Yushu

Two young Tibetans in a remote area of northwest China set themselves alight, state media and a rights group said Thursday, in the latest such protest against Chinese rule.

China said Friday that 279 people died in natural disasters in June and another 93 had gone missing, as the country was hit by floods, mudslides and earthquakes.

A 5.3-magnitude earthquake struck China's Tibetan-inhabited region of Qinghai on Sunday afternoon, the US Geological Survey reported, in an area hit by a devastating quake last year.

BEIJING, Jun (Reuters) - A 5.2 magnitude earthquake rocked a largely Tibetan region in northwest China Sunday, the official Xinhua news agency reported, more than a year after a 7.1 magnitude tremor killed 2,700 people in the same area.

BEIJING, Jun (Reuters) - A 5.2 magnitude earthquake rocked a largely Tibetan region in northwest China Sunday, the official Xinhua news agency reported, more than a year after a 7.1 magnitude tremor killed 2,700 people in the same area.

Zhao Libao sits in a nearly empty room at a Red Cross centre in Beijing, waiting to donate blood as he does every month. He is one of the few to heed government calls for more rolled-up sleeves.

An elderly man in China has been awarded a patent for his design of a bed that automatically turns into a strongbox in the event of an earthquake, state media said Wednesday.

China holds day of mourning for landslide dead; flags lowered, ceremony on state TV. Cinemas closed and coal miners stopped work as China observed a day of mourning Sunday for more than 1,200 victims of a mudslide a week earlier in a northwestern town, while authorities rushed to protect survivors from more flooding.

The livelihood of thousands of Tibetans living on China's highest plateau is under threat as global warming and environmental degradation dry up water sources for three mighty Asian rivers, experts say.

China says death toll from April quake rises to nearly 2,700. The death toll from a devastating earthquake that struck a remote Tibetan region in western China has risen to 2,698, officials said Monday.

A 5.4-magnitude earthquake hit China's remote northwestern Qinghai province Saturday, the US Geological Survey said, in the same region where a strong quake killed more than 2,000 people last month.

China's controversial choice as the second highest Tibetan Buddhist leader visited the country's earthquake zone Friday to hold prayer services for victims of the disaster, state media reported.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese experts are working to permanently preserve a chalk message written by President Hu Jintao this month at a school for survivors of a deadly quake in the remote Tibetan county of Yushu.

The quake in China's remote northwest has left more than 8,000 monks homeless after damaging nearly 90 monasteries, state media said Monday, as the focus of relief work moved onto resettling survivors.

Heavy snow, sandstorm hinder China quake relief as efforts shift to reconstruction. Heavy snow and a sandstorm delayed flights carrying relief supplies and workers to a remote Tibetan region trying to recover from a devastating earthquake, state media said Sunday.

BEIJING (Reuters) - A choking sandstorm and heavy snow have severed a vital air link to the remote quake-hit Chinese county of Yushu, severely affecting relief efforts, state media said on Sunday.

China said Friday that Tibetan monks who rushed to its earthquake disaster zone to aid rescue efforts had been urged to return home to avoid hindering relief operations in the often restive region.

China said Friday that Tibetan monks who rushed to its earthquake disaster zone to aid rescue efforts had been urged to return home to avoid hindering relief operations in the often restive region.

Homeless earthquake survivors huddled in thin tents against strong winds Thursday while traffic slowed on ice- and snow-slicked roads, the latest challenges to recovery in mountainous far western China.

China observed a day of national mourning on Wednesday for victims of its killer quake, with newspaper front pages bathed in black and flags lowered to half-mast around the country.