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The size of China's aid offering to the Philippines sparked mixed feelings from its citizens. China has said it is sending $1.6m (£1m) to the Philippines to help with the aid effort following Typhoon Haiyan. Beijing had been criticised for its initial pledge of $100,000 - a fraction of that committed by other major nations. The offering from the world's second-largest economy, which came with another $100,000 from the Chinese Red Cross, prompted cries of protest from analysts and media in the West. The Reuters news agency called it "relatively paltry"; Time Magazine described it as "measly" and "insulting". True, China's initial donation paled beside the $20m given by the United States or the $10m pledged by Japan - or even the $2m donated by Indonesia. But for all the global criticism, it didn't attract much attention at home. Most Beijing residents questioned about it said they hadn't heard about it and of those that had, only o...

The UK government is to give an extra £30m in emergency aid following the devastating Philippines typhoon, Prime Minister David Cameron has announced. He said at the Sri Lanka Commonwealth summit that the scale of the disaster was "becoming clearer every day". The pledge takes British government assistance following Typhoon Haiyan to a total of £50m. Mr Cameron said an RAF C-130 Hercules aircraft would also be sent to help aid workers access hard to reach areas. 'Rapid response' The prime minister said: "Today I can announce we are providing another £30m to support the UN and the Red Cross emergency appeals and we are also supplying an RAF C-130 Hercules aircraft to help ensure aid workers can move between the worst affected areas and get aid to those who need it." He added: "A week after Typhoon Haiyan hit, the scale of the disaster is becoming clearer every day - over 3,600 dead, nearly 12 million affected. "They are going to need sustain...

Survivors of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines are increasingly desperate for food, water and medical supplies, officials in affected areas say. The official death toll stands at more than 2,000, though some reports say it could be as high as 10,000. The UN says more than 11 million people may have been affected and some 673,000 displaced. On Tuesday, eight people died when a wall collapsed as thousands of survivors mobbed a food warehouse. At the scene So where is the aid? That was the question on everyone's lips in the district of Pawing, outside Tacloban. Nearly every house has either been flattened or left without roofs or windows. People are living amid the sodden debris that was once their homes. They are wet, hungry, and increasingly angry. I watched them making the long trek into Tacloban in search of food, and returning empty-handed. One long queue outside a food warehouse quickly broke down into a free-for-all, people grabbing whatever they could. The local gover...

Typhoon Haiyan, which killed thousands in the Philippines, has made landfall in northern Vietnam, close to the China border, as a weaker Category One storm. It still carried sustained winds of up to 140 km/h (85mph) as it arrived close to the Ha Long Bay tourist destination. Some 600,000 people have been evacuated from at-risk regions in Vietnam. Nick Childs reports.

Tropical Storm Haiyan, which killed thousands as a typhoon in the Philippines, has made landfall in north Vietnam, near the China border. It still carried gusts of up to 157km/h (98 mph) as it arrived close to the Ha Long Bay tourist destination. Some 600,000 people have been evacuated from at-risk regions in Vietnam and at least six people have been killed. China issued a typhoon alert for Hainan island, Guangdong and Guangxi after Haiyan's path changed. The typhoon has decreased markedly in strength from the Category Five storm that swept through the Philippines in a day, causing mass destruction. It is now classified as a severe tropical storm. By 21:00 GMT on Monday, as it heads into China, it will have become a tropical depression. Rainfall will be the main hazard. A 48-hour accumulation of 100mm to 200mm is expected, with up to 400mm over high ground. The typhoon has already brought heavy rain to China's Hainan island Widespread flooding is a possibility, includi...

Tropical Storm Haiyan, which killed thousands as a typhoon in the Philippines, has made landfall in north Vietnam, near the China border. It still carried gusts of up to 157km/h (98 mph) as it arrived close to the Ha Long Bay tourist destination. Some 600,000 people have been evacuated from at-risk regions in Vietnam and at least six people have been killed. China issued a typhoon alert for Hainan island, Guangdong and Guangxi after Haiyan's path changed. The typhoon has decreased markedly in strength from the Category Five storm that swept through the Philippines in a day, causing mass destruction. It is now classified as a severe tropical storm. By 21:00 GMT on Monday, as it heads into China, it will have become a tropical depression. Rainfall will be the main hazard. A 48-hour accumulation of 100mm to 200mm is expected, with up to 400mm over high ground. The typhoon has already brought heavy rain to China's Hainan island Widespread flooding is a possibility, includi...

More than 7,000 islands make up the Philippines, but the bulk of its fast-growing population lives on just 11 of them. Although endowed with many fine beaches and a growing tourism industry, much of the country is mountainous and prone to earthquakes and eruptions from around 20 active volcanoes. It is often buffeted by typhoons and other storms. The Philippines - a Spanish colony for more than three centuries and named after a 16th century Spanish king - was taken over by the US in the early 20th century after a protracted rebellion against rule from Madrid. Spanish and US influences remain strong, especially in terms of language, religion and government. Self-rule in 1935 was followed by full independence in 1946 under a US-style constitution. The Philippines was marked by rapid economic development and a flourishing democracy until the rule of President Ferdinand Marcos, a close ally of the US, who imposed martial law in the early 1970s. His corrupt and repressive rule led to ec...

