More rain adds to misery
in flooded Manila, Luzon

Heavy rain pounded the Philippine capital and surrounding areas for a third day yesterday, adding to the misery of nearly 300,000 exhausted people displaced from their flooded homes.

Fifteen people have been confirmed killed by the monsoon rains and floods that have battered the country's main island of Luzon.

The government's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said the victims mostly drowned, including an 84-year-old woman who perished in a suburb of Manila.

‘God told me to resign’

Benedict XVI has said God told him to resign as pope and that his successor's "charisma" reflected this divine inspiration, Catholic news agency Zenit has reported.

"God told me" to step down, the pope emeritus was quoted as saying by a visitor who met him recently, Zenit said in a report in Italian media yesterday.

The 86-year-old Benedict XVI, who has retained his papal name, now lives in a former monastery inside the Vatican walls and has made no public appearances.

He only very rarely meets with visitors, Zenit said.

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