Pounding rain from a tropical storm swelled rivers and sent walls of water crashing into two southern Philippine cities in the thick of night, killing at least 436 people, many caught in their beds, officials said today.

A bomb blasted a passenger bus in the southern Philippines, killing at least seven people and wounding nine others.

A funeral procession for eight journalists among 57 people killed in the Philippines' worst political violence was showered with flowers today, as security forces confiscated an entire armoury from a powerful clan suspected in the massacre.

A home-made bomb planted by suspected Muslim rebels exploded prematurely in a market in the southern Philippines today, killing a would-be attacker and wounding 15 civilians, officials said.