Bangkok: When I hired a Filipino journalist to help me report a story in Manila he turned up at my hotel with a loaded pistol tucked into his belt. "I need to protect you," he said. Across the Philippines, signs outside restaurants, shops and office buildings ask patrons to deposit firearms before entering, a sign of a deep-rooted gun culture in the former American colony. It was revealed on Friday that Australia has been secretly negotiating with the Filipino government to send refugees from Nauru and Manus islands to the Philippines, the country in Asia most vulnerable to typhoons, floods, earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions. But if an agreement...
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