Rarely do so many big stories of global interest happen at the same time from one region but last week in Asia its been incredible.

Soldiers and aid workers struggled to reach at least a million people cut off by landslides that have complicated relief efforts after the worst floods in Pakistan in 80 years. Poor weather has grounded relief helicopters and more rain was expected to compound the misery of more than 13 million people . The floods have killed more than 1,600 people.

Marooned flood victims looking to escape grab the side bars of a hovering Army helicopter which arrived to distribute food supplies in the Muzaffargarh district of Pakistan’s Punjab province August 7, 2010. Pakistanis desperate to get out of flooded villages threw themselves at helicopters on Saturday as more heavy rain was expected to intensify both suffering and anger with the government. The disaster killed more than 1,600 people and disrupted the lives of 12 million. REUTERS/Adrees Latif

A recent undated image of flooding in the northwest Pakistan released by Merlin NGO August 6, 2010. Heavy rains are expected to lash areas of Pakistan already devastated by the worst floods in 80 years, probably intensifying a calamity that has cast more doubts about the leadership of President Asif Ali Zardari. REUTERS/Merlin/Handout

Flood victims are evacuated with their children as they rescued by naval boats in a village in Sukkur in Pakistan’s Sindh province August 8, 2010. Pakistani navy boats travelled through miles of flood waters on Sunday to rescue people stranded in a disaster that has angered many over the government’s response. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro

While large parts of the country were under water, violence erupted in Pakistan’s biggest city of Karachi, in which about 35 people, most of them rival political activists, were killed. The sprawling metropolis has a long history of factional bloodshed.

A policeman asked residents to stay in their homes after supporters of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) torched a bus early Tuesday morning in protest of the killing of a member of party in Karachi August 3, 2010. At least 34 people have been killed in the Pakistani commercial hub of Karachi, after a member of the dominant political party was shot dead, police said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Majid Hussain

China was also struggling with poor weather. The northwest town of Zhouqu was half-smothered by a landslide. Relatives washed mud-caked bodies pulled from ruins. Shanghai based photograpoher Aly Song photographed rescuers and locals with just shovels, hoes and rope spread over more than 2 km of devastated land to burrow into homes encased in mud left by floodwater that swept down from the slopes around Zhouqu in Gansu.

A view shows the landslide-hit Zhouqu County of Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province, Gansu Province August 9, 2010. Chinese rescuers armed with little more than shovels and hoes on Monday hunted for survivors of a huge mudslide, as relatives of the near 1,300 still missing trekked into the disaster zone to look for their loved ones. REUTERS/Aly Song

Women mourn their missing relatives in landslide-hit Zhouqu County of Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province , Gansu Province August 9, 2010. Chinese rescuers armed with little more than shovels and hoes on Monday hunted for survivors of a huge mudslide, as relatives of the near 1,300 still missing trekked into the disaster zone to look for their loved ones. REUTERS/Aly Song

People mourn their missing relatives as rescuers search for survivors in the landslide-hit Zhouqu County of Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province August 9, 2010. Mudslides engulfed a town in northwest China on Sunday, killing at least 127 people and leaving nearly 1,300 residents missing as rescue teams dug out crushed homes and tried to blast away debris clogging a river. REUTERS/Stringer

It was also busy in Afghanistan where the war raged on. Sweden based Photographer Bob Strong is embedded with Canadian forces who are patrolling around the Kandahar region. Violence continues to escalate and this was yet again drawn sharply into focus as gunmen killed 10 medical workers, including eight foreigners, in the remote northeast. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.



This combination picture shows 8 of the 10 members of a medical team who were killed in Afghanistan on August 5, 2010. Pictured are (top row L-R) Tom Little of the U.S., Cheryl Beckett of the U.S., Daniela Beyer of Germany, Dan Terry of the U.S., (bottom row L-R) Glen Lapp of the U.S., Brian Carderelli of the U.S., Mahram Ali of Afghanistan and Jawed of Afghanistan. Gunmen killed 10 medical workers, including eight foreigners, in Afghanistan’s remote northeast, police and officials said on August 7, 2010 and the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. REUTERS/International Assistance Mission

Cpl Ryan Belgrave with the Canadian Army’s 1st Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment Battle Group, walks through a field of marijuana plants during a patrol near the village of Salavat, in the Panjway district west of Kandahar August 4, 2010. REUTERS/Bob Strong

Canadian soldiers play table football under flashlights at a military outpost near the village of Bazaar e Panjwaii, in the Panjwaii district of Kandahar province August 8, 2010. REUTERS/Bob Strong

India also heated up as security forces struggled to control anti-India protests in Kashmir. Photographers Fayaz Kabli and Danish Ismail have been working 24/7 in the Himalayan region where at least 27 people, most of them protesters throwing stones, have been killed by security forces over the past six weeks during the biggest demonstrations against Indian rule in two years. And in Ladakh region, photographers Yawar Nazir and Mukesh Gupta covered the flash floods that have devastated the remote region and ravaged the main town of Leh. At least 150 people have been killed with floods stranding 300 foreign tourists some of whom have pitched in to help the search for survivors.

