Rescuers are facing blocked roads and damaged airports as they struggle to deliver desperately needed aid to the typhoon-devastated Philippines.

Haiyan has made landfall in northern Vietnam as a tropical storm today, after leaving massive destruction in the Philippines.

Corpses hung from trees, were scattered on sidewalks, or buried in flattened buildings — some of the 10,000 people believed killed in one city alone by the ferocious Typhoon Haiyan that washed away homes and buildings with powerful winds and giant waves.

As many as 10,000 people are believed to have died in one Philippine city alone after one of the worst storms ever recorded unleashed ferocious winds and giant waves that washed away homes and schools.

As many as 10,000 people are believed to have died in one Philippine city alone when one of the worst storms on record sent giant sea waves, washing away homes, schools and airport buildings.

An explosion at a military-run fireworks factory in northern Vietnam has killed at least 12 workers and injured more than 90 others.

Vo Nguyen Giap, the brilliant and ruthless self-taught general who drove the French out of Vietnam to free it from colonial rule and later forced the Americans to abandon their effort to save the country from communism, has died.

At least seven people were killed when Typhoon Son Tinh blew the roofs off thousands of homes in northern Vietnam, taking the death toll over the past week to at least 31.

Back-to-back typhoons left at least 55 people dead in the northern Philippines and rescuers scrambling to deliver food and water to hundreds of villagers stuck on rooftops for four days because of flooding.

Vietnam is evacuating nearly 300,000 people from northern coastal areas today as Tropical Storm Nock-ten approaches after leaving a path of destruction in the Philippines.

Super Typhoon Megi slammed ashore along the Philippines' north-eastern coast today with ferocious winds of 140mph – the strongest cyclone to hit the country in years.

A typhoon that left dozens dead in the Philippines and two more dead in China weakened to a tropical storm today as it churned towards northern Vietnam, smashing boats in its path and lashing the region with rain and wind.

A GECKO with leopard-like spots on its body and a fanged frog that eats birds are among 163 new species discovered last year in the Mekong River region of Southeast Asia, an environmental group said yesterday.

A new species of bird found in a network of underground caves in China raised hopes the country could become a hotspot for other new discoveries, scientists said today.

At least seven coal miners have been killed and 15 injured in a methane explosion in northern Vietnam.

FLOOD water from southern China pushed up river levels in northern Vietnam yesterday, worsening inundations across a wide region that have killed at least 120 people on both sides of the border.

Forecasters predicted more rain for northern Vietnam today as authorities said the death toll from days of flooding had risen to at least 66.

Disaster officials say soldiers in northern Vietnam are searching for people still missing from floods and landslides as the death toll rose to 116.

The Asia-wide death toll from Tropical Storm Chanchu rose to 91 today, with nearly 250 Vietnamese fisherman still missing at sea and 28 reported dead as the tempest moved offshore again after battering southern China.

The Asia-wide death toll from Tropical Storm Chanchu rose to 63 today, with at least 27 fisherman still missing at sea as the tempest moved offshore again after battering southern China.

Bird flu remains extremely hard to catch, but strikes with deadly force in the unlucky few who become infected, new research suggests.

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.

A landslide triggered by heavy rains killed three people in northern Vietnam, an official said today.

VIETNAM health officials said yesterday that five members of a family that ran a chicken farm in northern Vietnam have tested positive for bird flu.

Vietnam health officials said today that five members of a family that ran a chicken farm in northern Vietnam have tested positive for bird flu.

A CLUSTER of human bird flu cases among relatives and possibly health workers in Vietnam may show the virus is changing into a form that can be passed on by humans, the World Health Organisation said.

Vietnam reported four new suspected cases of bird flu in humans today - including one who died – bringing to 18 the number of people believed to have been infected by the virus that has ravaged the country’s poultry industry.

AUSTRALIAN health authorities yesterday reported three probable cases of the killer flu-like virus sweeping Asia — three children visiting from Canada — in what could be the country’s first cases of the disease.

Floods triggered by the remnants of Typhoon Durian have killed at least 10 people in northern Vietnam.

An earthquake has rocked northern Vietnam.