A general view of the skyline in Manila. The Philippines, the perennial "sick man of Asia", has rarely looked healthier and investors are placing their bets. Its stock market, the best performer in Asia last year, is up nearly 13 percent this year to a record high on Monday. Overseas buying of Philippine stocks hit a record $938 million in the fourth quarter, and the pace has quickened this year, according to TrimTabs Investment Research. – Reuters Photo

Hundreds of elderly protesters demonstrate outside the government headquarters in Hong Kong. They are demanding a HKD8,000 ($1,032) cash subsidy as part of their welfare services. – Reuters Photo

A Kashmiri woman bargains while buying artificial jewellery from a vendor at a market inside a bus terminal in Srinagar. – Reuters Photo

People attend a demonstration to protest against aircraft noise and the north-west runway, at the main terminal of Frankfurt's airport. – Reuters Photo

Pakistani workers dye traditional scarves outside a shop at a busy market in Islamabad. The World Trade Organization (WTO) passed the waivers as an unprecedented concession in order to help Pakistan recover from the floods, yet in 2011, the business climate had already started to improve. Textiles dominate Pakistan's trade with the EU, accounting for more than 70 percent of its exports to the trading bloc. Pakistani textiles are currently hit with a 7.19 percent import duty in the European Union. If approved, the waiver will apply until end-2013. – AFP Photo

A worker screened for radiation as he enters the emergency operation center at Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO)'s tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture. Members of the media were allowed into the plant on Monday ahead of the first year anniversary of the March 11, 2011 tsunami and earthquake for the second time since the disaster, which triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl. – Reuters Photo

A protester throws a stone at riot policemen during a rally to support the locals of the Aysen region in Santiago. Locals of the Aysen region, some 1682 km south of Santiago, have been protesting against the government to demand an increase in their minimum salaries, fuel subsidies, health, infrastructure, education, pensions and fishing rights, according to local media. – Reuters Photo

A migrant worker and his son sit on their bed as his wife uses a facial mask at a dormitory of a construction site in Shenyang, Liaoning province. Many of China's 158 million rural migrant workers, whose annual pilgrimages to city factories have fuelled the country's economic ascent, have seen pay and living standards rise steadily, but still aren't the free-spending consumers Beijing's leadership urgently wants them to be. – Reuters Photo

A child collects empty bottles of water to sell in Sanaa. An emerging hope is that the deal to remove Ali Abdullah Saleh from power could pave the way for much-needed foreign aid and investment into the country of 24 million, where 42 percent of the population lives on less than $2 per day. – Reuters Photo