CCTV

China has ended two days of military drills around Taiwan that saw jets loaded with live munitions and warships practise seizing and isolating the self-ruled island.

The exercises simulated strikes targeting Taiwan's leaders as well as its ports and airports to "cut off the island's 'blood vessels'", Chinese military analysts told state media.

At least 19 people died when part of a highway collapsed in southern China's Guangdong province on Wednesday, state media reported.

State broadcaster CCTV said a stretch of road between Meizhou city and Dabu county in Guangdong province caved in at around 2:10 am (1810 GMT).

The incident caused 18 vehicles to become trapped and involved a total of 49 people, CCTV said.

At least 111 people were killed when an earthquake collapsed buildings in northwest China, state media reported Tuesday, as rescue workers raced to start digging through rubble.

About 100 were killed and scores more injured in Gansu province after the strong, shallow tremor struck, state broadcaster CCTV said, citing the provincial earthquake relief headquarters.

Eleven people died after the roof of a school gym collapsed in northeastern China, state media reported Monday.

The collapse in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province was caused by construction workers illegally placing perlite -- a form of volcanic glass -- on the building's roof, state news agency Xinhua said.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping met former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger in Beijing on Thursday, state media reported, describing the 100-year-old as a "legendary diplomat".

Kissinger used the visit to call for a rapprochement between the United States and China, which remain at loggerheads over a range of disputes, from human rights to trade and national security.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas began a visit to China on Tuesday that comes as Beijing is seeking a larger role in Middle East politics and competing for energy resources.

China's military drills have "simulated joint precision strikes against key targets on Taiwan island and surrounding waters", state media reported on Sunday.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said the air force deployed dozens of aircraft to "fly into the target airspace", and ground forces carried out drills for "multi-target precision strikes".

Tens of thousands of people were evacuated to safer areas by Monday as heavy rains brought flood risks to a region of southwest China that for most of the summer was devastated by a heatwave and drought.

Brush fires have forced the evacuation of more than 1,500 people in southwest China and power rationing for factories has reportedly been extended as weeks of record heat and drought batter the region.

China's largest-ever military exercises encircling Taiwan kicked off on Aug. 4, in a show of force straddling vital international shipping lanes after a visit to the island by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Pelosi left Taiwan Wednesday after a trip that defied a series of stark threats from Beijing, which views the self-ruled island as its territory.