The first biography of Rodrigo Duterte, the murderous, unpredictable president of the Philippines, whose war on drugs has seen thousands of people killed in cold blood. Rodrigo Duterte was elected President of the Philippines in 2016. In his first 18 months in office, 12,000 people were murdered on the streets, gunned down by police officers and vigilante citizens — all with his encouragement. Duterte is a serial womaniser and a self-confessed killer, who has called both Barack Obama and Pope Francis ‘sons of whores’. He is on record as saying he does not ‘give a shit’ about human rights. Yet he is beloved of the 16.6 million Filipinos who voted for him, seen as vulgar but honest, a breath of fresh air, and an iconoclastic, anti-imperialist rebel. In this revelatory biography, Channel 4 News’ Asia Correspondent Jonathan Miller charts Duterte’s rise, and shows how this fascinating, fearsome man can be seen as the embodiment of populism in our time.

An impressive collection of 62 technical papers recounting the eruption of Mo Pinatubo in 1991 and its aftermath. The contributors reflect the internatio cooperation exhibited during the eruption (ten times larger than Mount St. Helens) and explore the precursors, processes, and products of the eru

In 1977, the Volkswagen Foundation sponsored the first of a series of International Symposia on Fire Ecology at Freiburg University, Federal Republic of Germany. The scope of the congresses was to create a platform for researchers at a time when the science of fire ecology was not yet recognized and established outside of North America and Australia. Whereas comprehensive information on the fire ecology of the northern boreal, the temperate, and the mediter ranean biotas is meanwhile available, it was recognized that conside rable gaps in information exist on the role of fire in tropical und sub tropical ecosystems. Thus it seemed timely to meet the growing scientific interest and public demand for reliable and updated infor mation and to synthesize the available knowledge of tropical fire ecology and the impact of tropical biomass burning on global eco system processes. The Third Symposium on Fire Ecology, again sponsored by the Volkswagen Foundation and held at Freiburg University in May 1989, was convened to prepare this first pantropical and multidisci plinary monograph on fire ecology!. The book, in which 46 scientists cooperated, analyzes those fire-related ecosystem processes which have not yet been described in a synoptic way. Following the editor's concept, duplication at previous efforts in describing tropical vegeta tion patterns and dynamics was avoided. Extensive bibliographical sources are given in the reference lists of the chapters.

Stories from cultures including ancient Babylonia, China, India, Eastern Europe, Morocco.