Unusually early snow storms in north-central China have claimed 40 lives, caused thousands of buildings to collapse and destroyed almost 500,000 acres of winter crops, the Civil Affairs Ministry said.

RESCUERS in Taiwan have found nearly 1,000 people alive in the area around three remote villages devastated by Typhoon Morakot, which pummelled the island over the weekend, the country’s military said.

A TYPHOON-spawned mudslide engulfed a mountain village in southern Taiwan, burying up to 600 people, a police official and a rescued villager said.

A TYPHOON pummelled China’s eastern coast yesterday, toppling houses, flooding villages and forcing nearly a million people to flee to safety.

A typhoon slammed into China’s eastern coast today, forcing the evacuation of nearly a million people.

Chinese state media says there is a 41% chance of rain during the opening ceremony at next month’s Olympic Games in Beijing.

Chinese soldiers using massive earth-moving equipment prepared to blast away part of a landslide today to ease the flooding threat from a river blocked up by the huge earthquake.

People trying to travel home for the Chinese new year after the worst winter storms in half a century crippled the country’s transport system were given hope today.

China put nearly half a million soldiers to work clearing roads today as the country struggled to cope with winter storms that have brought it to a virtual standstill.

Typhoon Krosa roared ashore today on China’s south-east coast after more than one million people were evacuated, the government announced.

Heavy rain lashing parts of China is hampering efforts to rescue 69 miners trapped in a flooded colliery, state media reported today.

Lightning strikes and mud flows sparked by record-breaking torrential rains killed at least 15 people in western China, state media reported today.

China is concerned about global warming but lacks the money and technology to significantly reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions that are worsening the problem, a top government scientist said today.

The death toll from Tropical Storm Prapiroon rose to six in south China today as the storm weakened further into a tropical depression but continued to drench an area where 400,000 people had been evacuated.

Tropical Storm Prapiroon left five people dead in south China, official media reported today, as high winds and heavy rain lashed an area where 400,000 people had earlier been evacuated.

Powerful storm Chanchu killed two children in southern China today to bring its death toll in Asia to 39, while flooding scores of homes in an area where more than 600,000 people were evacuated.