Nearly a million people in the Philippines were evacuated from their homes Saturday as the most powerful typhoon of the year so far barrelled towards the country, with authorities warning of "destructive" winds and flooding.Typhoon Goni is expected to slam into Catanduanes Island Sunday morning with wind speeds of up to 205 kilometres per hour (127 miles per hour) before crossing the main island of Luzon, the state weather forecaster said.

Eight people were killed and dozens injured when a series of earthquakes struck islands in the far northern Philippines early Saturday, toppling historic buildings and sending terrified locals fleeing their homes.The tremors hit the province of Batanes, a group of sparsely populated islets north of the nation's largest Luzon island, tearing deep cracks in roads and forcing the evacuation of a hospital.Authorities said some of the dead, including two babies under a year old, were crushed