Barack Obama cancels Rodrigo Duterte talks after insult

Barack Obama cancels meeting with new Philippine President Duterte

US President Barack Obama has cancelled what would have been his first meeting with Rodrigo Duterte, according to a White House spokesman, hours after the Philippine leader described his American counterpart in vulgar terms.

Duterte called Obama a "son of a whore", saying that he would not be lectured by the US leader on human rights, according to AFP news agency.

Inside Story - Can Rodrigo Duterte win the war on illegal drugs?

Duterte's tirade came as he bristled at warnings he would face questioning by the US president at their scheduled meeting over his war against drugs in the Philippines, which has claimed more than 2,400 lives in just over two months.

"You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions and statements. Son of a whore, I will curse you in that forum," Duterte told a news conference shortly before flying to Laos to attend a summit on Monday.

"We will be wallowing in the mud like pigs if you do that to me," he said.

However, a statement released by the Philippine president on Tuesday expressed regret for the tirade against his US counterpart.

"While the immediate cause was my strong comments to certain press questions that elicited concern and distress, we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the US president," the statement said.

Duterte was due to hold a bilateral meeting with Obama on Tuesday afternoon on the sidelines of a gathering of global leaders hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Vientiane, the capital of the Laos.

READ MORE: The Philippines, where bodies pile up, but no one talks

PM leads fight against safe havens at G20

PM leads fight against safe havens at G20

The G20 leaders on Monday committed to roll back protectionist measures by end-2018 to boost free trade but the Summit, held in the shadow of Britain's vote to exit the European Union, fell short of taking concrete measures in defence of globalization and against isolationism.

On the concluding day of the two-day summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked fellow G20 leaders to act decisively to eliminate safe havens for economic offenders, unconditionally extradite money launderers and end excessive banking secrecy. In a reference to Pakistan, Modi said "one single nation in South Asia" was spreading terror in the region.

In another of the thematic sessions at the Summit, the PM spoke about India's support to a trade facilitation agreement (TFA) for services, a move that will help in movement of professionals. In his meeting with UK PM Theresa May, their first after the Brexit vote, Modi said her country's new visa policy could have a "negative impact on Indian working professionals wishing to visit UK for short term". May, however, told reporters on the sidelines that she considered the points-based immigration system as "flawed" and will not use it to crackdown on post-Brexit migration from within the European Union (EU). The system was one of the key assurances given by those who campaigned for Britain to leave the EU in the June 23 referendum. Read Full Story >>>

Clashes between forces, putschists at Turkish air base

Clashes between forces, putschists at Turkish air base

Turkish security forces and putschists briefly clashed at an air base in the central city of Konyatoday, a Turkish official said.

"We are able to confirm that there are clashes at the air base in Konya between the security forces and putschists resisting arrest," the source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The state-run news agency Anadolu later reported the fighting had come to an end and said six military personnel were arrested.

Seventy generals and admirals were taken into custody across the country, the agency added, as the authorities cracked down on suspected backers of Friday's failed military coup.

The Turkish Air Base official also confirmed an incident at Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen airport, where police fired warning shots at putschists who were resisting arrest. They eventually surrendered.

Earlier today, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said around 6,000 people had been detained in "clean-up operations" and predicted that the number would rise.

Among those arrested were senior army commanders, judges, prosecutors and a military aide to Erdogan, Ali Yazici, who had only been working for the president since August last year, Anadolu reported.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has put the blame for the coup on supporters of his arch-foe, US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whose Hizmet movement has had much influence within Turkish society, including the media, police and judiciary.

The government said that 265 people lost their lives in the attempted coup, including 161 civilians and regular troops. A total of 104 coup plotters were killed, the military said.