GMA Network partners with 'the best of the best'
It was a powerful display of the vital role that television plays in today"s politics. The heads of some of the country"s most respected institutions trooped to GMA Network"s headquarters to forge a partnership to produce the most comprehensive coverage in the nation"s history, Eleksyon 2010.

"Martyrs of Press Freedom" award given to Damalerio and Esperat
Slain journalists Edgar Damalerio and Marlene Esperat have been honored with the "Martyrs of Press Freedom" award by the Titus Brandsma Award-Philippines for Journalism for their dedication to press freedom.

Palace: Arroyo set to return to work next week
Amid persistent questions on her health, Malacañang officials said Saturday that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is set to resume her work next week.

Arroyo vows to uphold electoral democracy
On the occasion of Philippine-American Friendship Day on Saturday, President Arroyo vowed to uphold the country"s commitment to electoral democracy.

Fil-Am activist files complaint with State Department vs RP
Filipino-American activist Melissa Roxas has filed a formal complaint with the US Department of State against the Philippine government for her alleged abduction and torture by military agents last May.

Cory Cabinet reunites in healing mass for ex-president
Several cabinet members of former president Corazon Aquino had a reunion of sorts on the fourth day of the nine-day novena for the ailing Philippine leader at the Greenbelt chapel in Makati on Saturday.

Palace defends Arroyo: No breast repair, only benign lumps
Biopsy tests, and not breast repair, were performed on President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo when she was admitted at the Asian Hospital last June 30, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said Friday.

NBI raids website that first uploaded Hayden sex video
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) raided on Friday afternoon the office of a website in Cavite that was said to have first uploaded the sex videos of cosmetic surgeon Hayden Kho.

GMA Network partners with 'the best of the best'
It was a powerful display of the vital role that television plays in today"s politics. The heads of some of the country"s most respected institutions trooped to GMA Network"s headquarters to forge a partnership to produce the most comprehensive coverage in the nation"s history, Eleksyon 2010.

Cory"s spirit continues to be strong, Kris says
Former President Corazon Aquino has been confined at the Makati Medical Center for the past 11 days, but the cancer-stricken democracy icon remains strong-willed.

50% of flu victims in their teens, pre-teens
Almost half of the people in the Philippines confirmed to have contracted the A(H1N1) virus are young people in their in their teens or pre-teens, Department of Health statistics show.

CBCP happy with poll automation development
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines is pleased that Smartmatic and Total Information Management have come to an agreement as it shows that the country’s first fully automated elections will push through in 2010.

De Castro unveils good governance agenda
Vice President Noli de Castro may be playing coy about his presidential ambition but he already has a blueprint for nation-building should he finally decide to run for President in the 2010 elections.

Prayer power for Aquino spreads to Internet
Garbed in her signature color yellow, former president Corazon Aquino's former Cabinet members gathered Saturday in prayer for the recovery of the 76-year-old leader who is battling cancer.

CBCP head favors partial poll automation
Iloilo Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, who is also president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, on Friday called for only partial automation of elections in 2010.

Automation firms say machines 100% accurate
With poll automation bid winners Smartmatic and International and Total Information Management Corp. (TIM) back on track for the 2010 polls, machines with “guaranteed 100 percent accuracy” are expected to arrive as early as November, an official said.

Hundreds of Moro rebels slain—military
More than a thousand Muslim rebels have been killed in the southern Philippines over the past year, despite the recovery of only 278 bodies, a military spokesman said Saturday.

Enrile warns poll officials
Election officials will end up in jail if they fail to either automate or prepare for the manual balloting next year, Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile warned on Friday.

Enrile won’t seek higher office
Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile has ruled out any plan to seek higher office and instead hinted at a re-election bid in 2010.

Aboitiz Group denies links with TIM
The Aboitiz Group on Friday denied any personal or professional relationship between members of the Aboitiz clan and the head of the Total Information Management Corp. (TIM) and stressed that its participation in the poll automation project of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) was purely a business transaction.

