Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte unexpectedly bragged about stabbing a person to death when he was a teenager ahead of his meeting with President Trump in Vietnam, CNN reports. "One fight there, another here — at the age of 16, I killed someone. A person, really. During a fight. Stabbing," Duterte told regional leaders in Da Nang. "That was when I was 16 years old, just because we just looked at each other."
Duterte and Trump have been on friendly terms, despite former President Barack Obama's tumultuous relationship with the controversial Filipino leader. Duterte has been heavily criticized by many in the international community for encouraging the extrajudicial murder of drug dealers. More than 13,000 suspected users and dealers are thought to have been killed so far across the Philippines. "To endorse Duterte is to endorse a man who advocates mass murder and who has admitted to killing people himself," John Sifton, the Asia advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, told The Intercept in May after the White House praised Duterte for doing a "great job."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Trade war with China threatens U.S. economyFeature Trump's tariff battle with China is hitting U.S. businesses hard and raising fears of a global recession
-
Corruption: The road to crony capitalismFeature Trump's tariff pause sent the stock market soaring — was it insider trading?
-
China Shock 2.0Feature An overflow of Chinese goods is flooding the global market. Tariffs won’t stop it.
-
Hegseth reportedly shared war plans in 2nd group textSpeed Read The defense secretary sent information about an attack in Yemen to a Signal group chat that included his wife and brother
-
Judge threatens Trump team with criminal contemptSpeed Read James Boasberg attempts to hold the White House accountable for disregarding court orders over El Salvador deportation flights
-
Biden slams Trump's Social Security cutsSpeed Read In his first major public address since leaving office, Biden criticized the Trump administration's 'damage' and 'destruction'
-
El Salvador refuses to return US deporteeSpeed Read President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador said he would not send back the unlawfully deported Kilmar Ábrego García
-
Trump says electronics tariff break won't lastSpeed Read The tariff exemptions on smartphones, laptops and other electronic devices are temporary, the administration says
-
Man charged in arson attack on Pennsylvania's ShapiroSpeed Read Governor Josh Shapiro and his family were sleeping when someone set fire to his Harrisburg mansion
-
White House pushes for oversight of Columbia UniversitySpeed Read The Trump administration is considering placing the school under a consent decree
-
Supreme Court backs wrongly deported migrantSpeed Read The Trump administration must 'facilitate' the return of wrongfully deported migrant Kilmar Ábrego García from El Salvador, Supreme Court says
