Asia

During the 1972 Christmas air raids, Vietnamese soldiers in Hanoi shot
down a B-52 bomber. The plane crashed in Hun Tiep Lake, where it has
remained ever since.

See complete slideshow here.

Visits to two families in Vietnam whose children were born with birth defects revealed how much psychological strain they had endured—some for more than three decades.

I forgot to add a little context to who Habier Malik is and why Sulu is on fire again. Habier Malik is an ustadaz (Islamic teacher) loyal to Nur Misuari, the jailed leader of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). The MNLF, one of three Islamic insurgent groups in Mindanao, led the first insurrection against the Philippine government in the late 1960’s and 1970’s. Its goal was to create an independent homeland for Filipino Muslims who are collectively known as the Bangsamoro.

Hanoi is a city on the move. Bicycles, motorbikes and taxis crowd the well-maintained streets.

Hanoi is a city on the move. Bicycles, motorbikes and taxis crowd the well-maintained streets.

Trying to blend into a place like Jolo is like trying to squeeze an elephant through the eye of a needle-or a lobster through a fish net. The last time a pack of reporters came down, some of them got kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf while trying to get access to the European tourists who were snatched from the Malaysian resort island of Sipadan in 2000. The charismatic but misguided Abu Sabaya even held local Filipino photographers hostage for a few hours and stole their cameras and shoes.

It's been three years since I last worked in the Philippines. I'm back and heading south. Not much has changed except that it's summertime and there's fresh fighting down in Mindanao.

Don't believe the hype-not even my hype. It's dangerous here. But it's not Baghdad. I got off the boat feeling pretty nervous. Julie Alipala met me right away. She wore a lime green bandana and was sporting a t-shirt that read "I'm saved by Jesus, Are you?" Pretty bold statement in a land where Catholics are a tiny minority and have been killed for not believing in some wacked-out version of Islam. The Armed Forces of the Philippines didn't have to bring in more boots from the mainland to chase Malik.

Jolo rises steeply out of the island-dotted Sulu Sea. Thick clouds hover above jagged volcanic peaks on this green and brown patch of tropical forest. Could there be smoke mixed in there too? A little fear mixed with anticipation is playing a few tricks on my mind. I'm on a Weesam-owned fastcraft ship approaching the city, wondering if it is being shelled or not.

There's something to be said for being at the right place at the right time. And I'm glad the cosmos came together for my first photographs of the US military. Though it wasn't the most exciting shoot in the world, a C-17 originating in Fort McChord, Washington landed to drop off supplies 30 minutes after my plane arrived in Zamboanga. About 500 US soldiers, many of them Special Forces stationed in Japan or Hawaii, are rotating out of their 6-mont stint in the southern Philippines.

A grizzly photo on the front page of today's Philippine Daily Inquirer's made me gulp and think about where I'm heading tomorrow. It was a 1-megapixel image spread over 7 columns of the seven, headless bodies found in Jolo. They actually weren't found. The Abu Sayyaf apparently took the time to deliver the heads to an Army camp in the town of Parang. Maj.