City of death..

“We cannot stay. This has become a city of death,” Mubarak Hussein said as he cradled his injured daughter. “Everything is destroyed. There is no one to help us. It is chaos, hell on earth.”  Catherine Philp reports in this morning's Times from the epicentre of the earthquake that has devastated large parts of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. We will be keeping a close eye on developments.

As fears grow of an avian flu epidemic that could kill up to 600,000 people in Britain alone, the Department of Health is accused of dragging its feet on funding research into a possible vaccine.

And good news for impatient wine-drinkers, if not cellarmen. A Japanese boffin has invented a premature ageing device that means you won't have to wait to taste the great clarets at their peak.

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