ENGLAND - Inadequate response to Pakistan flood crisis

LONDON (AP):

Crops destroyed, millions homeless, children hungry. The scenes from flood-hit Pakistan are wrenching, but the global response has been criticised as sluggish.

The United Nations says it has yet to raise half its $460 million target. The World Health Organisation has received commitments for just 25 per cent of the $56 million it has asked for. One aid group has called donations from European countries "feeble". Relief agencies say they are puzzled by the lack of generosity, while analysts cite a mix of factors: the disaster's low death toll, its timing during the northern hemisphere's summer holidays and fears that aid money will be squandered through corruption or make its way into the hands of the Taliban.