All Blog Posts from World Watch

The fourth typhoon to lash the Philippines in a month brought pounding rain and winds to the eastern coast early Saturday as it barreled toward Manila along the same path as an earlier storm that has left the capital still partially submerged.

Thousands were evacuated from their homes in the eastern province of Quezon, where Typhoon Mirinae made landfall after midnight, as rains threatened to unleash mudslides.

Reporting from Manila, CBS News' Barnaby Lo says the Philippine government isn't taking chances this time.

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The long narrow road leading to Bagong Silangan, a village in a Manila suburb, has no trace of the epic flooding that hit the Philippine capital last Saturday. But what awaits at the end of the road is a clear case of a humanitarian crisis. In a covered basketball court, 30 dead bodies, including children, lie alongside evacuees that number more than a thousand.

Anthony Ignacio is grieving the loss of his brother, Rolly, who died saving people’s lives.

"Even if it meant risking his own life, he willingly helped save others, I’m proud of him," said Ignacio. "But it’s sad especially because he left four children."

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It was a shining moment in Philippine history – the 1986 People Power Revolution, a bloodless coup that toppled the 20-year dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos.

I was five years old then, and knew little about the historic event that the whole world watched with wonder. The world admired the Filipino people, and in particular, a woman in yellow, a self-described plain housewife named Corazon “Cory” Aquino.

She led the revolution, the culmination of a battle for freedom that was her husband’s advocacy. It was a battle she won, and a victory that gave us back our nation’s democracy.

The events that transpired in the past five days are a testament to how much Filipinos appreciate what Cory has done for the country. Last Saturday, the former president of the Philippines, a worldwide democracy icon, succumbed to colon cancer.

Since then, there has been an outpouring of love and gratitude from Filipinos. As word spread about her death, people went to her home to pray in silence for her; some left flowers, notes, and cards. The whole city of Manila, gripped with grief, was adorned with yellow ribbons and banners. And even before her remains arrived at the wake, people started lining up to pay their last respects.

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Updated 1:30 a.m. EDT, Friday.

A baby girl with two heads was born at Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital (FMH), a government hospital in Manila, the Philippines on Tuesday night.

"Baby Girl Arciaga," now under observation at the Philippine Heart Center, was born with two hearts contained in one sac. The heads have separate brains and spines, but share most other vital organs, including lungs and kidneys.

"This is a very rare case. It's new even to us," Dr. Ruben Flores, FMH's director, said in a television interview.

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Jennifer is a Filipino domestic helper who experienced sexual harrassment and physical abuse while working in Hong Kong. Still, she hoped for more work outwide her country, and signed up at a Manila employment agency. Little did she know that she was to go through a similar ordeal, this time being forced to live as a prisoner in her own country.

A handful of fellow prospective overseas workers escaped a 6-story building in which they were held captive by Al-Alamia International Manpower Services, where police investigators discovered 500 other women trapped inside, living as slaves. Incredulously, many of the women refused to be rescued, afraid that leaving the facility would hurt their chances of acquiring work overseas.

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For more than two months, two 20-foot container vans sat idly at the port of Manila. Official documents indicated that blow molding machines and plastic scraps were inside the shipments. But when Philippine Customs authorities inspected them early this week, what they found were not scraps but valuables — elephant tusks estimated to be worth over $2 million.

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The Maersk Alabama crew is finally back in the United States after successfully fighting off Somali pirates, and capturing the attention of the world.

But in Manila, more than 100 Filipino families are still desperately awaiting the release of their loved ones.

One American cargo captain has been rescued. But 250 other seafarers, mostly from poor, developing nations, remain in captivity. Almost half of them are Filipino.

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Tension gripped the Philippines Tuesday as a deadline set by al Qaeda-linked militants to behead one of three Red Cross workers passed. Military sources confirm all three are still alive and that the Abu Sayyaf group is being flexible.

Officials declared a state of emergency on the Philippine island of Sulu, where the militants are holed up, just minutes after the 2 p.m. deadline passed.

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After being held captive for 74 days on the island of Sulu by the Abu Sayyaf (an al Qaeda-linked Islamic militant group), the fate of three International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) workers still hangs in the balance, even as more than 1,000 government forces have withdrawn from their positions — a demand of the kidnappers.

“This is a complete turnaround from our previous position of not pulling out, because of our desire to settle this crisis peacefully,” said Sulu Governor Abdusakur Tan in an interview with Sulu-based reporter Nickee Butlangan.

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Hundreds of dolphins were trapped in shallow waters near the coast of Bataan province in the Philippines early Tuesday morning. At least three dolphins, one of them pregnant, were found dead by residents in the seaside town of Pilar.

Local officials say although a mass beaching is not unprecedented, it is the first time such a huge number of dolphins have beached themselves — an estimated 400 to 500, according to the Philippine Coast Guard.

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