Philippines

Bodies found in plane wreck on Philippines' Mayon volcano

Authorities on Thursday confirmed the deaths of the two Filipino pilots and two Australian passengers.

Search teams had scoured the slopes of the Mayon volcano since Sunday, when the aircraft wreckage was spotted about 300m (985ft) from the crater.

Teams now faced the challenge of safely retrieving the bodies, officials said.

Local Filipino authorities say they will investigate the cause of the plane's crash.

Philippine students return to school for first time since Covid

Almost half the country's schools resumed in-person classes after more than two years of distance learning.

The Philippines was one of the last few countries to transition back to face-to-face learning after Covid struck.

But some experts say the prolonged suspension of in-person lessons has worsened an education crisis.

Around 24,000 of the country's public schools - or just less than half - will implement five days of face-to-face classes.

7.0-magnitude earthquake strikes northern Philippines, impact felt in Manila

The quake struck in northern Luzon, the country's most populous island, at 8:43 a.m. local time (8:43 p.m. ET), according to USGS. The agency originally designated the quake 7.1-magnitude, before downgrading it to 7.0.

Its epicenter was about 13 kilometers (8 miles) southeast of the small town of Dolores, Abra province, with a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), according to USGS.

The earthquake's impact was felt in the capital city, Manila, more than 400 kilometers (about 250 miles) away, where workers and residents evacuated from buildings and gathered on the street.

Marcos family eye return to power as Philippines votes

The man tipped to win the presidency is Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr, the son of the nation's former dictator.

If polls suggesting a landslide victory pan out, it will mean the powerful Marcos political dynasty, will sweep back into office.

His closest rival is Leni Rebredo who beat Marcos in the 2016 vice-presidential elections.

Thousands of other roles will also be up for grabs in the general election, including senator posts and seats in the House of Representatives.

Philippines Super Typhoon Rai death toll surges

Super Typhoon Rai - with winds of about 195km/h (120mph) - sent some 300,000 people running for safety when it hit the country's south-eastern islands.

Rescue teams have described scenes of "complete carnage".

But establishing the scale of the losses is difficult, as communication to a number of areas has been cut off.

There are fears widespread landslides and flooding may have claimed more lives.

"Many areas have no power, no communications, very little water," the chair of the Philippines Red Cross, Richard Gordon, told the BBC.

Nobel Peace Prize: Journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov share award

The Nobel committee called the pair "representatives of all journalists who stand up for this ideal".

They are known for investigations that have angered their countries' rulers, and have faced significant threats.

Both spoke in defence of freedom of the press following their win.

Ressa, who co-founded the news site Rappler, was commended for using freedom of expression to "expose abuse of power, use of violence and growing authoritarianism in her native country, the Philippines".

Philippines military plane crash kills at least 45 but dozens survive

The transporter was carrying more than 90 people, mostly troops, when it overshot the runway on Jolo island.

The dead are mainly military personnel, but three civilians on the ground were also killed, the defence ministry said.

Rescue workers scoured the wreckage of the Lockheed C130 Hercules in a wood near several buildings.

The aircraft burst into flames on crashing, sending a large black cloud into the air.

Several dozen people were injured, and five are still missing, the military said. A nearby military hospital treated survivors.

Fatalities, people missing as 2020's strongest typhoon slams Philippines

More than 300 houses were buried under volcanic rocks and mud flows from Mayon Volcano in severely hit Albay province in the Bicol region, a lawmaker said.

Storm surges hit some coastal towns, while rivers overflowed and dikes were destroyed, submerging several villages in Bicol.

The dead and missing were all in Bicol, including nine in Albay, the Office of Civil Defence said.

Four more Solomon Island students test positive for Covid in the Philippines

The Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare confirmed the cases, which brought the total number of infections in nationals studying in the Philippines at 18.

The results came from the first of three rounds of testing which people waiting for repatriation flights must undertake.

The first of three flights from the Philippines is scheduled for today.

A spokesperson for the government said the infected students and their contacts would now be rescheduled for a third flight next month.

More Solomon Islands students contract Covid-19 in the Philippines

Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said this now brought to 12 the number of students who had contracted the coronavirus there.

All had been asymptomatic.

The latest six are from a group of 144 students scheduled to be on one of two repatriation flights next week.

They had undergone the first of three tests before the flight.

The Solomon Star newspaper reported the results were received by the government on Tuesday.

Sogavare said students who had tested negative were staying in two hotels while waiting for repatriation flights on 27 and 29 September.