More prayers sought for Cory Aquino
Just pray for her. That’s the advice of a close family friend to people who wish to visit the ailing former President Corazon Aquino but are not allowed to do so.

Poll automation on as bid partners reconcile
(UPDATE) The country’s first ever automated elections in 2010 is back on track after the two companies who won the contract to make it happen patched up their differences, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Jose Melo said.

Josie Natori's stylish evolution
Josie Natori followed her business dreams from the Philippines to Wall Street. But after nine years as a banker, she needed a more creative outlet. In 1977 she launched a lingerie company with an East-meets-West flair. Today her brand includes four intimate-apparel lines, as well as a ready-to-wear clothing collection, home and bath products, eyewear and fragrance. Natori, 62, shared her story with Fortune Small Business in her Manhattan showroom.

Storm kills 8 in Philippines
Eight people were killed and 11 were left missing after tropical depression Nangka triggered flooding, a tornado and a landslide in the Philippines, according to disaster officials.

Philippines landslide kills 26
A landslide slammed into a village in southern Philippines on Monday, killing 26 people, emergency services personnel said.

Kidnapped aid worker freed in Philippines
One of two aid workers still held by militants in the Philippines has been freed, the International Committee of the Red Cross said Saturday.

Philippines help 200 dolphins escape shallow waters
Authorities in the Philippines managed Tuesday to drive back to sea a pod of about 200 dolphins that had swarmed to shallow waters in Manila Bay.

Philippines debates government promotion of contraception
A debate is stirring in the predominantly Roman Catholic country of the Philippines: should the government provide contraceptives to the public?

Brother of Black Eyed Peas' Apl.de.ap Is Murdered
The younger brother of the hip-hop singer was shot in his native Philippines

Red Cross workers kidnapped in Philippines
Men on motorcycles with machine-guns abducted three workers of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the southern Philippines Thursday morning, officials said.

Philippines: Rebels bomb electricity tower, official says
Separatist rebels bombed an electricity transmission tower in the southern Philippines on Saturday, according to military spokesperson Lt. Stefani Cacho.

Strong earthquake jolts southern Philippines
A strong earthquake jolted the southern Philippines on Thursday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Ferry capsizes off Philippines, killing 23
A ferry capsized off the coast of the northern Philippines near the town of Aparri, killing 23 people and leaving 29 others missing, authorities said.

Five Filipino soldiers killed in firefight
Five Filipino soldiers were killed and 24 others wounded during an overnight gun battle with a faction of a Muslim separatist group in the Philippines' southern region, a military spokesman said.

Deadly typhoon hits China
A typhoon that killed eight people in the Philippines smashed into southern China on Wednesday.

Philippines Bomb Blast Hits South
A deadly bomb blast in the southern Philippines' raises the question of how much the nation's splintered insurgencies might be working together

Philippines' Uneasy Peace Broken
Weeks after nearing a peace agreement, the Philippines restive south is hit by a new wave of fighting between the government and separatist insurgents

Filipino Troops Assault Muslim Rebels
Philippine troops, backed by helicopter gunships, regained control of two southern villages from Muslim rebels Monday and pressed ahead with a massive assault to clear 13 others, officials said

Experts think oxygen bottle ripped hole in jet
Australian authorities have asked the country's national airline to check every oxygen bottle in its fleet of Boeing 747s after investigators said an exploding cylinder might have ripped a hole in one of the jumbo jets while it was mid-flight.

Typhoon toll in Philippines could pass 1,000
The official toll from last weekend's typhoon in the Philippines has risen to more than 500 people killed and could go much higher, according to the latest figures from the country's National Disaster Coordinating Council.

70 dead, 700 missing after ferry disaster
Seventy people have been confirmed dead and more than 700 remain missing more than four days after a ferry capsized in a typhoon off the coast of the Philippines, the country's defense minister said Wednesday.

Storm hits China after lashing Philippines
Tropical storm Fengshen surged toward Taiwan and southeast China on Wednesday after leaving a path of destruction in the Philippines where the search for more survivors from a capsized ferry has proved fruitless.

