Beijing - China on Thursday afternoon intitiated the final eight-hour countdown to its Shenzhou VII space mission, which is scheduled to feature the nation's first spacewalk.

The Jiuquan space centre in the north-western province of Gansu began the countdown at 1:10 pm (0510 GMT), state media said.

The three astronauts for the mission were preparing to enter the Shenzhou VII space capsule, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The start of the countdown put the mission on course for its previously announced launch time of 9:10 pm (1310 GMT), although officials on Wednesday said the exact time could still vary between 9:07 pm and 10:27 pm.

Beijing  - At least eight people died and 38 were missing after heavy rain caused floods and landslides in an area of south-western China's Sichuan province that was devastated by an earthquake in May, state media said on Wednesday.

More than 2,200 houses collapsed and 8,500 were damaged in mountainous areas near Sichuan's Mianyang city, including some prefabricated homes built for earthquake survivors, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

More than 6,500 people in Mianyang were stranded by floods and landslides after torrential rain since Monday, the agency quoted local officials as saying.

Beijing - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez held talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday before the two sides signed an oil cooperation deal and several economic agreements.

The Chinese government gave no immediate details of the oil agreement but it said other documents covered economic cooperation, education and justice.

The Venezuelan government said more than 20 agreements would be signed during Chavez's three-day visit to China, which began on Tuesday.

Beijing  - At least one person died and tens of thousands were evacuated Wednesday as Typhoon Hagupit brought gales and torrential rain to much of southern China.

The storm first hit the Philippines, where rescuers struggled to save 13 miners trapped for two days in a flooded shaft as the nation's death toll from Hagupit rose to eight, officials there said.

The rescue operation was slowed down by floodwaters inside the mineshaft in the northern town of Itogon in Benguet province, 225 kilometres north of Manila, said Chief Superintendent Eugene Martin, a regional police chief.

Beijing  - At least one person died and tens of thousands were evacuated Wednesday as Typhoon Hagupit brought gales and torrential rain to much of southern China.

The island province of Hainan evacuated about 107,000 people from vulnerable areas while two cities in nearby Guangdong province moved more than 38,000 as the typhoon approached, news reports said.

Hagupit made landfall in Guangdong's Dianbai county near the city of Maoming, packing winds of more than 200 kilometres per hour at its centre, the government's Xinhua news agency quoted meteorologists as saying.

One man died in Dianbai after he was blown down while trying to repair the roof of his house, the local Yangcheng Evening News said.

Wellington - China's contaminated milk scandal has cost the world's largest dairy exporter, Fonterra Cooperative Group, 139 million New Zealand dollars (95 million US dollars), the company said Wednesday.

Chairman Henry van der Heyden revealed the loss at a press conference in New Zealand's largest city Auckland, saying he was shocked by media reports from China that Fonterra's partner, Sanlu Group, might have received complaints of sick children as early as December.

"I would be absolutely disgusted and appalled if information was held back," van der Heyden said. "What has happened here is a criminal event."