A growing number of young Asian men are using a plethora of whitening products.
Cheryl Ravelo/Reuters
Skin whitening among women has long been commonplace, but now young Asian men too, are using a plethora of whitening products.
The ascendency of Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines is just one of the shifts away from liberalism in southeast Asia.
Reuters/Lean Daval Jr
Shifts in southeast Asian countries’ political leadership has led to another worrying region-wide shift: away from liberalism.
Armed security forces take a part in a drug raid in Manila.
Damir Sagolj/Reuters
Duterte says there are three million drug users in the Philippines. There are almost certainly many fewer than that.
Duterte has, among other things, mobilised nationalist antipathy against foreign interference to deflect criticism of his violent drug crackdown.
KING RODRIGUEZ / PPD / HANDOUT
Duterte used his “tough on crime” approach to win the election as a political outsider, promising to restore law and order with strongman rule. His approval rating has since soared to over 90%.
Filipinos protest after a huge bombing in Davao.
EPA/Eugenio Loreto
A major insurgency is humiliating the Filipino army and sucking in huge ransoms – but all anyone wants to talk about is Islamic State.
Iron fist: Duterte and the Philippine Air Force.
Romeo Ranoco/Reuters
The foul-mouthed, tough-talking president of the Philippines is ironically a pragmatist on foreign policy.
Jennelyn Olaires cradles the body of her partner, who was killed on a street by a vigilante group in a spate of drug-related killings in the Philippines.
Reuters/Czar Dancel
ASEAN has been silent over the blatant disregard of human lives by the Philippines and Indonesia in the name of the ‘war on drugs’.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gives the EU the finger on Sept. 20, 2016.
REUTERS/Lean Daval Jr.
President Duterte has picked fights with President Obama and with the EU. His behavior is shaking the U.S.-Philippine alliance and stability in Southeast Asia.
Insulting Barack Obama made the headlines, but Rodrigo Duterte’s remarks referred to a long and dark history of US interference in the Philippines.
Narendra Shresthma, Mast Irham/EPA
The people of the Philippines and their president know all too well the hypocrisy of being lectured by the United States about violence, human rights and democracy.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte.
Jorge Silva/Reuters
Why would the Philippine president risk alienating an important and generous ally?
No love lost.
EPA/Narendra Shrestha/Mast Irham
Calling Barack Obama a ‘son of a whore’ was just another PR disaster for a country already subject to lazy stereotypes.
Residents of a Manila neighbourhood gather at the scene of the killing of an alleged drug dealer by police.
EPA/Francis R. Malasig
To understand Rodrigo Duterte’s rise to power and the public support for killing drug dealers and users, we need to distinguish the empirical from the normative – the ‘what is’ from ‘what should be’.
Filipino fishers in the South China Sea.
EPA/FRANCIS R. MALASIG
The South China Sea produces more than 10% of the world’s fish – but the catch is increasingly under threat.
EPA/Francis R. Malasig
Feared and deplored for his slash-and-burn approach to criminal justice, Rodrigo Duterte has suddenly shown his conciliatory side.
The Philippine Daily Inquirer records 265 deaths of suspected criminals and drug users between June 30, the day Rodrigo Duterte assumed office, and July 18.
Reuters/Czar Dancel
The Philippines is seeing a surge of extrajudicial killings of suspected criminals and drug users since Rodrigo Duterte assumed office last month.
President Rodrigo Duterte talks with former president Benigno Aquino III, shown here in 2013.
Ryan Lim/Malacañang Photo Bureau
The Philippines suffers from many internal conflicts. Can the new president bring about a much-needed peace?
DiegoMariottini / shutterstock
Islands are very special when it comes to quirks of evolution.
Chinese dredging vessels are purportedly seen in the waters around Mischief Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.
Reuters
China claims ownership of almost all of the South China Sea and refuses to abide by a recent ruling calling that hogwash. Why does China want to control the sea so badly?
EPA/Ritchie B. Tongo
A landmark ruling against Beijing will not solve one of the world’s most worrying territorial disputes.
The decision on China’s activities in the South China Sea is hugely significant for the development of the Law of the Sea.
EPA
The decision on China’s activities in the South China Sea undoubtedly represents a sweeping victory for the Philippines. It is, however, unenforceable.