regret the loss of so many lives and the misery caused by these floods to so many people all over South Asia,' said Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU's External Relations Commissioner.

She expressed her sympathy to the families of victims and assured them that 'we will stand by your side and assist you in getting through this very difficult time.'

NEW DELHI, Aug 9, 2007 (AFP) - The death toll from the worst monsoon floods to hit South Asia in decades passed 2,000 on Thursday even as the torrents of muddy water recede from millions of acres of farmland.

Despite several dry days and falling water levels, the number of dead since the monsoon started in early June continues to climb.

Thousands of villages remain under water and millions of people have been displaced by the floodwaters, mainly in India and Bangladesh, which have also destroyed valuable crops.

NEW DELHI, Aug 9, 2007 (AFP) - The number of deaths triggered by monsoon flooding in India, Bangladesh and Nepal since June crossed 2,000 on Thursday even as the torrents receded, officials said.

India's home ministry disaster management division reported 1,521 deaths up to Wednesday afternoon alone.

'The latest death toll is 1,521,' said a home ministry spokesman in New Delhi.

In India's worst-hit state Bihar where 1.1 million hectares (2.7 million acres) of farmland has been inundated, 'the situation is gradually improving,' he added.

NEW DELHI, Aug 9, 2007 (AFP) - Floods that inundated millions of acres of farmland in South Asia have threatened an entire season's crop in some areas, raising fears of food shortages in a costly hit to farm-dependent economies, analysts say.

The floods in India, Bangladesh and Nepal have killed nearly 1,900 people since June and displaced at least 28 million, with the past two weeks causing the worst damage.

GENEVA, Aug 8, 2007 (AFP) - The Red Cross appealed on Wednesday for nearly two million dollars to help more than 20,000 families in Nepal affected by severe flooding after torrential monsoon rains pounded South Asia.

The appeal for $1.9 million dollars (1.4 million euros) followed similar calls for emergency funding for flood victims in Bangladesh and Pakistan by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

DHAKA, Aug 8, 2007 (AFP) - Bangladesh was struggling to contain outbreaks of water-borne disease as waters receded following major flooding and monsoon rains, which together have killed 328 people, officials said Wednesday.

At least 18,300 people suffering from diarrhoea have been admitted to hospitals across the country in the past eight days because of a lack of clean drinking water, health spokesman Aisha Akhter said.

LONDON, Aug 7, 2007 (AFP) - International aid charity Oxfam launched a one-million-pound (two-million-dollar) appeal Wednesday to help nearly 200,000 flood victims in India, Bangladesh and Nepal.

Nearly 1,900 people have died in severe flooding across South Asia, and millions of people still face hunger even though water levels in the region's swollen rivers have started to recede.

'Across the region people are struggling to cope with what is for many the worst flooding in living memory,' said Ashvin Dayal, head of Oxfam in South Asia.

DARBHANGA, India, Aug 8, 2007 (AFP) - Sribhagwan Manjhi has taken to counting the dead bodies that float down the river since raging waters swollen by the monsoon swallowed his bamboo home in India's Bihar state.

This week, he said he had counted 10 corpses.

'Often I miss some,' Manjhi admitted from his observation point in Begusarai district, one of the 19 of impoverished Bihar's 38 districts submerged by the worst flooding in 30 years.