The Philippines welcomed a record number of tourists to its beaches and diving spots last year despite the six-month closure of well-known destination Boracay island.
Philippine government officials and employees will no longer be allowed to travel abroad during disasters and emergencies such as typhoons from 2019, according to the Philippine Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
Pawnshop chain Cebuana Lhuillier of the Philippines announced on January 19 that personal information of around 900,000 clients were affected in a data breach involving their email server used for marketing purposes.
The Philippines registered a high level of economic growth in 2017 and 2018, according to Secretary of Department of Budget and Management Benjamin Diokno.
Three Russian Navy warships docked at the South Harbor in Manila, the Philippines on January 6 for a six-day visit to the Southeast Asian country, the Philippine Navy and the Russian Embassy in Manila said.
Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc have cabled messages of condolences to Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte over human and property losses caused by storm Usman.
The death toll from landslides and devastating floods in the central Philippines triggered by tropical depression Usman climbed to 85, and 20 people were missing as rescuers slowly reached cut-off communities, officials said on January 2.
Indonesian authorities on January 1 said that casualties of the deadly landslide triggered by heavy rain had mounted to at least 15, while dozens remained missing in western Indonesia.
At least two people were killed while 21 others were injured when an explosion occurred on December 31 afternoon, near the entrance of a mall in Cotabato city in southern Philippines, Xinhua news agency reported.
As many as 68 people in the Philippines were killed in Storm Usman while floods and landslides triggered by the storm forced thousands of others to flee.
The Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) of Region 4 on December 30 brought four Philippine sailors, who were injured while working onboard a foreign vessel to Nha Trang port in the central province of Khanh Hoa for treatment.
Four people were killed in landslides and thousand others fled their homes after tropical low pressure Usman swept through the central Philippine islands on December 29.