Divers yet to find ferry survivors
Philippine divers found bodies but so far no survivors inside the hull of a ferry that capsized in a typhoon, a Philippine Coast Guard official said Tuesday.

Rescuers hold out hope for ferry survivors
Rescuers in the Philippines have refused to give up hope of rescuing some of the more than 800 people missing after a ferry capsized in a typhoon despite rough seas stalling efforts to get inside the vessel.

33 survivors rescued from Philippines ferry
Rescuers have found at least 33 survivors and at least six dead among the nearly 750 aboard a ferry that capsized in a typhoon that battered the southern Philippines, a Red Cross official said Monday.

Earthquake hits Philippines
A magnitude-6.4 earthquake hit the Pacific Ocean off the northern Philippines Sunday morning and was felt as far as southeastern Taiwan, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

Shooting spree in Philippines kills 8
A man strafed several houses during a shooting spree early Monday in a town south of Manila, killing eight people and wounding six others.

Treatable Ailments Kill 10M Children
More than 200 million children worldwide under age 5 do not get basic health care, leading to nearly 10 million deaths annually from treatable ailments

Philippines: No Kidneys for Foreigners
Foreigners will be permanently banned from receiving kidneys for transplant in the Philippines to prevent the country from becoming a major black market Asian center

Water pollution: Dawn of the 'Dead Zones'
It's thousands of square miles wide, virtually devoid of oxygen and it has been blamed for an increase in shark attacks: the Gulf of Mexico "Dead Zone" is getting bigger and forcing marine life -- including sharks - into shore.

Easter penitents warned: Whip at your own peril
Exercise caution while you practice devotion.

26 Chinese rescued from sinking vessel
Emergency crews have rescued 26 Chinese crew members whose boat began taking on water off the northern Philippines Sunday night, the state-run Chinese news agency reported.

Typhoons near Vietnam, Philippines
The Philippines and Vietnam stepped up the evacuations of tens of thousands ahead of the landfalls of two separate typhoons expected on Saturday.

Manila Bomb: Terror or Vendetta?
The blast at the Philippines' legislature appears to have targeted a lawmaker at odds with the Islamic terror group Abu Sayyaf. But with political violence in the Philippines so widespread, its real cause may never be known

Sepat spawns deadly China tornado
Typhoon Sepat swept China's southern coast on Sunday, killing 14 people and forcing almost a million people from their homes before weakening into a tropical storm.

CNN Future Summit forum
In a virtual world, online identity is potentially much more flexible than real identity and some say it is also a truer reflection of self.

Market bomb kills 3 in Philippines
Making good on a threat, insurgents in the southern Philippines on Tuesday bombed a busy public market in the city of Tacurong, killing three and wounding 21 others, police said.

CNN Future Summit forum
A machine for the home that can make anything, even itself sounds like the dream of a science fiction fan, but a device using open source software developed at Cornell University has been designed to do just that. Could it represent the dawn of the arts and crafts movement for the digital age or open the gateway to the destruction of intellectual property rights and copyright?

CNN Future Summit forum
Bruce Willis did it, with the aid of a large plastic tube and a set of bellows, in "Twelve Monkeys;" Michael J. Fox did it -- three times -- in the "Back to the Future" series; the crew of the Starship Enterprise can't stop doing it (at least 14 times in television episodes alone); while as the "Terminator" Arnold Schwarzenegger also gave it a go, albeit stark naked.

THE WORLD AT RISK
1. Brazil

CNN Future Summit forum
A car that can drive itself is the fantasy of any designated driver, but the dream of owning a vehicle that does all the driving while you sit back and relax is one step closer to reality, as in-car artificial intelligence being developed by a team at Stanford University is ready to be used on city streets in the ultimate test of robot cars.

The mighty micro-multinational
When working in the tropical sun becomes too much for Ivko Maksimovic, the lanky Serbian heads to one of the Dominican Republic's pristine white-sand beaches. He first gathers up a black hat, mosqu...

