Manila - Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has appointed Police Deputy Director General Jesus Versoza as the country's new police chief, a government statement said Monday.

Versoza, the current police deputy chief for operations, will replace Director General Avelino Razon who was set to retire later in the month.

Arroyo issued the appointment of Versoza shortly before leaving for the United States late Sunday to attend the 63rd United Nations General Assembly in New York, the statement said.

Manila - Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will push ahead with a trip to the United States she cancelled earlier due to escalating violence in the country's troubled south, her press secretary said Wednesday.

According to Press Secretary Jesus Dureza, Arroyo decided to proceed with the visit to New York to attend the 63rd United Nations General Assembly and other meetings with global leaders.

Manila - Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Tuesday ruled out resuming stalled peace talks with the country's largest Muslim separatist rebel group amid escalating violence in the troubled southern region.

"We will not negotiate with a gun pointed to our head," Arroyo said in a message marking the signing of a peace agreement with a separate Muslim rebel group in September 1996. "Innocent civilians should not be terrorized for crass political gain."

Manila - Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Thursday cancelled a trip to the United States later in the month amid fighting between government troops and Muslim rebels in the country's strife-torn southern region of Mindanao.

Press Secretary Jesus Dureza said Arroyo cancelled her trip to New York in time for the 63rd United Nations General Assembly to focus on local concerns.

Manila  - Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said Monday the military's offensives against Muslim separatist rebels in the south, which have displaced more than 270,000 civilians, would help remove obstacles to peace talks with the guerrillas.

Arroyo stressed that her government has not declared an all-out war against the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), military operations were only targeted against those commanders and members who launched a spate of deadly attacks this month.

Manila - Fighting between government troops and Muslim separatist rebels in the southern Philippines, which has displaced nearly 160,000 people, were expected to end soon, a senior aide of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said Wednesday.

Presidential peace adviser Hermogenes Esperon said Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels were moving out of the villages they occupied in North Cotabato province, 930 kilometres south of Manila, due to intensified military airstrikes and ground assaults.