PHL, US signing pact on defense

MANILA – The Philippines and the United States announced they would sign an agreement today in Manila to allow a greater US military presence on Filipino soil for the next decade.

The deal will be signed a few hours before US President Barack Obama is due to arrive for a two-day visit to the Philippines, one of the United States' most loyal but militarily weakest Asian allies which is embroiled in an increasingly hostile territorial row with China.

US officials in Malaysia travelling with Obama said yesterday the agreement would be inked between the two nations, which are already bound by a pact to come to each other's aid if attacked and engage in regular war games together.

Catholic Philippines
hails 2 new saints
A charismatic leader and tradition-breaking pope

MANILA – Tens of thousands of Catholics attended special masses across Manila yesterday to celebrate Pope Francis' proclamation of two new saints, including John Paul II, a beloved figure in Asia's bastion of the faith.

Archbishop of Manila, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, led the service at the packed 16,500-seat Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City as huge screens beamed live images from the Vatican of the canonization of John Paul II and John XXIII.

Many of the devotees were tearful, recalling personal stories of how seeing John Paul II during his visits to the Southeast Asian nation in 1981 and 1995 had changed their lives.

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