Asia in 3 minutes: Welcome to ‘the Philippines, China’; Indian man cuts short his world record

Mysterious ‘Province of China’ banners appear in the Philippines

Banners calling the Philippines a “province of China” mysteriously appeared on bridges in Manila on Thursday, sparking fury on social media on what was the second anniversary of Manila’s victory over Beijing in a landmark arbitration case. The terms “province of China” and “South China Sea” trended prominently on Twitter, while news reports of the sudden appearance of the red tarpaulin banners along major thoroughfares generated thousands of shares and comments on Facebook. City authorities were seen removing some of them, which were spotted in at least five locations. The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled two years ago that China had no historic title over the waters of the South China Sea and that it had breached the Philippines’ sovereign rights by blocking its fishermen and building artificial islands in its exclusive economic zone.

What’s next? The two countries have a bitter history of disputes over maritime sovereignty, but under President Rodrigo Duterte, who took office just two weeks before The Hague ruling, Manila has taken a conciliatory approach.

The long and short of it: Indian trims fingernails for first time in 66 years

They took 66 years to grow but only a couple of minutes to chop off. On Wednesday, Shridhar Chillal (right) from Pune, India, who holds the Guinness World Record for the longest fingernails ever recorded on a single hand, finally cut his nails. Or rather, a technician wearing a face mask and wielding a power tool removed them during a “nail clipping ceremony” in New York. The 82-year-old has been growing the nails on his left hand since he was 14, having been inspired to do so after a teacher told him off when he accidentally broke a very long nail the teacher had grown. The teacher told Chillal that he would not understand the kind of care it took not to break a long nail unless he did it himself.

What next? Chillal has said that his nails were so fragile that he had to be very careful not to break them while sleeping: “I can’t move much, so every half an hour or so I wake up and move my hand to the other side of the bed.” He was also in pain all the time. But his talons do come with some perks. “I never have to wait in a queue.”

Sri Lanka follows Philippines’ lead as drug dealers now face death penalty

Sri Lanka will start hanging drug dealers, ending a near-half century moratorium on capital punishment as officials promised to “replicate the success” of the Philippines drug war. President Maithripala Sirisena had told the cabinet he “was ready to sign the death warrants” of repeat drug offenders, government spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said on Wednesday. “From now on, we will hang drug offenders without commuting their death sentences,” he said. Sri Lanka has commuted death sentences for serious crimes to life in prison since 1976, when the last execution took place. Authorities say a tougher approach is needed to combat what they say is an increase in drug-related crime.