How startups go global
When working in the tropical sun becomes too much for Ivko Maksimovic, the lanky Serbian heads to one of the Dominican Republic's pristine white-sand beaches. He first gathers up a black hat, mosquito repellent, and a bottle of drinking water.

Arroyo, Imelda aid mudslide effort
Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo arrived Wednesday at the site of the mudslide which is thought to have killed 1,000 people, many of them children.

'No sign of life' at buried school
A military official has said there is no "sign of life" at the site of a school buried in a landslide that wiped out a village of more than 1,800 people in the Philippines on Friday.

Travel memories: have your say
Business Traveller's recent look at the 70th anniversary of the classic DC-3 "Dakota" aircraft has stirred memories for many executives of a golden era of travel.

Fountain Pen Doctor
I first got into vintage fountain pens as a collector about 1997. My son-in-law discovered eBay and dragged me in. I've been pen doctoring full-time since September 2002, when I bailed out of the c...

Nations agree joint terror patrols
The Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei have agreed to regularly hold joint patrols in border areas frequently hit with attacks by kidnappers and Islamic militants, Philippine officials said.

Pair charged on Philippine spying
An FBI intelligence analyst and a former official with the Philippines National Police were ordered Monday to remain jailed on charges they passed classified U.S. information to current and former members of the Filipino government.

Bomb hits Philippines ferry
Thirty people were wounded, five seriously, when a bomb exploded Sunday on a ferry in the southern Philippines, a military spokesman said.

Your e-mails: Asia
CNN.com asked users to share their thoughts about the political, spiritual, economic and other global issues the next pope will face. Here is a sampling from thousands of responses, some of which have been edited:

Your e-mails: Asia
CNN.com asked its readers to share their views on the death of Pope John Paul II, who died Saturday. Here is a sampling from thousands of responses, some of which have been edited:

Terror alert out for Philippines
Australian and American citizens have been warned to postpone all but essential travel to the Philippines because of fears of terrorist attacks.

Survivors rescued after 10 days
As the confirmed death toll from devastating storms in the Philippines rises to more than 840, rescuers have pulled at least four survivors from a building that collapsed in mudslides 10 days ago.

Typhoon hampers Philippines rescue
High winds and heavy rain from the approaching Typhoon Namandol are hampering rescue efforts in the northeastern Philippines where emergency services are struggling with the aftermath of two earlier storms.

Deadly flooding, landslides hit Philippines
Amid fallen trees and coconut leaves, the dead are piled onto a muddy roadside. Surrounding them are survivors, signaling for help.

Bringing mobiles to the masses
Technology companies have always tried to win over the ultra-savvy consumer at the cutting edge of the market, but now they are going after another audience.

Hero's welcome for former hostage
The Philippines has laid on a hero's welcome for freed hostage Angelo dela Cruz who returned to Manila on Thursday.

Philippines troops out of Iraq
The last Philippine peacekeeping troops have left Iraq, meeting a demand by militants holding a Filipino hostage but defying opposition from its allies.

Philippines forces in Iraq to handover duties
Remaining members of the Philippines forces in Iraq will leave the country after handing over their duties to Polish troops Monday morning, according to Philippines Foreign Affairs Secretary Delia Albert.

Philippines forces leaving Iraq
Brig. Gen. Jovito Talparan, the head of the Philippines' forces in Iraq, and 10 members arrived Saturday in Kuwait and would continue to Manila Sunday, Foreign Affairs Secretary Delia Albert said.

Bombings rock Iraq on Baathist coup anniversary
Insurgent fighters launched deadly attacks across Iraq on Saturday, killing a U.S. soldier and at least seven Iraqis in separate attacks.

Filipino 'freed when troops leave'
Militants holding a Filipino hostage say they will free him when "the last Filipino leaves Iraq on a date that doesn't go beyond the end of this month," according to a statement read by the Arabic-language news network Al-Jazeera.

Report: Filipino's captors extend deadline
Militants who took a Filipino man hostage in Iraq have extended their death-threat deadline by 24 hours, hours after relatives were told he had been freed.

