A recent report has pitted the Philippines as one of the most dangerous countries in the world, positioning it next to the likes of conflict-ridden Syria and Yemen.The report, entitled “Fact Sheet: Civilians in Conflict” by Sam Jones and Melissa Pavlik from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), placed India as the most dangerous country, with 1,385 violent events that targeted civilians.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's narcotics crackdown has become a "systematic" campaign of killing, Amnesty International alleged on Monday, urging the United Nations (UN) to launch a probe into thousands of deaths.The drug war is Duterte's signature initiative and is heavily supported by many Filipinos, but the nightly slaying of suspects by police and masked gunmen has provoked international condemnation.In a speech just hours after Amnesty issued its report attack
Over 200 guests fell ill with suspected food poisoning Wednesday after a meal at a birthday party for 90-year-old Imelda Marcos, the notorious former first lady of the Philippines.Ambulances rushed vomiting friends and supporters from a sports stadium in Manila where around 2,500 people gathered to honour the widow of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.Although Marcos was chased from power by a 1986 peaceful uprising, the family is still revered by many in the Philippines and has made a political
A number of apparent suicide bombings in the Philippines over the past 12 months are a worrying escalation of militancy driven by the influence of the Islamic State (IS) in Southeast Asia, security experts say. A decades-old Islamist insurgency in the southern Philippines has killed tens of thousands.But suicide attacks have been used extremely rarely, with foreign fighters blamed for the few that have been carried out.Authorities now fear however the most recent suspected suicide at
Towards the end of last month, on 21 June, the government of Myanmar ordered mobile phone operators in the country to shut down all Internet data across at least eight townships in Rakhine and one in neighbouring Chin state.
Five people including three soldiers were killed on Friday in a bombing targeting an elite army unit in the Philippines's restive south, which the Islamic State (IS) claimed was a suicide attack, authorities and experts said.The military said the kidnap-for-ransom group and IS-affiliate Abu Sayyaf was likely behind the midday blast on the island of Jolo, which also left nine other soldiers wounded.IS claimed the bombing was the work of two suicide attackers, according to tweets from Rita
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened to jail critics if they try to impeach him, as he faces accusations of defending Beijing after a boat crash in the disputed South China Sea.Duterte enjoys firm popular backing but his setting aside of the standoff with China over the resource-rich waterway is criticised as weakness by some in the Philippines.The issue has flared up since a Chinese fishing trawler hit and sank a Filipino boat on 9 June near Reed Bank, an area that is within M
A row of boys lying on newsprint-covered tables howl in pain and grit their teeth as part of "circumcision season" in the Philippines, when thousands of youngsters suffer through the procedure en masse.The removal of foreskins is a centuries-old rite of passage to adulthood in the country, which has one of the highest rates of male circumcision in the world. Yet even as circumcision comes under increasing scrutiny around the world, with critics branding it "child abuse
Whip out your good ol’ passport and dust off your trusted backpack, it’s time to plan for your next adventure. If you’re feeling like you’re in a rut and in need for new destinations to explore, boy, do we have some suggestions for you! The sky’s the limit when it comes to your travel plans! But let’s start with the following 11:1. Goa, IndiaIsolated from the rest of the country for more than 450 years by Portuguese rule, Goa has a distinct identity compared to the rest of India.
The sinking of a Filipino fishing boat by a Chinese vessel in the disputed South China Sea was "just a collision", the Philippine's President Rodrigo Duterte said Monday as he moved to soothe anger over the crash.The typically brash Duterte urged calm in his first public comments about the June 9 incident, which has fed into outrage over China's expansive claims to the resource-rich waterway.Critics have voiced anger over the Chinese trawler's failure to rescue the 22
The Philippines has filed a diplomatic protest against China after it said the crew of a Chinese fishing boat sank a Filipino vessel carrying 22 fishermen in the South China Sea (SCS), potentially inflaming a dispute calmed by warm ties between the nations’ leaders.Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin said on his personal Twitter account Thursday he had “fired off a diplomatic protest yesterday” on the incident, which he said in another tweet he’d call a "hit and run."President
The Philippines on Saturday rejected a call for an independent United Nations probe into Manila's alleged human rights violations, describing it as interference in the affairs of the Asian nation.UN rights experts asked the UN Human Rights Council on Friday to look into the "staggering number of unlawful deaths and police killings in the context of the so-called war on drugs, as well as killings of human rights defenders".President Rodrigo Duterte has overseen a narcotics crack
