Duterte to ban smoking in public

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will this month ban smoking in public, the health department said on Wednesday, further strengthening some of the toughest tobacco regulation in Asia.

Duterte has waged a-law-and-order campaign since July that has left more than 3,000 people dead while, as a longtime mayor of the southern city of Davao, he imposed curfews on minors and banned public alcohol sales at night and shirtless men.

The upcoming law is in addition to legislation banning tobacco advertising and regulating smoking in indoor public places, as well as a statute that requires graphic images of smoking health hazards to be printed on cigarette packaging.