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Business Matters: President of the Philippines is Accused of Breaking International Law

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Duterte edited.jpg

20/08/2016 GMT

President of the Philippines is Accused of Breaking International Law

BBC World Service - Business Matters, President of the Philippines is Accused of Breaking International Law

Duterte is accused of breaking international law with his lethal assault on drugs.

This week a senior United Nations official accused President Duterte of breaking international law with his lethal assault on the drugs trade.

When Rodrigo Duterte was elected president of the Philippines earlier this year, he made his campaign against drug dealers a big priority. Before long several hundred people - allegedly involved in some sort of drug-related activity, had been killed, some by the police, some by vigilantes and both with the president's warm approval. This week a senior United Nations official accused Mr Duterte of breaking international law with his lethal assault on the drugs trade. Agnes Callamard, special rapporteur on summary executions said the President's call for the killing of suspected drug dealers was irresponsible in the extreme. Would Mr Duterte worry about that intervention? We asked Manila-based journalist Marites Vitug.

A bizarre health scare in New Zealand's North Island has focused attention on the dairy industry which was already something of a national preoccupation because of the slump in global milk prices. Colin Peacock from Radio New Zealand is with us from Wellington for the whole hour telling us about this and other stories. 

President Obama will visit Louisiana next week in the aftermath of widespread flooding that has left around 4000 homes damaged or destroyed. Nearly 9000 people have applied for federal disaster aid and it's not just the geographical location that's prompting comparisons with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Some people are feeling short-changed by FEMA - the Federal Emergency Management Agency which is struggling to find habitable accomodation to rent on behalf of displaced families because so many buildings have been devastated. We hear the story of Tamika Chatman and her fiance Philip Poydras. They spoke to us from a Red Cross shelter in Gonzales which lies between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. 

"Nobody thought the Games would solve all our social problems" - that was the view of Brazil's former president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, when asked about the legacy of the Rio Olympics, which wind up this weekend. "Rio is a lot prettier now," he said. "It has longer subway lines, it's cleaner. Did it solve all our problems? No but that wasn't the goal." That's one high-profile view. We get an alternative take from Juliana Barbasa, author of Dancing with the Devil in the City of God: Rio de Janeiro and the Olympic Dream.

And speaking of Rio and the Olympic legacy; one immediate legacy of the Games is the financial disaster facing the imminent Paralympic Games. Around 4000 athletes from more than 150 countries are due to arrive in the coming  days but the International Paralympic Committee now says that because of budget cuts - partly because money was siphoned off to pay for the current Olympic events - severe cuts are on the cards. We hear from our sports news correspondent, Alex Capstick, in Rio.

We've heard once or twice on this programme about Donald Trump's struggle to attract the support of Republican Party dignitaries who aren't at all happy that he's become their standard bearer. As always at the end of the week, we hear from our colleague Kai Ryssdal - host of American Public Radio's Marketplace programme - today in conversation with the former Republican Congressman from Connecticut Chris Shays, who's planning to vote for Hillary Clinton.

If you live in a city, is it a place that comes alive at night? Or do the shutters come down early? In London starting tonight - two years after it was first announced, parts of the Underground network will run all night and there are loads of businesses up all night and ready to take advantage. We speak to Alan Miller of the Night Time Industries Association.

Photo description: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gestures as he talks during the 115th Police Service Anniversary at the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Manila on August 17, 2016. 
Photo Credit: NOEL CELIS/AFP/Getty Images

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