Philippine president turns down meeting with U.N. chief Ban Ki Moon after drug war dispute...

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has turned down a meeting with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations and the Philippine government said on Thursday, after threatening to quit the body last month over criticism of his war on drugs.

U.N. chief Ban had requested the bilateral meeting in Laos, which is hosting a summit of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders next week, but officials from Duterte's office said he could not fit it into his schedule.

"A meeting was requested but we could not agree on a time," Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

A second U.N. official said the request for a meeting was rejected because of a "scheduling incompatibility".

Two U.N. human rights experts last week urged Manila to stop a wave of extra-judicial executions and killings that have escalated since Duterte won the presidency on a promise to wipe out drugs, drawing an angry response from Manila. Full story...

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