Hundreds more survivors of Pakistan’s huge earthquake sought treatment today for weather-related ailments following a cold snap, hospital officials said.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan beseeched the world's governments and private donors yesterday to give more generously to help millions of Pakistanis rebuild lives and homes destroyed by last month's earthquake.

Indian investigators have made their first breakthrough in the investigation into the October 29 New Delhi bombings, linking the attacks to Kashmiri rebel groups, intelligence officials said today.

India handed tents for earthquake victims to Pakistan today at a much-heralded opening of their disputed Kashmir border – a mostly symbolic act of cooperation after the region’s huge October 8 quake.

THE World Food Programme yesterday warned it may be forced to scale back vital aid flights for victims of the South Asia quake within days if it does not receive more donations.

At least 49 people were feared dead after a series of explosions shook New Delhi today.

A strong aftershock shook Pakistan’s portion of Kashmir early today, rattling the nerves of people who survived this month’s quake that killed more than 54,000.

PAKISTANI and US military helicopters delivered aid at a brisk pace to the earthquake-stricken region of Kashmir yesterday.

Pakistan’s president said today he would allow Kashmiris to cross the boundary with Indian-held territory to help in quake reconstruction efforts.

AT least 40,000 people in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir died in last week’s earthquake, a Pakistani official said yesterday.

AUTHORITIES yesterday airdropped burial shrouds and food to remote villages hit by the weekend’s devastating earthquake, as the death toll climbed to 804 in Indian Kashmir.

THE shared tragedy confronting India and Pakistan in disputed Kashmir could pay dividends for the fragile peace process, experts said yesterday after a massive earthquake left thousands dead there.

Pakistan today urged India to withdraw troops from its part of divided Kashmir, saying any such move by New Delhi would have a “very positive impact” on the peace process between the two nations.

A Pakistan-based militant group today threatened to disrupt a historic new bus service across the military line that divides Kashmir if it led to more “atrocities” by Indian forces in the disputed Himalayan region.

A formula proposed by Pakistan’s President General Pervez Musharraf for solving the long-running issue of Kashmir has been rejected by opposition groups.

The foreign ministers of India and Pakistan prepared to resume talks today after harsh words over the weekend threatened to complicate the wide-ranging discussions that include their decades-old dispute over Kashmir.

India and Pakistan opened high-level talks today aimed at solving their decades-old dispute over Kashmir with Pakistan denying it arms and trains a separatist insurgency in the region and accusing India of human rights abuses there.

Islamic militants fighting Indian control over Kashmir vowed today they would not halt their insurgency despite an agreement between India and Pakistan to start peace talks that will include their bitter dispute over the divided Himalayan territory.

INDIA unveiled unprecedented proposals to normalise relations with rival Pakistan yesterday, offering to talk with separatist politicians in Kashmir and giving new hope to families divided by five decades of conflict.

PAKISTAN’S Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali yesterday said Islamabad planned to resume road, rail and air links as well as increase sports ties with neighbouring India.

Pakistan today test fired a new surface-to-surface medium range missile, official media announced as tensions between South Asia’s nuclear neighbours ran high.

INDIAN-RULED Kashmir ended the first stage of state assembly elections yesterday against a backdrop of violence and in the shadow of a tense confrontation between nuclear powers India and Pakistan.

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and policemen were on high alert across Kashmir today as voters went to the polls in critical elections, despite threats from Islamic militants.

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf today accused India of holding peace hostage in South Asia through its “belligerence” and proposed immediate steps to prevent another war between the nuclear-armed nations.

India is to hold state elections in September and October in its part of disputed Kashmir.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived in Pakistan today from India for talks with President Pervez Musharraf.

India and Pakistan resumed shelling along their tense border today, killing three people hours after Pakistan said its jets shot down an unmanned Indian spy plane, officials said.

Pakistan conducted its second missile test in two days today, as the international community struggled to pull India and Pakistan, two nuclear neighbours, back from the brink of war.

India’s prime minister was planning to visit soldiers along its tense frontier with Pakistan today, where heavy cross-border shelling has killed dozens and reignited fears of war between the nuclear-armed rivals.

Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf called India’s prime minister today to ask him to resume the stalled peace talks over the disputed Kashmir region.

Kashmir reacted with gloom, anger and despair today at the failure of the India-Pakistan summit, which had raised hopes of modest progress toward resolution of the five decade dispute over the Himalayan territory.