The earthquake also damaged part of a school in Rawalpindi, a city near Islamabad, injuring two girls. In Islamabad, buildings shook and walls swayed for about a minute at 8.50am local time (4.50am BST). US military spokesman Lt Col Jerry O'Hara said the quake was felt at Bagram, the main American base in Afghanistan, but he had no reports of damage at bases around the country. UK emergency workers are on standby to fly to the south Asian sub-continent after a huge earthquake rocked the region today. A spokesman for the UK Department for International Development (DFID) said: "At this stage, we are still gathering information "UK search and rescue teams have been put on standby. The tremors affected northern India, and were felt in Bangladesh Police in Lahore said at least eight people were injured and four shops were damaged.

Extensive damage was reported in the Himalayan territory of Kashmir, divided between rival neighbours India and Pakistan. Residents in Kabul, the capital of neighbouring Afghanistan, felt the quake, fleeing their homes for fear they would collapse. He said: "The damage and casualties could be massive and it is a national tragedy. At least 1,000 people are feared dead after a major earthquake today hit Pakistan, Afghanistan and India. Media and military sources there reported the expected toll . Several villages in northern Pakistan were buried in landslides, said Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan, the Pakistani army's chief spokesman. The quake had a magnitude of 7.6 on the Richater scale and its epicentre was 50 miles north-northeast of Pakistan's capital, Islamabad.

The document was apparently discovered by US forces in Iraq.. Al-Qa'ida's second-in-command has urged Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the terrorist group's top operative in Iraq, to reduce attacks on Iraqi civilians and focus on killing Americans, US officials say. The instructions were conveyed to Zarqawi in a 6,000-word letter from Ayman al-Zawahari, Osama bin Laden's deputy, dated in early July. Sources inthe rebel Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's office in the southern Iraqi city said those detained were mostly supporters of Mr Sadr.. Some of the detainees are also linked to militia groups, a British commander in the area said.

"The problem is, the administration's not going to change their budget, or change government policy," said Mark Bernstein, a senior energy analyst with the Rand Corporation "Their solution is to drive less That's fine, but people are going to do that anyway They don't need to be told that. The higher prices are hurting quite badly enough by themselves."It's hard to overstate the damage done by the recent hurricanes The Gulf refines half of America's oil and gas. Some 90 per cent of the oil and 70 per cent of the gas from the region was knocked out of production, and could easily take six months to come back.At a time of record oil prices worldwide, that means the current spike in petrol prices is unlikely to recede. Higher fuel costs could, in turn, have a chilling effect on the entire economy. And conservation, under those circumstances, could become self-defeating.If a cash-strapped school district, daunted by higher energy costs, has to choose between paying its teachers or running its school buses, it may well cut the bus routes.

If four years ago we had pursued some of these energy efficiency options to hedge against these types of risks, we would not be feeling as much of a pinch." America, in other words, is not getting significantly greener - just greener around the gills.. "None of the long-term solutions are going to make a difference to this crisis. That, though, will lead to a net increase in consumption because parents will end up their children to school in their individual vehicles.The same is true of cities facing higher fuel bills for its fleets of police, fire and municipal vehicles. They might well be tempted to cut public transport routes, thus putting more cars on the roads."This could easily drive us into recession," Mr Bernstein forecast.