A light aircraft has crashed into a school building near the Philippine capital Manila after its pilot requested an emergency landing shortly after takeoff.

A Philippine court today sentenced a father to 14,400 years in prison after he was convicted of the near daily rape of his teenage daughter over the course of a year.

THE Philippine military said yesterday it knows where a kidnapped elderly Irish priest is being held on a remote southern island and contact had been made with his abductors to get the hostage lifesaving medicine.

Philippine police have identified at least three people who may have kidnapped three Red Cross workers last week then turned them over to al Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf gunmen on violent Jolo Island.

The Philippine military says fierce fighting has erupted between troops and Muslim militants on two southern islands, leaving at least five soldiers dead and scores wounded.

GUNBATTLES between al-Qaida-linked guerrillas and the Philippine military in the south killed at least one marine and wounded 24 troops, the military said yesterday, as the country’s president said the government was on the verge of wiping out the militants.

Philippine police have intercepted more than 800 kilogrammes of elephant tusks being smuggled into the country from Kenya, a customs officer said today.

Philippine police have arrested several alleged members of the Muslim guerrilla group Abu Sayyaf, suspected of bombings in the southern port city of Zamboanga.

Heavily armed Muslim rebels released 89 hostages today in exchange for safe passage through Philippine military forces that have besieged them for more than 24 hours.

Muslim rebels in the southern Philippines have threatened to kill 50 hostages unless they are given safe passage to escape an all-out offensive by the Philippine army.

A Muslim separatist group in the Philippines today said it believed an American hostage was alive despite claims of another rebel group that they beheaded him.

A Muslim extremist group that snatched 20 people, including three Americans, from an island resort in the Philippines threatened today to kill all the hostages if the military moves attempt to rescue them.