Phillipines

Death toll due to Typhoon Rai in the Philippines rose to 31 from the previous 19, reported local media on December 18. Visayas and Mindanao area witnessed a typhoon, leaving several injured and property damage worth $3.5 million. Nearly 3,32,000 people were evacuated from the region, said the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council spokesperson Mark Timbal. He said, identities of four out of 31 was confirmed.

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded this year to Philippines' journalist Maria Ressa and Russia's Dmitry Muratov on October 8 by Norway's Nobel Committee. They were honored "for their courageous fight for freedom of expression" in their respective countries. Notably, both the journalists have become the first to receive the award after Carl von Ossietzky received it in 1935 for disclosing Germany's ''secret post-war rearmament project''.