Flash floods and landslides triggered by monsoon rains have killed at least 50 people in Bangladesh in the past week, officials said on Sunday, with tens of thousands displaced from their homes.

Bangladesh, a low-lying delta nation criss-crossed by rivers, is highly vulnerable to floods and landslides during the monsoon season, but scientists say climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events.

For the last few days, army and border guard personnel have been ferrying food, drinking water and other essential supplies by boat to communities cut off because of heavy flooding in the country’s southeastern districts.

As many as 50 people have died in the worst-affected Chattogram district in the past week, including 29 who were buried by landslides, divisional commissioner Mohammed Ziauddin told AFP by phone.

“Two individuals are still missing,” he said.

Some 35,000 people have been forced to seek shelter in government-run centres, he added.

Among those caught up in the disaster in Chattogram was Mohammed Forkan, whose family could not fulfil his wish to be buried beside his parents because the local cemetery was submerged under chest-deep water.

“We placed my uncle’s body on a bamboo raft and swam alongside it in search of a piece of land that was not underwater,” his nephew Nizamuddin told AFP.

“Finally, we managed to bury him on government land and held a small funeral prayer.”

Authorities have opened some 4,000 shelters for displaced residents as shortages of food and safe drinking water deepened the crisis.

Many people remain in desperate conditions, with their homes and kitchens submerged by floodwaters, residents said.

Last week, heavy rains triggered landslides in Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, killing 15 people.

More than 1.2 million refugees live in congested shelters on hillsides cleared of trees — making the land unstable during monsoon rains.

Sarder Udoy Raihan of the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre said Sunday the situation in southeastern districts was likely to improve soon.

“But the monsoon remains active over the northeastern and northern parts of Bangladesh, and there is a possibility of further inundation,” he told AFP.

President Zardari, PM Shehbaz offer condolences

Iraq’s Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi will visit Washington on Monday to deepen strategic ties with the United States, with oil and gas deals expected to be signed as part of a broader push for economic, trade and investment cooperation.

Iraq has been seeking to balance its ties with neighbouring Iran and the US as military escalation between the two rivals continues.

“The agreements to be signed will include several memorandums of understanding in the oil and gas sector as Iraq prepares to bring in various US companies that will provide momentum to increase oil production capacity,” government spokesperson Haider al-Aboudi said.

Iraq’s state news agency, citing al-Aboudi, said the planned oil and gas agreements would also seek to create alternative export outlets to reduce Iraq’s exposure to disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iraq, like other Gulf oil producers, has suffered a drop in oil revenue due to the effective closure of the vital shipping route during the US-Iran war.

Al-Aboudi said strengthening Iraq’s armed forces would also be among the issues discussed in Washington.

Relations between Iraq and the US have at times been strained over the presence of US troops in Iraq, Baghdad’s ties with Iran, and US pressure on Iraq to curb the influence of armed groups.

However, after being nominated for the premiership in April, Ali al-Zaidi received congratulations from US President Donald Trump, who said he hoped for closer cooperation between Baghdad and Washington.

BERLIN: Ninety-nine people drowned in Germany last month, the most since a record heatwave swept Europe in 2003, according to official figures.

Germany was among the nations hit by a stifling June heatwave in western Europe, which set temperature records in several places across the country as the mercury rose as high as 41.7C.

The country “had not registered this many drownings since the heatwave of June 2003, when 107 people died”, the national lifeguarding federation (DLRG) said Sunday in a statement.

Last month’s heatwave brought wildfires, rail travel chaos and an increased mortality rate in Germany.

The drowning victims were largely young men, the federation said.

Forty of them were less than 30 years old, the largest group among those whose ages are known, and more than 90 percent were males.

“Men are more likely to take excessive risks and underestimate the dangers. They also enter the water more frequently under the influence of alcohol or other drugs,” said DLRG president Ute Vogt.

Most of the drownings happened in lakes and rivers.

Peshawar  –  Adviser to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister on Finance Muzzammil Aslam on Saturday blamed what he described as the Punjab government’s policy failures for the country’s worsening wheat crisis, claiming Pakistan was facing record wheat and flour prices only three months after the harvest.

In a statement, Aslam said the current crisis was the third major disruption to wheat supplies during the four years of the Shehbaz Sharif government. He alleged that public attention was being diverted from the issue by focusing on the petroleum levy.

