China accused the Philippines on Friday of having "provoked trouble" in the South China Sea with U.S. backing, a week after Beijing and Manila traded accusations over a new confrontation in the disputed waters.

The United States Navy will enhance the firepower of its fleet of fast and agile warships, making them capable of launching long-range missiles while deployed in the contested South China Sea. Announcing the upgrade,

Climate change is making the Philippines more vulnerable to tropical storms, with rising temperatures already putting the country at nearly double the risk of deadly typhoons, scientists said in a report published on Thursday.

Human-induced climate change fuelled a rare string of back-to-back typhoons that battered the Philippines this year and boosted the chances of powerful storms making landfall, a new study said on Thursday.