Badly needed aid and relief supplies have begun arriving in the hard-to-reach areas of the central Philippines one week after a super typhoon tore across the region.

From MANILA,Simone Orendain reports.

The aftermath of the disaster has made it difficult to tally the number of victims. But on Friday, the government estimated 1.4 million people had been displaced and 400,000 of them are still in need of food and basic necessities.
 
But now, officials with the U.S. Embassy in Manila say there are significantly more places receiving the goods for distribution, compared to a day ago.

The Philippine government has said this week the crisis has been one of the largest “logistics and relief operations ever taken on by the country.” On Friday officials defended the aid effort despite the failures to reach many storm survivors.

Simone Orendain, MANILA.

China says development of a "mixed ownership" economy is a key part of sweeping financial and social reforms announced Friday.

Details of 60 reform proposals endorsed this week by Communist Party leaders show private investment will soon be allowed in projects that have been dominated by state-owned forms. A summary of decisions by members of the party's central committee includes a call for market-oriented reforms, to be achieved, in part, by breaking up monopolies and introducing competition.

The social reforms China announced Friday made headlines around the world: the government will relax its "one-child" policy for families, in effect for decades, and it will abolish the country's "re-education through labor" camps, which police have used for years to imprison hundreds of thousands of people without trial.

U.S. President Barack Obama is taking steps to correct problems that have plagued his health care reform program since its launch in October.

VOA Pamela Dockins files this report from Washington.

Many Americans have been frustrated by the site's technical glitches, which have prevented them from buying health insurance.

This past week, Obama offered a fix to another problem that is causing some Americans to lose their health care policies under his new program. The president said insurance companies could now give these people the option of keeping their old plans for an extra year.

On Friday, the Republican-majority House of Representatives voted to make even more changes. A bill passed with the support of some House Democrats that would allow insurance companies to sell policies that lack all the health care reform mandates and renew customer policies that had been canceled.

Pamela Dockins,Washington.

At least 31 people have been killed and more than 200 wounded in Tripoli after militiamen opened fire on protesters who had marched to the headquarters of a militia to demand that it leave the Libyan capital.

The militias are holdovers from the 2011 uprising that ousted dictator Moammar Gadhafi and are a powerful force in the increasingly lawless North African country.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has rejected a U.S. request that Albania host the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons stockpile.

In a speech Friday, Mr. Rama said it is "impossible" for the Balkan nation to take part in the operation. He said no other countries have stepped forward to house a facility that will dismantle the weapons.

His announcement came amid strong opposition to the plan in Albania.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has cautioned Sri Lanka to speed up its human rights and reconciliation process from civil war or face an international investigation.

Speaking Saturday at a British Commonwealth summit in Colombo, Mr. Cameron told reporters that the issue of war crimes and human rights abuses during and after Sri Lanka's 27-year conflict are not going away. He said if Sri Lanka does not address international concerns over its human rights record, his country will push for a U.N.-led investigation.

Voters in the Maldives are choosing a new president in a runoff election that comes amid international pressure for the tiny archipelago nation to end months of political unrest.

Mohamed Nasheed is favored to win after receiving 47 percent of the vote last Saturday, falling just short of the majority needed to win outright.

The runoff was scheduled to be held the next day, but the Supreme Court in the Maldives ordered a postponement after a defeated candidate petitioned for a delay.

Mr. Nasheed accused the court of trying to prevent him from returning to office.

For more on this story,visit geilien.cn.From Washintong,I'm Bill Michaels.VOA News.