Manila - Philippine shares plunged more than 4 per cent for the second straight day on Tuesday following a meltdown in Wall Street amid concerns over the US financial system.

The Philippine Stock Exchange's 30-share composite index lost 114.44 points, or 4.51 per cent, to close at 2,421.72 from Monday's finish of 2,536.16.

On Monday, stocks fell by 4.15 per cent.

A total of 1.76 billion shares valued 2.56 billion pesos (54.00 million dollars) were traded on Tuesday.

Manila - Australia announced Monday a 12-million-peso (255,863-US dollar) grant of humanitarian assistance to thousands of people affected by fighting between Muslim separatist rebels and the military in the southern Philippines.

Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Rod Smith said the fund would help address the needs of people "uprooted from their homes and separated from their means of livelihood" because of the ongoing conflict in the southern region of Mindanao.

"Assistance will include essential items like water and sanitation facilities, food and counseling services in evacuation centers," he said.

Manila - Remittances from overseas Filipinos rose 18.17 per cent in the first seven months of the year as more Filipinos found employment abroad, the Philippine central bank said Monday.

The central bank said remittances from January to July reached 9.60 billion dollars, higher than 8.13 billion dollars in the same period last year.

In July alone, remittances from overseas Filipinos rose 24.64 per cent to 1.36 billion dollars from 1.09 billion dollars in the same month last year.

There are estimated to be more than 8 million Filipinos working abroad. The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration said that from January to July this year, an additional 761,836 Filipinos left for jobs abroad, a jump from 594,445 last year.

Manila - Philippine shares fell sharply by 4.15 per cent on Monday on fresh fears over the continuing financial woes in the United States.

The Philippines Stock Exchange's 30-share composite index plunged 109.96 points to close at 2,536.16 from Friday's finish of 2,646.12.

A total of 2.02 billion shares valued at 1.91 billion pesos (40.65 million dollars) were traded.

Losers swamped gainers 92 to 11, with 33 issues unchanged.

Vienna, The Philippines and Australia signed agreements to receive tsunami warning information from the Comprehensive Nuclear- Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) on Friday.

These countries can now use CTBTO data from the organization's 232 seismic monitoring stations that were set up all over the globe to detect nuclear weapons tests.

"This will improve the capability of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology to determine the occurrence of a tsunami in the archipelago and issue public warnings," Alberto G Romulo, the Philippines' Secretary of Foreign Affairs, said after signing the agreement.

Manila - US soldiers are backing the Philippine military's offensive against Muslim rebels in the south but the Americans are not directly involved in combat operations, the country's armed forces chief said Friday.

General Alexander Yano belied claims by government critics that hundreds of US soldiers stationed in the southern region of Mindanao were engaged in combat operations against Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas.

"There is no direct participation," he said. "They [the US troops] may be involved in combat-related activities, but these are not combat in itself."