The son also rises

The Philippines is a giant: a huge, sprawling nation with more than 110 million people. It’s been ruled by many dynasties, both local and foreign, and spent centuries as a colony, first of the Spanish Empire and then of the United States. These days it’s a lively, multi-party democracy, and in May 2002 it will pick a new President and parliament. But how new will they really be? Some of the leading candidates have familiar surnames: scions of both the Duterte and the Marcos families are in the race. Howard Johnson reports from Manila.

Chile too is in the process of choosing a president. The first round of voting whittled down the list from seven contenders to two – Jose Antonio Kast and Gabriel Boric. The contest seems to be boiling down to a face-off between the hard right and hard left. Jane Chambers talked to voters in Santiago about what they want for the country’s future – and found it can often depend on how they feel about its past ….

David Shukman has worked for the BBC for nearly 39 years – and is about to reach the end of his time as its Science Editor. As the world wrangles over how best to respond to climate change, he looks back on how he’s seen the science and the politics of the issue move with the times over years of international summits – and the physical changes which he’s witnessed around the world on field trips with climate scientists.

And Antonia Quirke revels in the particular charm of Tinos – a Greek island which was often described as “devout and downbeat” – even by neighbouring islanders. But that reputation is changing, with an all-time surge of new visitors during 2021, very few of them going only for the traditional pilgrimages to its church and shrines. Might its famously gusty winds blow in more tourists than it can handle?
Pascale Harter introduces stories from around the world.

(Photo: Former Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr, son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, poses for the media together with his family in Manila after filing his candidacy to join the 2022 presidential race. Credit: Rouelle Umali/Getty Images)