On April 7th, the Pakistani army endured the worst tragedy in its history when an avalanche fell on the Gayari military base in Kashmir, trapping 140 soldiers. Rescue operations are still underway. Since the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars over Kashmir. Despite a 2003 ceasefire, both countries still have bases in the Himalayas. Here, in the highest battlefield in the world, weather is a greater killer than weapons, as Noémie Lehouelleur reports.
Two years after the earthquake that devastated Haiti, the country is struggling to get back on its feet. Haiti's Prime Minister promised 2012 would be a year of reconstruction and economic recovery, but progress has been frustratingly slow. Big challenges lie ahead for recently elected President Michel Martelly: around half a million Haitians still live in makeshift tents.
Rescue teams continued the search Friday for an estimated 150 missing people after a pre-dawn landslide on Thursday buried a remote community on Mindanao island in the southern Philippines, killing at least 25 people.
A wildfire that has been blazing through the pristine Torres del Paine national park in Chile since Thursday has forced authorities to shut down the park throughout January, at the peak of the hiking season. Over 100,000 people visit it every year.
The death toll from Thailand's five months of flooding surpassed 500 on Sunday, the government said. At least 20 per cent of Bangkok is submerged in floodwater despite efforts to push the floods through waterways away from the capital.
Flood waters encroached on Bangkok's business and tourist districts Friday, threatening the capital city's underground train system. Floods have killed 442 people, damaged homes and affected the livelihoods of millions in Thailand since late July.
Angry residents in flooded parts of Bangkok scuffled with Thai security forces on Monday to force open the Klong Sam Wa floodgate that left much of the city swamped while keeping its commercial centre dry.
Thai officials expressed hope on Sunday that central Bangkok would escape the floods that have devastated a third of the country's provinces, but residents along canals in the northern part of the capital were warned to be ready to evacuate.
The centre of Bangkok remained largely dry on Saturday as barriers and dykes protected Thailand's capital from a peak in coastal tides coinciding with the worst floods to hit the country in nearly 60 years.
Thai officials rushed Friday to repair the Khlong Ban Phrao barrier separating the capital city of Bangkok from floodwaters that have covered vast swathes of the country and killed at least 283 people since late July.
