Rights groups raised fears Wednesday after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announced plans to create a "death squad" targeting suspected communist rebels, saying it would worsen the "calamity" triggered by his deadly drug war.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday made light of his penchant for daytime dozes after his office said "power naps" had caused the gruff leader to miss a number of key meetings at a Singapore summit.

Typhoon Yutu slammed into the Philippines Tuesday with fierce winds that sheared off roofs and snapped trees, after thousands were evacuated ahead of the powerful storm's arrival.

Cutting a path just south of last month's Typhoon Mangkhut, which killed dozens, the new storm tore across the Philippines' most populous island, dumping heavy rain along the way.

Philippine inflation jumped to an almost 10-year high in September, data showed Friday, putting pressure on President Rodrigo Duterte to act as the cost of food and fuel hit the country's poor in the pocket.

Consumer prices have risen every month this year, with food surging further after Typhoon Mangkhut, the world's most powerful storm in 2018, smashed into the country's northern agricultural heartland in mid-September.

Super Typhoon Mangkhut -- the biggest storm of the year -- smashed through the Philippines on Saturday, claiming its first victims as two women were killed when a rain-drench hillside collapsed on them and another drowned in Taiwan.

Kuwait said Wednesday it is expelling the Philippine ambassador and recalling its envoy from Manila as tensions rise over the treatment of domestic workers.

Kuwait's foreign minister on Tuesday condemned what he called an "escalation" by Manila after the Philippines expanded a ban on its nationals working in Kuwait. 

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened to eat alive the Islamist militants behind the abduction and beheadings of two Vietnamese sailors in a furious reaction to the killings.

The Philippines' Supreme Court on Tuesday endorsed President Rodrigo Duterte's enforcement of martial law across the southern third of the country, which he said was necessary to defeat Islamic State group-backed militants.

Islamic militants launched a day-long assault on a southern Philippine village Wednesday during which they held 31 people hostage inside a school, authorities said, raising fears of spreading violence as other jihadists fought a month-long urban war nearby.

Hundreds of gunmen attacked a lightly guarded military outpost at dawn, with some then taking over the school and using civilians as human shields throughout the day before fleeing at night, the military said.