Heavy flooding and landslides have killed 94 people and left thousands of families homeless in northern Afghanistan since May 20, the United Nations said on Monday.

Some 8,000 houses in 207 villages have been totally or partially destroyed after heavy rain across five provinces, affecting 13,689 families, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement.

Mumbai: The widening of National Highway Number 7 (NH-7) - connecting New Delhi to Kanyakumari - has ground to a halt outside the Pench Tiger Reserve amid fears that any widening here will destroy the ecologically rich but fragile forest ecosystem.

The Pench Tiger Reserve, which stretches across Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, is contiguous with the Nagzira Sanctuary, the Navegaon National Park, and the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra, which, combined, create a large green corridor running from southern Madhya Pradesh to eastern Maharashtra.

Komal Amit Gera / Chandigarh May 22, 2009, 1:39 IST

A logging operation planned by Asia's biggest pulp producer in Indonesia's Sumatra island threatens the habitat of rare orangutans, tigers and elephants, a joint report by five conservation groups said on Tuesday.

Pune Mass transportation for the city and environment top the agenda of Mahesh Zagade, who took over as the new commissioner of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Tuesday. Zagade said his priority would be to focus on developing Pune

Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, who was crying foul against the Centre for its partial attitude during the election campaign, revealed that the Centre has sanctioned Rs 854 crores under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).

An employment project involving repair of rural roads has benefited 24,444 poor women in six districts of the country.

The project run by the Local Government Division of the Local Government and Rural Development and Coopera-tives Ministry is financed mainly by the European Commission. UNDP and the government are also providing the funds.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is planning to utilise Rs 1,352 crore capital received as upfront payment from private players while bidding for projects on lucrative stretches of national highways for other road development work.

Surajeet Das Gupta / New Delhi May 4, 2009, 0:24 IST

The government has decided to raise the viability gap funding (VGF) for certain projects under the fifth phase of the National Highway Development Project (NHDP V), owing to poor response to the first few projects put up for bids in December last year.