Dozens of people are feared dead after a major earthquake struck parts of Pakistan, Afghanistan and northern India.

There were brief moments of joy amid the horror of the earthquake shattered Iranian town of Bam today when a young girl and a baby were rescued alive from under the rubble just as search teams were giving up hope.

A square in the West Bank refugee camp of Jenin has been named after an Iraqi suicide bomber who killed four US troops over the weekend, officials said today.

A United Nations report on Israel’s military attack on a Palestinian refugee camp does not back up claims of a massacre, but criticises both sides for putting civilians in harm’s way, Western diplomats say.

A strong earthquake rocked north-western Iran today, killing at least 500 people and injuring about 1,600, Iran’s state-run media reported.

At least 200 people have been killed in an earthquake in western Iran, the official news agency reported today.

International aid agencies are racing against winter weather to get food, blankets and other supplies into Afghanistan.