Australian Warren Rodwell emerged Saturday withered from 15 months as a captive of Islamic militants in the lawless southern Philippines, his ribs protruding but able to smile.

Rodwell, a former soldier, 54, joked with policemen and a journalist who took exclusive video footage of him for AFP at Pagadian city police station on Mindanao island, shortly after his pre-dawn release.

A Malaysian court on Wednesday charged eight Filipinos with terrorism-related offenses, punishable by death, over an incursion that has left scores dead, the national news agency said.

Malaysian security forces have been pursuing more than 200 followers of a self-proclaimed Filipino sultan, many of whom are believed to be armed, who entered Sabah state on Borneo island last month to resurrect long-dormant land claims.

The Philippines has asked the United Nations to provide more protection to its peacekeeping forces, Manila said Wednesday after announcing its troops would remain in the Golan Heights after a recent abduction.

The foreign department said the Philippines' permanent representative to the U.N. wrote to the U.N. Security Council to express Manila's "grave concern" over the March 6-9 detention of 21 Filipino U.N. peacekeepers.

The World Health Organization has expressed concern that the Philippines is encouraging smoking by hosting one of the world's largest tobacco trade shows.

The two-day fair called ProTobEx ASIA opened Wednesday in the capital's Pasay city for the second consecutive year. Organizers said they chose the Philippines over other locations in Asia because of its vibrant tobacco industry and the "phenomenal" support of the Pasay city government.

The Philippines' highest court suspended on Tuesday a controversial birth control law that had met fierce opposition from the powerful Catholic Church.

Voting 10-5, the Supreme Court issued a four-month freeze against the law, which requires government health centers to hand out free condoms and schools to teach sex education, court spokesman Theodore Te said.

The Philippines was set to open a $1.2 billion giant casino on Saturday in a high-stakes bid to join the world's elite gaming destinations.

Solaire Manila Resorts is the first of four huge entertainment venues slated to rise on reclaimed land on Manila Bay that industry and government officials hope will draw millions of newly well-off Asian visitors.

The Philippines dispatched a new ambassador to China on Friday with a mandate to improve ties amid a festering territorial dispute between the South China Sea neighbours, the foreign department said.

Ambassador Erlinda Basilio left for Beijing to assume her post, which had been vacant since August last year, department spokesman Raul Hernandez said.

The Philippines said Thursday it would keep its contingent of United Nations peacekeepers in the Golan Heights, after Syrian rebels held 21 of them hostage for three days last week.

"The Philippine contingent to the UNDOF (U.N. Disengagement Observer Force) would remain stationed in the Golan Heights to perform its obligation in the name of peace," foreign department spokesman Raul Hernandez told reporters.

The Philippines makes its biggest bet this weekend in a high-stakes bid to join the world's elite gaming destinations, with the launch of a $1.2-billion casino on Manila Bay.

Solaire Manila Resorts is the first of four enormous entertainment venues slated to rise over a giant chunk of prime, reclaimed land that industry and government leaders expect will attract millions of cashed-up Asian tourists.

The Philippines said Tuesday that a Filipino who was due to be executed in Saudi Arabia this week had been given an extra three months to raise $1 million in "blood money" that would save his life.

Saudi King Abdullah granted the reprieve to laborer Joselito Zapanta, who had been sentenced to death by beheading for the 2009 murder of his Sudanese landlord, following an appeal by Philippine President Benigno Aquino.