New mudslides claim 200 lives in Philippines

Dozens of landslides in the rain-soaked mountains of the northern Philippines have killed up to 200 more people. The latest calamity brought the death toll to more than 400 from the Philippines' worst flooding in 40 years after back-to-back storms started pounding the country's north last month. About 100 people were feared dead in landslides in two provinces - Benguet and Mountain Province - along the Cordillera mountain range, about 125 miles north of Manila. Landslides blocked the roads to the mountain city of Baguio in the heart of the Cordillera region and exact figures were hard to get. About 100 landslides have struck the region since the weekend. Seventeen bodies have been recovered so far from Kibungan village in Benguet's La Trinidad township, which was almost entirely buried in mud and debris on Thursday. Up to 40 villagers were estimated to have died, while more than 100 were moved to safety. In Buyagan village, also in La Trinidad, only three out of about 100 houses remained visible after Thursday night's landslide buried most structures there.