Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte told Barack Obama he never called him a "son of a bitch", he said on Friday, but he maintained a defiant stance on his war on drugs, saying U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon was a fool for bringing up human rights. While on a visit to the Indonesian capital on Friday, Duterte told a group of Filipinos that the slur was not directed at the U.S. president and that he had told him so. Obama and Duterte shook hands and had a brief chat on Wednesday, officials said, easing the standoff. Duterte had his outburst on Monday when he was defending his war on drugs that has killed at least 2,400 Filipinos. Duterte on Friday said he thought U.N. Secretary-General Ban a fool for bringing up the issue of human rights violations weeks before the summit in Laos.

Source: Thanhnien News September 09, 2016 06:45 UTC