Xinhua Asia-Pacific news summary at 1600 GMT, July 10

MANILA -- The Philippines' Department of Finance (DOF) and the World Bank (WB) have signed a loan agreement of 600 million U.S. dollars to fund a rural development project that will modernize agriculture and improve infrastructure, the finance department said on Monday.

The DOF said the loan agreement was signed on July 7 for the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) Scale-up, which is geared towards trans