Asia

In A Luoi Valley, Vietnam, Dioxin left from Agent Orange destroyed large swaths of ecosystem during the Vietnam War. While effects of Agent Orange remain pervasive, Phung Tuu Boi works to repair the forests by first addressing the needs of local tribes.

A LUOI VALLEY, Vietnam: Phung Tuu Boi reaches down to inspect one of the spiny shrubs lined up in a row before him. A few feet away, a cow grazes serenely in this emerald valley in the hills of central Vietnam.

MUZAFFARPUR, India -- Looking out over gray waters that have drowned the rice paddies that are his livelihood, laborer Bhavat Nagar swore no flood he could recall came close to the size of the latest monsoon deluge that also washed away most of his village and a neighbor's child.

"This is the worst it has been," he said, shaking his head. "We always lose a little, but now we have lost everything. I don't know what to do."

BIHAR STATE, India -- The worst floods to hit India's northern Bihar state in distant memory have already affected more than 20 million people -- roughly equivalent to the population of New York state -- and killed hundreds. More rains are on the way.

MUZAFFARPUR, India -- In the six weeks since their village was swallowed by floodwaters, Chaitu Sahani and his family have watched helplessly as government aid deliveries pass their new home.

Along with thousands of other refugees, they live in shoddy tarpaulin tents that stretch for miles along one of the few still operable highways in this dirt-poor northern Bihar state.

Why the food trucks don't stop now, they cannot understand.

Jason Motlagh, for the Pulitzer Center
Patna, India

No stranger to hardship, northern Bihar state – India's poorest and most corrupt – is faced with some degree of flooding each year. But none in distant memory compare to this year's monsoon deluge, a symptom of climate change that has affected tens of millions, killed hundreds and exposed the extent of state neglect rooted in class politics.

Pulitzer Center Staff

Ryan Anson examines the most recent political and military developments in the southern Philippines in two articles published in the San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday, September 9, 2007.

In "Trying to keep it all in the family dynasty," Ryan reports on a congressman-elect and his two wives -- one the mayor of Isabela City and the other Basilan's new governor -- and the concerns that come with one family's rise in political power.

Pulitzer Center Staff

Jason's first story from India ran Saturday, September 8, 2007 in Newark's Star-Ledger. His story is entitled, "Flood-ravaged Indians founder in undercurrent of class politics."

Isabela City is not Baghdad. Roadside bombs don't rip through the floors of humvees, nor do masked insurgents take pot shots at Kevlar-vested soldiers from bullet-riddled buildings.

But like Baghdad, there are American servicemen here. They've been helping Filipino soldiers fight al Qaeda-linked terrorists who have made the southern Philippine region of Mindanao a hotbed of extremist activity during the past decade.

And they're doing it without firing a shot - at least not outside their camp.

After weeks of vote counting, sporadic bombings and allegations of election fraud, the insurgency-racked island of Basilan in the southern Philippines finally has a new congressman. It also has a new governor and mayor of the provincial capital where al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf terrorists once dined in local restaurants by day, and kidnapped priests and schoolteachers at night.

In a twist on the long Filipino tradition of dynastic rule, Basilan's new governor and the mayor of Isabela City are both married to congressman-elect Wahab Akbar.

MUZAFFARPUR, India - In the six weeks since their village was swallowed by floodwaters, Chaitu Sahani and his family have watched helplessly as the government aid deliveries roll past their new home.

Along with thousands of other refugees, they now live in shoddy tarpaulin tents that stretch for miles along one of the few highways still operable in the dirt-poor northern state of Bihar.

Why the food trucks won't stop, they don't understand.

Jason Motlagh, for the Pulitzer Center
India

The Indian government has drawn criticism from some aid groups for not declaring a state of emergency in the wake of biblical monsoon floods that have affected more than 20 million in Bihar state alone. Officials maintain that that such disasters can be handled internally – and they're right.