Asian stocks rallied on Wednesday, part of a global uptick after the U.S. Federal Reserve pledged to keep interest rates near zero for at least two years.

Tokyo rose 1.05 percent, or 94.26 percent, to 9,038.74, Sydney added 2.64 percent, or 106.5 points, to 4,141.3 and Seoul gained 0.27 percent, or 4.89 points, to 1,806.24.

At least 25 people were killed and nine others went missing as a slow-moving tropical storm dumped enormous amounts of rain across the Philippines' main island, authorities said Wednesday.

Nock-ten, named after a Laotian bird, was expected to cause more damage in the mountainous northern areas of Luzon island on Wednesday night, while also bringing heavy rain to Manila, the state weather service said.

The United States should stay out of a surge in tension in the disputed South China Sea, a Chinese government mouthpiece said Wednesday after Washington backed its ally the Philippines in the row.

"Looming over the South China Sea is the image of another big nation, the United States," said a commentary in the People's Daily, the ruling Communist Party's main propaganda outlet.

Near-naked women adorn billboards across the Philippine capital but similar images of men have been deemed too risqué, with giant posters of bare-chested rugby players pulled following a public outcry.

The huge billboards of the men wearing only the close-fitting underwear of a clothing company prompted much comment on the streets of Manila and online after they appeared about a week ago.

Animal rights activists and thousands of members of the public expressed outrage Wednesday over a photo on Facebook showing a puppy pegged to a clothes line in the Philippines.

The photo was apparently posted by a young Filipino man on his Facebook account, where he initially ignored reprimands by pet lovers and boasted he would not be jailed for "washing" his dog.

The U.S. State Department on Tuesday warned of the risk of terrorist activity on the Philippine island of Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago, but said attacks could occur anywhere, including Manila.

"Targeted sites may be public gathering places including, but not limited to, airports, shopping malls, conference centers, and other public venues," the State Department said.

After enduring wars, earthquakes, fires and poverty-driven neglect, the walled city of Intramuros that makes up the Philippine capital's historic centre may rise again as a tourist attraction.

Government planners see the UNESCO World Heritage listed but famously dilapidated site becoming one of Manila's biggest drawcards, similar to Singapore's Clarke Quay but with the added color of centuries of history.

An illiterate, slum-dwelling Philippine carpenter who was too poor to send his six children to school became an instant millionaire Thursday with the country's second biggest-ever lottery win.

The 60-year-old collected a 356.5-million-peso (eight-million-dollar) check from a single 20-peso ticket, which was all he could afford, said an aide to Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office general manager Jose Ferdinand Roxas.

Young people's fascination with television, the Internet, video games and other electronic entertainment is making it more difficult to protect the world's biodiversity, a U.N. official warned Tuesday.

Because many young people are urbanized and alienated from nature, they may not realize the value of protecting natural ecosystems and species, said Ahmed Djoghlaf, the United Nations executive secretary on biological diversity.