Manila- Two miners were rescued alive on Monday after seven days of being trapped inside a flooded mineshaft in the northern Philippines.

Manila  - Four soldiers were wounded Monday in clashes between government troops and Muslim separatist rebels in the southern Philippines, a regional military spokesman said.

Major Armand Rico said the initial firefight between members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and government troops broke out early Monday in Datu Piang town in Maguindanao province, 960 kilometres south of Manila.

Rico said fighting also broke out in the nearby town of Guindulungan. There were no reported casualties on the MILF side.

The military has intensified operations against three MILF commanders who attacked towns and seized villages last month.

Manila- A German man wanted for internet fraud in his home country was arrested in the Philippines, a senior immigration official said Monday.

Peter Uwe Muller was arrested Friday in the northern city of Angeles, 75 kilometres south of Manila, Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan.

Libanan said Muller is facing a string of fraud cases in Dresden, Germany, after being accused of cheating European investors through internet trading.

Manila - Two strong earthquakes jolted the Philippine capital and nearby provinces Saturday but no injuries or damages were reported, a government agency said.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said the first earthquake with a magnitude of 5.3 rocked Manila and the nearby provinces of Mindoro, Bataan and Pampanga before noon.

Five minutes after the first earthquake occurred, a stronger quake with a magnitude of 6.5 also jolted the same area, the agency said

Both quakes were tectonic in origin and with the epicentre located off Mamburao town in Mindoro Occidental province, 165 kilometre south-west of Manila.

Manila -Eight civilians were injured when Muslim secessionist rebels attacked an army outpost in the southern Philippines, an army brigade commander said Saturday.

Colonel Marlou Salazar said Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels fired rocket-propelled grenades at an army outpost in Datu Piang town in Maguindanao province, 
960 kilometres south of Manila, late Friday but the grenades hit nearby houses of civilians.

Manila - Filipino activists held on Friday a silent protest in front of the Myanmar Embassy in the Philippine capital to remember the first anniversary of a bloody crackdown by the military junta against pro-democracy protesters in Yangon.

The protesters donned crimson sashes and lighted incense sticks to offer solidarity and support to the Myanmar people in their fight for democratic reforms.

An estimated 100 people, including a Japanese journalist, were killed when Myanmar soldiers opened fire at more than 100,000 protesters in the streets of Yangon on September 26-27 last year. More than 3,000 people have been arrested in the subsequent crackdown.