The death toll from Thailand's worst flooding in more than half a century has passed 600.

Thailand's prime minister said Bangkok was fighting the forces of nature yesterday as residents fled, rivers swelled and floodwater threatened to burst through dikes protecting the capital.

In the shadow of the Cresta Run, the green jersey of the King of the Mountains moved significantly closer for Britain’s Ian Williams as he topped the league table at the St. Moritz Match Race.

Flash floods triggered by monsoon rains wiped out a village in northwest Pakistan, killing at least 33 people, a government official said yesterday.

At least 20 people are missing after an overcrowded boat they were travelling in capsized in a rain-swollen river in southern Nepal.

The founder of Monsoon has paid himself a dividend of £16.4m after the fashion chain more than tripled pre-tax profits last year.

Sri Lanka has a tropical climate which leads to hot and very humid conditions all year round. There is some variety across the island, with the central highlands experiencing a cooler and more temperate climate, while coastal areas are moderated by sea breezes. The country also experiences a dry season and two wet seasons, with the latter coming from monsoon rain that falls in opposite halves of the country.

Unceasing monsoon rains have exacerbated the crisis facing more than a million people affected by Sri Lanka's deadly floods.

Sri Lanka is battling to confront widescale monsoon flooding that has affected more than one million people and which the government says is second only to the 2004 tsunami in terms of the devastation it has caused.

A combination of heavy monsoon rain falling on already saturated ground, which has caused many rivers to burst their banks, is the straightforward explanation for the catastrophic flooding seen across vast areas of Queensland. Just before Christmas, the Australian Government's Bureau of Meteorology warned Queenslanders to prepare for heavy flooding during the holiday period, due to the heavily saturated ground and rainfall that was predicted in a range of 300mm to 600mm.