Storms in China traps tourists, kill 69

AT least 100 tourists have been left trapped after a landslide cut off a road amid storms that have flooded rivers and triggered mudslides, killing at least 69 people in China.

The tourists became trapped on Friday night in the northwest province of Gansu after a landslide cut off traffic, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

They were en route to a nature reserve in Sichuan province, which has been hit hardest by the week-long series of storms, and road repair work was under way in an effort to free them.

Sichuan has reported at least 31 storm-related deaths.

A massive mudslide that struck a scenic resort outside the city of Dujiangyan in Sichuan killed 26 people and left 123 people missing, according to Xinhua.

An entire hillside collapsed onto clusters of holiday cottages where city dwellers escape summer heat, a survivor told the news agency.

Flooding in Sichuan was the worst in 50 years for some areas, with more than 220,000 people forced to evacuate.

Mudslides and flooding are common in China's mountainous areas, killing hundreds of people every year but in some areas the current floods are already the worst in half a century.

In the northwest province of Shaanxi, 23 people died in landslides or house collapses.

At least 12 workers were killed in the northern province of Shanxi when a violent rainstorm collapsed an unfinished coal mine workshop.

Another three people were drowned in a car in Hebei province outside Beijing.

AP j

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Two dead, 100 hurt as Soulik hits Taiwan

TYPHOON Soulik is battering Taiwan with torrential rain and powerful winds which have so far left two people dead and at least 100 injured.

Roofs have been ripped from homes, debris and fallen trees litter streets and some areas are submerged by flood waters.

One town in central Taiwan reported on Saturday widespread landslides and water levels a storey high.

Around 8000 people were evacuated from homes before the typhoon struck, with hundreds of soldiers deployed to high-risk areas and the whole island declared an "alert zone" by authorities.

In the capital Taipei, a 50-year-old police officer died after being hit by bricks loosened during the typhoon, the Central Emergency Operation Centre said.

A 54-year-old woman from central Miaoli county died after falling from the roof of her home.

In Taichung city, a man was missing after falling into a river.

104 people were reported injured, mostly by trees or flying debris, with the majority recorded in Taichung.

Soulik made landfall on the northeast coast around 3am local time on Saturday, packing winds of up to 190 kilometres an hour, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said.

Strong winds battered the island for much of the day but by late afternoon the CWB downgraded Soulik to a tropical storm and lifted the land warning as it churned towards mainland China.

Nine people were rescued from flooded homes in the Shiangshan area of Puli, a town in central Nantou county, which was also hit by landslides.

"The water came very fast, catching residents totally unprepared - in some areas, it was one-storey deep," township official Wu Yuan-ming told AFP.

The nine were rescued by firefighters in rubber boats after the river broke its banks, Wu said.

"Flooding and landslides were widespread in the town, especially in the areas near mountains," he added, calling the effects of the typhoon "more serious than we predicted".

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Russia awaits Snowden asylum request

RUSSIA is waiting on a promised request for asylum from fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden that risks straining relations with Washington.

Snowden on Friday dramatically summoned activists to the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport where he has been marooned without a passport for three weeks after arriving on a flight from Hong Kong.

But a day after saying he would immediately request asylum from Russia, officials in Moscow say they are not aware of any approach by the former National Security Agency contractor.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov appeared on Saturday to want to distance himself from the controversy, insisting the government was "not contacting" Snowden and that he had found out about the details of his meeting with activists through the media.

"Russian laws specify a procedure for obtaining political asylum and the first step is approaching the Federal Migration Service," he added, quoted by Russian news agencies.

The United States has told Moscow Snowden must be extradited home to face justice over his leaking of sensational details about US surveillance activities, a demand President Vladimir Putin has rejected.

Snowden, 30, making his first publicised appearance since arriving in Moscow, told the activists he wanted to claim asylum in Russia until he could safely travel to Latin America for a permanent sanctuary.

He had said he would make the asylum request on Friday evening.

The head of Russia's Federal Migration Service Konstantin Romodanovsky said on Saturday "there is for the moment no application from E. Snowden".

If one was made, it would be examined "according to normal legal procedures", he added.

Curiously, Snowden had last week withdrawn a request for asylum in Russia after Putin insisted he could stay only if he stopped releasing information that harmed the United States.

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