Military helicopters ferried stricken villagers to safety today from remote Taiwanese communities hit by a typhoon that has left at least 70 dead.

Snow and ice has caused chaos in China, disrupting the nation's busiest holiday travel season.

Blizzards stranded more than half a million train passengers in a Chinese town today.

Typhoon Damrey slammed ashore in Vietnam today, knocking down trees and power lines after leaving nine people dead on China’s southern Hainan island, officials said.

The Chinese government dispatched cold-weather tents, earthquake teams and cash today to a remote area of the country’s north-west where powerful twin tremors, minutes apart, killed nine people and razed houses.

More than 700,000 people have been evacuated from areas threatened by flooding around a huge lake in central China, but more than eight million are at risk, officials said today.