Manila - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Wednesday it has expanded its trade finance facilitation programme to 1 billion dollars to help ease a "dramatic reduction" in funding caused by the global financial crisis.

The Manila-based ADB said the programme's expansion could generate up to 15 billion dollars in much-needed trade support by the end of 2013.

Manila  - A Philippine Red Cross official on Wednesday asked Muslim militants to prove that they did not behead one of three abducted Red Cross workers after the government ignored their demand for a troop pullout on a southern island.

Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the Philippine National Red Cross, asked the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf rebels to allow him to talk to the three Red Cross captives on Jolo island, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila.

Manila  - Seventeen people were killed when communist rebels attacked a military outpost in the southern Philippines on Tuesday, an army spokesman said.

An undetermined number of guerrillas swooped down on an army patrol base in Malaybalay City in Bukidnon province, 855 kilometres south of Manila, according to Major Michele Anayron.

Anayron said troops manning the outpost clashed with the rebels, killing 11 of them.

Manila  - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) urged Muslim militants in the southern Philippines to spare the lives of three Red Cross workers amid a threat to behead one of the hostages on Tuesday.

The Abu Sayyaf rebel group has given the Philippine government until Tuesday afternoon to meet a demand to pullout all soldiers, policemen and militiamen from practically the entire Jolo island, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila.

Manila /Geneva - The Red Cross on Monday issued an emotional plea for the lives of its staff members being held hostage by Abu Sayyaf rebels in the Philippines who threatened to behead one of the aid workers.

"Our message to Abu Sayyaf is: Please spare and release Mary Jean, Eugenio and Andreas," Jakob Kellenberger, the president of the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a statement.

Manila - Muslim militants holding captive three Red Cross workers in the southern Philippines have issued new demands for the release of one hostage, an official said Monday.

Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said the Abu Sayyaf rebels warned they would behead one of the hostages on Jolo island, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila, on Tuesday afternoon if their new demands were not met.