Basketball is the most popular sport in the Philippines. In the aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda in November 2013, which left more than 6,000 dead and many more homeless, basketball hoops were some of the first things to be repaired and rebuilt amongst the rubble. Here Chris McGrath from Getty Images gives an insight into the country's passion for the game. Continue reading... ...
The Impunity Index 2014 published by the Committee to Protect Journalists has named Iraq as the 'worst offender' and included Syria for the first time. See the full list of countries where journalists' murders are most likely to go unpunished Syria has joined a list - compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists - of countries where journalists murders are most likely to go unpunished. The 2014...
The targeted murders of journalists in Syria means that the war-torn country has entered the annual "impunity index" produced by the Committee to Protect Journalists' (CPJ). Syria joins Iraq, Somalia, the Philippines, and others on the list of countries where journalists are murdered regularly and their killers go free. There was some (slight) good news. Four countries on the index the Philippines,...
Military launched assault on gang linked to al-Qaida in bid to capture commander notorious for beheading victims Around 20 soldiers have been wounded in a gunbattle between troops and al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf extremists blamed for beheadings and kidnappings in the southern Philippines, the military said. The military launched the assault on the southern island of Basilan as part of an operation to...
7-11 April: Catch up with the development stories you may have missed this week Jockin Arputham , a Mumbai slum resident and founder of Indias National Slum Dwellers Association, who has won a $1.25 million Skoll award for social entrepreneurship . Milestones Continue reading... ...
International development secretary says system must be overhauled to ensure that more is done to prepare for disasters The global humanitarian aid system is being "stretched to breaking point" by climate change, war, population growth and extremism, and must be overhauled to ensure that more is done to prepare for disasters rather than merely relieve them, the British government will warn...
Scientists and farmers make competing claims for cutting-edge science and low-tech sustainable farming to tackle the issue As governments meet in Berlin, scientists and farmers on the frontline of climate change in the Philippines are at odds over how best to adapt agriculture to the much higher temperatures and weather extremes expected over the next century. While one group argues that hi-tech rice...
Social unrest and famine, superstorms and droughts. Places, species and human beings none will be spared. Welcome to Occupy Earth If you're poor, the only way you're likely to injure someone is the old traditional way: artisanal violence, we could call it by hands, by knife, by club, or maybe modern hands-on violence, by gun or by car. But if you're tremendously wealthy, you can practice industrial-scale...
Suspected insurgents from Philippines seized women from tourist resort before fleeing in speedboat, officials say A Chinese tourist and hotel receptionist have been kidnapped by suspected Filipino insurgents in Malaysia, officials say. Six men armed with pistols are said to have raided the Singamata Reef resort late on Wednesday before fleeing in a speedboat. A police report said the Chinese victim...
John Vidal meets the Filipino diplomat whose emotional reaction to typhoon Haiyan made him the face of UN climate talks Yeb Sano, the young Filipino diplomat who became the face of the UN climate talks in Poland last year when he wept and fasted for two weeks after super-typhoon Haiyan devastated his country, is now an unlikely climate justice superstar. He has the same job, the same friends and he...
Defiant Benigno Aquino III says arbitration case at The Hague is an attempt to defend Manila's sovereignty The Philippine president has defended his country's arbitration case against China's sweeping territorial claims over the oil-rich South China Sea. Benigno Aquino III said the intention was peacefully to protect his nation's territory and sovereignty, rather than to provoke Beijing. ...
IPCC report warns life in the Filipino capital and other coastal cities will get much worse in many ways as temperatures rise Joshua Alvarez and his family fear for their lives when the monsoon rains come. Last August their two-bedroom flat in Manila was flooded when severe tropical storm Trami dumped 15 inches of rain (380mm) in a few hours and the local reservoir overflowed. They fled to a flyover...
Lives lost, villages destroyed, communities devastated and according to the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, the Philippines disaster was just the beginning When tropical depression Agaton swept in to the Philippines from the Pacific on 13 January, the rain gauge in Jabonga's new weather station could barely cope: more than 25 inches (635mm) fell in five days, and 47 inches...
Achievement for President Benigno Aquino after years of talks but other groups threaten to keep fighting for independence The Philippine government has signed a peace accord with the country's largest Muslim rebel group, the culmination of years of negotiations and a significant political achievement for President Benigno Aquino III. The deal grants largely Muslim areas of the southern Mindanao region...
As governments convene in Japan to discuss environmental change, the need for action to avoid a global food crisis is clear Just three days after my homeland was devastated by typhoon Haiyan , the biggest storm ever to hit land, I attended the opening of the UN climate change talks in Poland. With a deep sense of anxiety about the fate of my family and friends, I pleaded with delegates to recognise...
Photographs from the Guardian Eyewitness series Jim Powell ...
This photograph taken on November 18, 2013 shows survivors of Super Typhoon Haiyan marching in a religious procession in Tolosa on the eastern Philippine island of Leyte one week after the Super Typhoon devastated the area. Roger Tooth ...
A study of Instagram pictures has identified the Philippines capital as the city where the most 'selfies' are taken – which is no surprise if you know the place, says one resident expert We're No 1! We're No 1! We're ... oh wait ... what? That's right folks, according to research released today by Time Magazine, no less, Manila – more specifically, Makati City – is the selfie capital of the planet,...
Swift reaction by Department for International Development mobilised wider donor support for Philippines, says Icai The UK was well prepared to act swiftly and decisively in response to typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines and its early response helped galvanise the international community, a UK aid watchdog said on Tuesday. The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (Icai), which was set up to scrutinise...
s devastation return to cells along with their relatives When the typhoon came, it made short work of the prison. It ripped the roof off and dismantled some of the cells. You might have expected the prisoners to have made off into the night. But while several did take advantage of their newfound freedom, they did so only to find their destitute families and bring them back to the unusual refuge of...