January 7, 2006	Saturday	Zilhaj 6, 1426

LUCKNOW, Jan 6: A cold snap sweeping northern India has claimed nine more lives, taking the death toll to at least 111 since the start of December, an official said on Friday.

All the new deaths were reported from Uttar Pradesh state, India’s most populous and one of its poorest states. One-fifth of its population are homeless.

Five deaths occurred overnight while four other people died earlier this week, Manoj Srivastava, a government spokesman, said in the state capital Lucknow.

Last year, some 420 people died from cold in Uttar Pradesh alone. —AFP