Muzaffarabad: More than 1,000 people a day are seeking hospital treatment for pneumonia and other cold-related respiratory illnesses since the harsh Himalayan winter descended on Pakistani Kashmir’s quake zone last weekend.

There are still 3.5 million people without shelter. The earthquake death toll stands at 73,000 in Pakistan and 1,300 in India. (AFP)

Toxic slick moves

Yilan: A second town on the Songhua River in China, which has been poisoned by a slick of benzene from an explosion at a chemical plant, has shut down its water system. Twenty-six thousand people in Yilan are expected to be without running water for three days. (AP)

Mercy denied

Faisalabad: Armed police are guarding the prison where six men in one Pakistani family, from grandfather to grandson, were hanged together at dawn. They were condemned for killing three people in 1989 over a land dispute. President Musharraf rejected their pleas for mercy. (AFP)

Women elected

Jeddah: Two Saudi businesswomen swept to a surprise victory in the first polls in which women could stand in the conservative Muslim kingdom. Lama al-Suleiman and Nashwa Taher won seats on the board of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry. (AFP)

Gem of a cabbie

Los Angeles: A taxi driver who returned diamonds worth $350,000 (£202,000) to a forgetful passenger received a reward of $10,000 and a diamond bracelet. Haider Sediqi, 40, said that he would apply the money to his children’s education. (AP)

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