He said wheat was currently selling for around Rs11,600 per 100kg from Karachi to Peshawar, while retail prices had reached approximately Rs115 per kilogram for wheat and between Rs130 and Rs150 per kilogram for flour. By comparison, he said, flour had been available at Rs65 to Rs70 per kilogram in 2022.

Aslam maintained that despite the sharp increase in market prices, wheat growers were facing severe financial hardship because of rising production costs, particularly electricity, fertiliser and diesel. He also claimed that Pakistan was increasingly being classified among food-insecure countries.

The adviser further alleged that Punjab had imposed an undeclared restriction on the movement of wheat and flour to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He claimed that attempts to transport wheat from Sindh through Balochistan had also encountered obstacles. According to Aslam, Chief Minister Suhail Afridi, the provincial government and the chief secretary had repeatedly raised the issue with both the federal and Punjab governments.

He said the provincial Finance Department had released Rs15.6 billion to the Food Department for wheat procurement. He added that the supply of 150,000 tonnes of wheat from the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (PASSCO) to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would begin shortly, while a further agreement had been finalised for an additional 50,000 tonnes.

Aslam said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa produced only about 25 per cent of its annual wheat requirement, making it heavily dependent on supplies from Punjab. He added that provincial wheat stocks were expected to exceed 350,000 tonnes, fully utilising the storage capacity of government warehouses. According to him, these would be the largest wheat reserves in the province’s history, accumulated without resorting to borrowing.

He also said Chief Secretary Shahab Ali Shah and Secretary Food Shah Mahmood were working to stabilise prices by supplying 70,000 tonnes of wheat to the private sector.

Concluding his statement, Aslam claimed Pakistan had never experienced such a severe wheat crisis within the first three months of the wheat season during its 78-year history.

Mardan  –  The Auditor General of Pakistan’s audit report for the 2022–23 financial year has highlighted alleged irregularities in the appointment, transfer and promotion of officials to Sub-Engineer (BPS-12) posts in the Executive Engineer’s Irrigation Division, Mardan.

According to the audit report, several officials were appointed or promoted to the posts in violation of the applicable Khyber Pakhtunkhwa civil service rules governing departmental promotions.

The report states that appointments to the post of Sub-Engineer should be made only from among officials who have passed the prescribed Grade A and Grade B departmental examinations, completed at least seven years of service and qualified on the basis of seniority. The audit found that these conditions were allegedly not met in several cases.

Among the cases highlighted, the report states that Yasir Fawad was transferred from the post of Gauge Reader (BPS-5) and appointed as a Sub-Engineer despite allegedly not having passed the required departmental examinations or completed the mandatory period of service. The audit also questioned the legality of his initial appointment as an Operator/Gauge Reader.

The report further states that Mazhar Ali was first transferred from the post of Tracer (BPS-5) to Gauge Reader before being promoted to Sub-Engineer. According to the audit, both his initial adjustment and subsequent promotion did not comply with the relevant rules, while the proceedings of the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) relating to his promotion were not produced during the audit.

Similarly, the report says Nadeem Khan was promoted from Operator Motor Grader to Gauge Reader and later to Sub-Engineer, although the relevant service rules did not provide for such adjustments. In another case, Shah Fahd was promoted from Work Secretary (BPS-7) to Sub-Engineer against the quota reserved for the family of a deceased employee. The audit states that he had neither passed the required departmental examinations nor were the proceedings of the Departmental Promotion Committee made available for scrutiny.

The audit also observed that the educational credentials of the officials concerned had not been verified by the relevant examination boards and universities by the close of the audit. It attributed the irregularities to alleged violations of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Public Service Appointment Rules.

The report states that audit authorities sought an explanation from the department in December 2023. In response, the administration said a detailed reply would be submitted later and that the officials’ academic credentials would be verified.

Subsequently, the department maintained that all appointments and promotions had been made in accordance with the applicable rules. However, the audit authorities said they were not satisfied with the explanation.

The audit has recommended that officials found to have been appointed or promoted in violation of the rules be reverted to their substantive posts, and that a high-level inquiry be conducted to determine responsibility. It also called for legal action against those found responsible, in accordance with the law.