Pak designer’s fashion show proceeds to be used for NWFP displaced welfare

August 23rd, 2009 SYDNEY - Leading designer clothes which are sold in stores for up to 600 dollars a piece are being made for as little as 35 dollars by an underpaid army of migrant workers in western Sydney garages and apartments. An investigation into Sydney's sweatshops by The Sunday Telegraph has found leading fashion designers, including Nicola Finetti, Natasha Gan and Ginger and Smart, are paying Vietnamese and Chinese families between 10 and 35 dollars to produce clothes later sold in stores for at least 10 times the price.

August 21st, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Germany has given Rs.1.17 billion (about $14 million) in aid to Pakistan to help the displaced people in the country's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), the Online news agency reported Friday. The funds will be used to purchase food for the displaced people as part of the UN World Food Programme (WFP).

July 14th, 2009 PESHAWAR - Amidst fear and confusion, the repatriation of internally displaced persons (IDPs) belonging to Swat and other parts of Malakand division started from Jalozai Camp, Nowshera, and two other camps in Charsadda. However, according to other reports, the volume of the return was very low mainly due to security restrictions.

June 18th, 2009 New York, June 18 (ANI): Visitors will soon be able to take a closer look at Michelle Obama's inauguration dress, as it is set to be featured in a Manhattan museum exhibit. The Museum of FIT will display the wool-lined, yellow ensemble and other designs by Isabel Toledo in the exhibit, which ends September 26.

June 18th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - At least 34 Taliban militants were killed and seven others captured in an operation carried out by the Pakistani Army in North West Frontier Province (NWFP), the army said in a statement Thursday. The army said five soldiers were also injured in the operation in Malakand Division of the NWFP in the past 24 hours to Thursday evening.

June 16th, 2009 New York, June 16 (ANI): Michelle Obama received a special tribute for her stylistic contribution to the industry at 'Oscars of fashion world'. The Council of Fashion Designers of America honoured the First Lady with a Board of Directors Special Tribute at the Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall.

June 9th, 2009 UNITED NATIONS - The UN has opened three new camps to house the displaced Pakistanis fleeing the war in North West Frontier Province (NWFP), officials said. The displaced Pakistanis continue to pour into the camps as their homes were ravaged in the conflict between the security forces and the Taliban, the UN office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Monday.

June 5th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The US has accused private Pakistani channel Geo TV of bias in reporting America's efforts to ameliorate the sufferings of the millions of civilians who have been displaced by the military's anti-Taliban operations in the country's northwest. In an interview with a Geo TV correspondent after visiting a refugee camp near Mardan in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), US special envoy Richard Holbrooke advised the channel to tell the truth to Pakistanis about the huge financial assistance Washington was providing for the displaced persons.

June 4th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistani forces have consolidated their hold in Swat in the country's restive northwest, the military said Thursday as its anti-Taliban operations entered their 41st day. "Security forces, after successfully securing Charbagh have been able to establish link up with forces coming from Gulibagh at Dakorak," an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement said.

June 3rd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - America's top trouble shooter for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke arrived here Wednesday on a three-day visit to study the military's anti-Taliban operations in the country's restive northwest and to assess the needs of the millions of people who have been displaced by the fighting. Soon after his arrival here, Holbrooke went into a meeting with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.

June 3rd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Taliban militants may have escaped from conflict zones in the Malakand Division in the guise of refugees. As there is no proper system for registering displaced people, the NWFP government has no idea about how many militants could have moved out.

June 3rd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The lack of valid data on the number of people displaced by the military's anti-Taliban operations in the country's troubled northwest has confirmed fears that many militants could have fled the area by intermingling with the refugees. At least three sets of figures exist.

June 3rd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - America's top trouble-shooter for Afghanistan and Pakistan said Wednesday the White House has sought an additional $200 million over the $110 million already committed to assist the millions of civilians displaced by the Pakistani military's anti-Taliban offensive in the country's troubled northwest. "Today, the (US) president has asked me to inform you and your government that he has requested the Congress of the United States to allocate an additional 200 million dollars," Richard Holbrooke, the special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said at a joint press conference here after talks with President Asif Ali Zardari.

May 26th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Millions of refugees who have fled Pakistan's restive northwest following the military's anti-Taliban operations can settle anywhere in the country, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilnai declared here Tuesday. They are Pakistanis.

May 20th, 2009 NEW YORK - Michelle Obama continued to win admirers after stunning the New York crowd in her purple cocktail dress during a public show of support for the arts in the city. The US First Lady braved the chilly weather in a purple wool and silk sheath, paired with a jacket from Isaac Mizrahi, during her arrival at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to cut a ribbon for the opening of a new wing.