Officials 'won't bow to militants'
Bulgaria and the Philippines say they will not bow to demands by suspected insurgents who kidnapped and threatened to kill their citizens in Iraq.

Philippines gym blast toll rises
Philippine officials Monday upped the toll from a deadly weekend bombing outside a gymnasium in the southern Philippines, saying the blast killed 14 people and wounded 87 others -- including the town's mayor.

Philippines gym blast kills 12
A bomb has exploded near a gymnasium in the southern Philippines, killing 12 people and wounding several others -- including the town's mayor -- according to a national police spokesman.

No Way Out Competition to make products for Western companies has revived an old form of abuse: debt bondage.
For the privilege of working 12-hour shifts seven days a week in a factory where she makes plastic casings for Motorola cellphones, Mary, 30, will be in debt for years to come.

ASIA'S RISING EXPORT POWERS Thailand and Malaysia lead the next generation of little Japans. Their rapid
JAPAN blazed the export trail. But soon a new group of champions came roaring down that path -- Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea. Now a second pack of Asian nations is carving out a gr...

AQUINO NEEDS A NEW MIRACLE The plucky housewife-turned-President of the Philippines can take credit for the country's recent ret
THE SHATTERED Philippine economy is finally perking up, thanks largely to President Corazon Aquino. But the recovery is more sluggish and uncertain than it should be, and Aquino bears responsibilit...

Upcoming
February 4: President Reagan submits his fiscal 1987 budget to Congress. (For business reaction, see Politics & Policy.) February 7: Presidential elections are scheduled in the Philippines, pitting...

Revisiting Wartime: 66 Miles of Cruelty
An authoritative history of the Bataan Death March that seamlessly blends a wide-angle view with the stories of individual American, Filipino and Japanese participants.

Gates Grounded in Singapore
The specially fitted 747 that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates uses for travel broke down, and instead of traveling to Manila, he spent another night in Singapore.

American Woman Is Freed After Philippines Abduction
The woman, an activist from Los Angeles, had been kidnapped while volunteer work on May 19.

Cargo Ships Treading Water Off Singapore, Waiting for Work
One of the largest fleets of ships ever gathered idles just off Singapore, marooned by the receding tide of global trade.

The Philippines: Looking Good for Now
Without bigger commitments to long term investments, and better governance, it is hard to see the Philippines breaking out of a 40-year pattern of relative decline.

Keeping Up With the Thais
The political turmoil in Thailand is spurring the thought that maybe the Philippines is not so bad after all.

Vigilante Killings Rise Steadily in Philippines
Hundreds suspected criminals have been killed by death squads in the Philippines in the past several years, Human Rights Watch said in a report.

Red Cross Hostage in Philippines Is Free
It was unclear if the worker, Mary Jean Lacaba, 37, had been rescued by the military or was released by the Islamist group, Abu Sayyaf.

Philippines Officials Plead With Rebels on Captives
Officials repeated an appeal with the Abu Sayyaf rebel group not to behead aid workers after a deadline passed.

In Rape Case, Filipino Accuser Backtracks
A Filipino woman who successfully sought the conviction of an American serviceman for raping her in 2005 now says she has doubts about the events.

Soldiers in Philippines Clash With Abductors
Clashes between government troops and the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf continued to flare in the southern Philippines, with as many at least six people killed and 19 wounded, officials said.

Filipino Veterans Benefit in Stimulus Bill
After decades of pushing for benefits, Filipino veterans of World War II who are American citizens will receive lump-sum payments of $15,000. Noncitizens will get $9,000.

Naked Truth on a Movie Screen and in the Aisles
Brillante Ma Mendoza’s “Serbis” captures the vital, cacophonous sounds and the rich, chaotic textures of his native Philippines.

3 Red Cross Workers Abducted in Philippines
Three workers from the International Committee of the Red Cross were abducted by men believed to be members of the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group in the Philippines.

9 Killed in Rebel Attacks in Philippines
In recent months, fighting between separatists and government troops has killed dozens and displaced more than half a million Filipinos from their homes.