Word: archipelago
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...fact, the issue is the future of the Philippines. With one stroke, Marcos had plunged his 7,000-island archipelago and its 54 million people into a new period of political uncertainty. Did his announcement herald a long-awaited democratic solution for a country that is simultaneously being choked by Marcos' brand of authoritarianism and threatened by a growing Communist insurgency? Or was it just a ploy to fend off the anti-Marcos criticism that has reached a new crescendo in the streets of Manila and the corridors of Washington...
...Hike Destinations to restore your sense of wonder Snow blindness, frigid temperatures, polar bears - not exactly everyone's idea of a relaxing round of golf. But at the Spitsbergen Open, these hazards are par for the course. The tournament, which takes place April 10-14 on the remote Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, some 1,000 km south of the North Pole, is open to professional and amateur golfers from anywhere in the world. Up to 34 competitors will play on a nine-hole green - or rather, white - built on a frozen fjord off the island of Spitsbergen...
...explorers. Competitors need crampons to grip the icy course, tinted goggles to reduce glare and golf clubs with steel shafts, as graphite can shatter in extreme cold. The local wildlife also creates some unique challenges. The course is watched over by spotters with rifles in case one of the archipelago's 3,000 polar bears starts taking too close an interest in a caddy...
...Philippines is accustomed to destruction caused by the dozen or more monsoons that take swipes at the archipelago each summer and autumn. The country is also good at rapid recoveries: in the countryside, families begin repairing their thatched and bamboo homes even before the ground has dried. Within days, trees snapped in half start showing fresh, green growth...
Unnatural Disaster THE PHILLIPINES: The Philippines is accustomed to cleaning up after the destruction caused by the dozen or more monsoons that take swipes at the archipelago each summer and autumn. But the island of Luzon is unlikely to recover swiftly from the havoc of last week, when two storms slammed into the coastal areas of Quezon province north of Manila, because the disaster was only partly natural - and largely the work of man. Normally, the roots of trees that cover the interior Sierra Madre mountains would absorb the rain. But four decades of logging - much of it illegal...