Kashmiri people give a funeral bath to the body of eight-year-old Sameer Ahmad Rah in Srinagar August 2, 2010. At least four people were killed and 50 wounded on Monday in clashes with police in different areas of the Himalayan region after protesters set fire to a police station, pelted security forces with stones and damaged a railway station, witnesses said. Protesters say Rah was killed in a stampede when Indian police fired on Kashmiri protesters. REUTERS/Danish Ismail

Women and a child watch the funeral of Mohammad Iqbal, a Kashmiri youth, from the window of a house in Srinagar August 4, 2010. Kashmiri separatist leaders have appealed for calm in the biggest anti-India protests in two years that have killed dozens of people and raised fears that anger at New Delhi was spinning out of control. At least four people died on Tuesday in fresh clashes with police, raising the death toll of seven weeks of protests to 43. Iqbal died in a hospital on Wednesday after he was shot at by Indian police on July 30, a relative of Iqbal said. REUTERS/Fayaz Kabli

A vehicle drives through heaps of mud and rubble after flash floods in Leh, east of Srinagar August 9, 2010. More than 300 foreign tourists are stranded in India’s Himalayan region of Ladakh, three days after flash floods killed at least 150 people and ravaged the main town of Leh, officials said on Monday. Floods triggered by unexpected heavy rains destroyed houses, uprooted telephone towers and deposited boulders and mud up to 15 feet high (4 meters) on highways and destroyed all communication networks, authorities and witnesses said. REUTERS/Yawar Nazir

Also in india those with Blackberrys and an interest in cricket can look at Reuters live picture galleries by downloading this app http://r.reuters.com/kun39k to their BB or going to this site http://live.reuters.com/Event/India_vs_Sri_Lanka_LIVE?Page=0 to see India cricket live updates when they play.

India’s captain and wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni jumps in the air to celebrate the dismissal of Sri Lanka’s Tharanga Paranavitana during the third day of their third and final test cricket match in Colombo August 5, 2010. REUTERS/Andrew Caballero-Reynolds

As a final roundup of pictures that have caught my eye, please scroll down and enjoy what I consider some of the best from the region. The collection ranges from an old Chinese tank being dumped in the sea off the coast of Thailand to horse lassoing in Mongolia.

Officials dump a Chinese-made T-69 armoured tank into the Gulf of Thailand, near the southern Narathiwat province August 9, 2010. The 25 decommissioned Thai-army tanks will form artificial corals to improve the marine ecosystems and increase fish stock in the area. REUTERS/Surapan Boonthanom

Containers fall from the deck of damaged cargo ship MSC Chitra in the Arabian Sea off the Mumbai coast August 9, 2010. Teams from the Navy and the Coast Guard were attempting to contain an oil spill off the coast of Mumbai on Monday after a collision between two cargo ships, with concerns rising that the slick may spread. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Employees work at the W & D Cambodia Co. Limited garment factory in Phnom Penh August 6, 2010. Cambodian garment exports rose 12 percent in the first half of 2010 compared with the same period last year, hitting $1.25 billion thanks to a recovery in the U.S. market, an independent think tank said on Thursday. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Men pull up Dadang (C), a resident of Cempaka Putih district, from the ground in Jakarta August 3, 2010. Dadang buried himself in the ground on Tuesday for over three hours to protest against a local government plan to evict him from his home. Around 90 people will be evicted from their homes because their houses were built illegally, local officials said. REUTERS/Beawiharta

A view of deforestation on Indonesia’s Sumatra island, August 5, 2010. Indonesia and Australia launched a A$30 million project to fight deforestation in Sumatra as part of efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions and boost a planned forest-carbon trading scheme on March this year. Indonesia, like Brazil, is on the front line of efforts to curb deforestation that is a major contributor to mankind’s greenhouse gas emissions that scientists blame for heating up the planet. REUTERS/Beawiharta

Doves fly over the Peace Memorial Park with a view of the gutted A-bomb dome at a ceremony in Hiroshima August 6, 2010, to mark the 65th anniversary of the atomic bombing on the city. The Japanese city of Hiroshima, reduced to ashes by a U.S. nuclear bomb in 1945, held its annual commemoration of that attack on Friday, but this will be the first year that a U.S. representative will take part. REUTERS/Kyodo

Students shout “I love mother and father” in Korean as they lift logs during a two-week summer military camp for civilians at the Cheongryong Self-denial Training Camp in Ansan, about 80 km (50 miles) southwest of Seoul, August 3, 2010. The camp, ranging from three to fourteen days, is conducted for civilians by retired Korean Marines. Hundreds of students from primary to university level will participate in the camp during their summer vacation to strengthen their mental and physical endurance, according to camp instructors. REUTERS/Jo Yong-Hak

A boy holds recyclable items as he searches through debris in water after a fire in a slum in Malabon City in Metro Manila August 7, 2010. Some 300 houses were damaged in Friday’s fire, which was finally extinguished on Saturday, leaving 600 families homeless. While authorities are still investigating the cause, firefighters had a hard time going to the area due to roadworks and flooding, Malabon Fire Station Chief Investigator Alvin Torres said. REUTERS/Cheryl Ravelo

A participant takes part in a lassoing competition during the Nadam festival at a race ground in Xilin Gol League, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region August 1, 2010. REUTERS/Patty Chen