Firefighters on Wednesday placed under control a blaze that tore through a residential area in Manila City, Philippines, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of families and destroying dozens of houses.

The Philippines has called on China to adopt a more measured tone in official statements, as tensions rise amid an ongoing exchange of sharp rhetoric between Chinese diplomats and Philippine officials.

The Asian Development Bank has approved a new regional project on transboundary water cooperation, with Azerbaijan joining six other participating countries to strengthen climate-resilient water management across Central Asia and the Caucasus.

The protests come after two deadly typhoons battered the Philippines this month.

A cargo truck driver was killed and five others injured after the truck crashed into multiple vehicles and caught fire in Quezon province, southeast of Manila, the Philippines, on Monday, according to local police.

The Philippine Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Animal Industry on Wednesday said it confirmed the detection of the country's first case of "High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza Type A Subtype H5N9" in Camarines Sur province, southeast of Manila.

Soaring temperatures shut down schools in nearly half the Philippine capital on Monday, local officials said, as the torrid dry season started in the tropical Southeast Asian country.