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 - Three communist rebels were killed in a clash with government troops in the central Philippines, an army spokesman said Friday.

Manila - Philippine share prices surged 4.69 per cent on Friday, buoyed by the US government's plan to rescue troubled financial institutions.

The 30-share composite index of the Philippine Stock Exchange gained 110.42 points to close at 2,462.79 from Thursday's finish of 2,352.37.

Gainers led losers 99 to 19, while 29 stocks were unchanged.

A total of 1.03 billion shares worth 3.095 billion pesos (66.274 million dollars) were traded.

Cotabato City, Philippines (dpa) - Philippine police have recovered a homemade bomb outside an elementary school in a southern province, a regional military spokesman said Friday.

Major Armand Rico said police officers found the explosive device late Thursday near the gate of the school in Carmen town in North Cotabato province, 960 kilometres south of Manila.

Gaza- Two underground tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border used for smuggling collapsed Thursday, killing two Palestinians, medical officials said.

The fatalities were named as Ibraheem Zu'rob, 19 and Ahmed Slaikh, 23. Officials at Abu Yousef al-Najjar hospital said they were already dead when they were brought to the hospital.

Tunnel collapses under the Gaza-Egypt border have become more frequent of late as Egypt steps up its efforts to combat the smuggling of goods and weapons into the salient.

Iligan City, Philippines - One soldier was killed and eight were wounded in an ambush by Muslim separatist rebels in the southern Philippines, an army spokesman said Thursday.

The soldiers were attacked Wednesday along a highway in Calanugas town in Lanao del Sur province, 810 kilometres south of Manila, Lieutenant Colonel Agane Adriatico said.

Adriatico, a regional army spokesman, said the soldiers were responding to intelligence reports that 100 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels had occupied parts of the highway.