Rescue teams search for mountaineer in Mayon

LEGAZPI CITY -- The Albay government sent two search and rescue teams on Wednesday morning to look for a foreign mountaineer who sent a message through his cellphone to a villager saying he got lost and broke his leg while climbing Mayon volcano.

Albay Governor Joey Salceda, Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) chairperson, identified the missing foreign mountaineer as Mark Yuchagaev, reportedly a Russian, but authorities are still confirming his true nationality.

Social worker seized in Basilan

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Updated 1:46 p.m.)– Four gunmen believed to be Abu Sayyaf bandits abducted Wednesday a government social worker in a remote village in Basilan province, said a police official on Wednesday.

Basilan Police Director Mario Dapilloza identified the victim as Jenelyn Enpera, who was abducted around 9 a.m. Wednesday in the village of Ulitan, Ungkaya Pukan town.

State media shows North Korea has new military chief

PYONGYANG, North Korea — A North Korean state media dispatch shows that leader Kim Jong Un has named a hardline general as his new military chief.

Teachers credited with saving kids in Oklahoma

MOORE, Oklahoma — The principal's voice came on over the intercom at Plaza Towers Elementary School: A severe storm was approaching and students were to go to the cafeteria and wait for their parents to pick them up.

But before all of the youngsters could get there, the tornado alarm sounded.

Oklahoma tornado death toll down to 24; no Filipino killed

MOORE, Oklahoma -- Authorities lowered the death toll from a massive tornado that devastated a town outside Oklahoma City, saying it killed at least 24 people, down from 51 -- none of them were Filipinos.

Spokeswoman Amy Elliot said she believes some victims were counted twice in the early chaos of the storm, adding downed communication lines and problems sharing information with officers exacerbated the problem.

Aquino advises Jun Lozada to just face charges

MANILA -- President Benigno Aquino III denied Tuesday that his administration was harassing whistleblower Rodolfo Noel "Jun" Lozada, who is facing graft charges before the Sandiganbayan.

Aquino told reporters that the NBN-ZTE deal whistleblower during the time of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo should instead face the charges against him.

‘Rebels’ raid security agency, abduct 6 in Tagum

DAVAO CITY (Updated) -- Suspected communist rebels raided a security agency and seized six people, including the agency’s manager and a child, in Tagum City, Davao del Norte on Monday evening, authorities said.

The suspects, believed to be members of the New People’s Army (NPA), also carted away unspecified number of high-powered firearms during the raid, which occurred around 8 p.m. at the Tagum City branch of the Davao Security and Investigation Agency (Dasia) in Orange Valley Subdivision, said Police Regional Office-Davao Director Jaime Morente.

Ex-agriculture official faces jail term for faking meal receipts

MANILA -- A former official of an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture will spend between six months and more than two years in jail for tampering with meal receipts in 2000, the Office of the Ombudsman said Tuesday.

Raul Montemayor, ex-chairman of the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC), was also ordered by Sandiganbayan Third Division to pay a fine of P9,000 for being guilty of three counts of falsification of public document under the Revised Penal Code.

Philippines files protest vs Chinese incursions

MANILA -- The Philippines has protested the presence of a Chinese warship, two surveillance vessels and fishing boats off a shoal occupied by its military in the disputed Spratly Islands, in the latest territorial squabble between the Asian countries, officials said Tuesday.

President Benigno Aquino III warned, meanwhile, that the Philippines is ready to fight back against any threat and announced plans to buy more warships and aircraft for its ill-equipped military, including anti-submarine attack helicopters.

Quezon City shooting victim dies at hospital

MANILA -- A 19-year-old man shot in front of an Iglesia ni Cristo Church in Quezon City on Monday night died at a hospital several hours later, police said.

John Desiree Reyes, a resident of Bahay Caridad, Barangay Dona Imelda, Quezon City, was found with gunshot wound by responding village authorities around 10 p.m. Monday.