The town of Baco, in Oriental Mindoro province, to the north-west, is said to be 80% under water. The latest report reaching Us from the Philippines' Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council confirmed 229 deaths as of 11:00 GMT on Sunday. It said almost 630,000 people had been reported displaced. The Philippines has been offered aid from overseas: *.US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said the US was delivering helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft and search and rescue equipment on request *.The European Commission released 3m euros ($4m; £2.5m) in emergency funds and is sending a team of humanitarian experts *.The UK Rapid Response Facility is to provide £5m ($8m) in aid and a £600,000 shipment of emergency equipment. A team of four experts is already in the disaster zone *.The UN is to provide tents, food and relief supplies Typhoon Haiyan - one of the most powerful storms on record to make landfall - swept through six central Philippine islands on Friday. It brought sust...

The authorities in the Philippines are struggling to bring relief to some of the areas worst affected by Typhoon Haiyan, one of the deadliest storms ever to hit the country. Up to 10,000 are said to have died in Tacloban city and hundreds elsewhere. Hundreds of thousands are displaced. The typhoon flattened homes, schools and an airport in Tacloban. Relief workers are yet to reach some towns and villages cut off since the storm. In many areas there is no clean water, no electricity and very little food. Thousands of troops have been deployed to the disaster zones and military cargo planes are flying in supplies. However, rescuers are hampered by debris and damaged roads. Pope Francis pleaded for aid for the victims in the mostly Catholic country, saying: "Sadly, there are many, many victims and the damage is huge. Let's try to provide concrete help." US President Barack Obama issued a message saying he was "deeply saddened by the loss of life and extensive dam...

In movies and TV dramas, sodium thiopental is shown as a sinister truth serum used to get information out of captured people. Michael Mosley tried it out. One of the great challenges of living in our society is knowing when people are telling the truth or not. We lie all the time and are remarkably bad at detecting when other people are deliberately deceiving us. There are lots of urban myths about lie detecting, such as the claim that liars tend to look away, twitch their feet or touch their noses when lying (the so-called Pinocchio effect). In study after study, it has been shown that professionals such as policemen are no more reliable at detecting liars than the rest of us. So it's not surprising that for many years scientists have been working to develop "truth drugs" - drugs that will make you open up and tell all you know to an interrogator. One of the oldest and best known of these truth drugs is sodium thiopental. Although it was first developed in the 1930s,...

When a scene from Apocalypse Now was shot on an obscure beach in the Philippines in the late 70s, little did the film-makers know they were giving birth to the country's surfing culture. "Charlie don't surf," says the reckless and irrepressible Colonel Kilgore, in one of the most memorable lines of the Vietnam War film Apocalypse Now. Charlie is the American soldiers' derogatory nickname for their enemy, the Viet Cong, and the surf-mad colonel is trying to persuade his troops to ride the waves, despite the bombs falling all around them. Apocalypse Now, released in 1979, depicts the madness and mayhem of conflict, and is widely regarded as one of the most powerful war films ever made. But it also has another legacy - something that the director, Francis Ford Coppola, could not possibly have intended. Apocalypse Now was not actually filmed in Vietnam, but in the little fishing town of Baler in the northern Philippines. As the cameras rolled, local Filipinos li...

The 2013 Miss World pageant has been won by Miss Philippines, Megan Young, on the Indonesian island of Bali. US-born Ms Young, 23, beat 126 other contestants and pledged to be "the best Miss World ever". The competition was moved to Bali from the capital, Jakarta, because of protests from hardline Muslim groups. Security for Saturday's event was high in Bali, a resort island with a majority Hindu population, but no further demonstrations were reported. Miss France, Marine Lorphelin, came second in the contest and Miss Ghana, Carranzar Naa Okailey Shooter, took third place. Wearing a glittering gown, Ms Young, who moved to the Philippines at the age of 10, wept as the Miss World sash was put over her shoulder by 2012 winner Miss China. She told the cheering crowd in Nusa Dua in southern Bali she would "be myself in everything I do, to share what I know and to educate people". Heavily armed police patrolled the event in southern Bali Indonesia is the world...

Typhoon Usagi has wind speeds of up to 175 km/h (109 mph) The Philippines and Taiwan are braced for Typhoon Usagi, which meteorologists say could become the most powerful typhoon of 2013. The typhoon was 560km (350 miles) east-southeast of Taiwan and 360km (225 miles) from the northern Philippines on Friday morning, weather officials said. Both Taiwan and the Philippines have issued alerts and warned boats to exercise caution. The tropical hurricane is expected to hit China over the weekend. Typhoon Usagi had wind speeds of up to 175 km/h (110 mph) and gained strength early on Friday, Pagasa, the Philippine government's weather agency, said. Philippine officials have issued storm warnings for flash flooding, landslides and storm surges for several northern provinces. Emergency and health personnel in some provinces have also been placed on standby, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said. Meanwhile, Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau issued a land ...