Tropical Storm Kong-Rey has battered Taiwan, dumping more than 19ins of rain on the heavily-populated west coast and causing widespread flooding.

America and key Asian allies will seek United Nations Security Council action if North Korea launches a long-range rocket this month, the US State Department said.

Skin cancer in wild marine fish has been discovered for the first time.

Big waves have smashed a passenger boat into rocky outcrops and sunk the vessel in stormy weather in the south-western Philippines, killing at least five people, officials said today.

THE North Korean capital of Pyongyang is emerging from a tough few months.

THE World Health Organisation says radiation in food after an earthquake damaged a Japanese nuclear plant was more serious than previously thought, eclipsing signs of progress in a battle to avert a catastrophic meltdown in its reactors.

CLIMATE change has likely intensified the monsoon rains that have triggered record floods in Australia’s Queensland state, scientists said yesterday, with several months of heavy rain and storms still to come.

TWO violent mid-air plunges by an airliner that seriously injured 13 passengers may have been caused by an on-board mobile phone signal, investigators said yesterday.

Two violent mid-air plunges by an airliner that seriously injured 13 passengers may have been caused by an on-board mobile phone signal, investigators said today.

A COMMON illness that typically causes little more than a fever and rash has killed 24 children in China, and health officials fear the worst may be yet to come as outbreaks occur in neighbouring countries.

US fighter planes intercepted two Russian bombers flying unusually close to an American aircraft carrier in the western Pacific during the weekend, it was reported today.

Scientists today revealed a portable bird flu detector that can spot the deadly H5N1 virus in less than 30 minutes.

Taiwan’s planned referendum on United Nations membership may damage its crucial ties to the United States, but President Chen Shui-bian is likely to defy American pressure and see the proposal through, analysts say.

Patriot missiles streaked across the light-blue Asian sky and F-16s bombarded ships yesterday as Taiwan beat back a simulated Chinese invasion in the island’s largest-ever military exercise.

Members of an Indonesian family who died of bird flu probably passed the disease among themselves, but world health officials said there was no evidence the virus had mutated and decided against raising the pandemic alert level.

TURKEY yesterday reported two new cases of people infected with deadly bird flu as a top World Health Organisation (WHO) official warned that the threat of a pandemic was growing daily.

All European Union countries have plans to fight a possible bird flu pandemic, health officials said today, as tests confirmed the deadly strain of the virus had reached Croatia.

A mystery disease that killed 17 farmers who handled sick pigs or sheep in China’s south west is unrelated to bird flu or SARS and is probably caused by bacteria carried by pigs, state media reported today.

A swollen creek swept a villager away as Typhoon Aere crashed into mainland China, unleashing torrential rains and prompting the evacuation of a half-million people.

Nearly 500 people were in quarantine in China’s capital Beijing and a southern province today as authorities raced to contain a small eruption of SARS before a national holiday puts millions of travellers on the road.

NORTH KOREA accused the United States yesterday of seeking to stifle the communist country with plans to boost troops stationed in and near the Korean peninsula as part of a possible war against Iraq.

Roy Keane has been sent home from the World Cup following his criticism of the Republic of Ireland’s preparations, the FAI has confirmed.

Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy insisted the Roy Keane bombshell will not affect the rest of his squad’s preparation for the World Cup finals.

Roy Keane sensationally pulled out of the Ireland’s World Cup campaign last night - then changed his mind hours later.

Kevin Kilbane knows more than most just how great a threat Cameroon striker Patrick Mboma will pose to the Republic of Ireland in their opening World Cup fixture.

Three US warships that left Japan to support the war against terrorism are returning to their home port near Tokyo.