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maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 7 SEPTEMBER 2016 US president Barack Obama cancelled his first meeting with Philippines counterpart Rod- rigo Duterte yesterday after the blunt-spoken Duterte described him as a "son of a whore", cast- ing a shadow over a gathering of Asian leaders in Laos. Duterte was responding to the US president's promise to raise the issue of drug-related extra- judicial killings in the Philip- pines during their meeting. The Philippine leader, known for his colourful language, has insulted prominent figures be- fore, but this time it has had dip- lomatic consequences. He has now said he regrets the remark. "While the immediate cause was my strong comments to cer- tain press questions that elicited concern and distress, we also regret that it came across as a personal attack on the US presi- dent," a statement by Duterte's office said. Duterte has been roundly criticised abroad for a 'war on drugs' that has killed about 2,400 people since he took office two months ago. The White House had earlier said Obama would not pull any punches on his concerns about human rights abuses in the Phil- ippines when meeting Duterte. Duterte responded to that with his "son of a whore" comment to reporters on Monday before leaving to join fellow leaders of Southeast Asian and East Asian leaders for the summit. Obama learned about the insult as he emerged from the Group of 20 summit in Hangzhou, China. At a news conference, he said he had told his aides to speak with Philippine officials "to find out is this, in fact, a time where we can have some constructive, productive conversations." Hours later, his aides said the meeting had been cancelled. Instead, Obama plans to meet South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday, said Ned Price, spokesman for the White House National Security Coun- cil - a meeting where the re- sponse to North Korea's latest missile tests is expected to be on the agenda. The UN has repeatedly con- demned Duterte's policies as a violation of human rights. In August, two UN human rights experts said Duterte's direc- tive for police and the public to kill suspected drug traffickers amounted to "incitement to vio- lence and killing, a crime under international law". This round of Asean talks comes against the backdrop of tensions over China's territorial ambitions in the South China Sea - the Philippines and the US are key players in that debate. The Philippines has been a key US ally for years and Washington hopes it will remain one, especially as a partner against China's military expansion in the South China Sea. The country, which has over- lapping claims with China to is- lands and atolls in the sea, won an international ruling against Beijing in July. But Duterte has said it is "better to continually engage China in a diplomatic dialogue rather than anger of- ficials there", starkly at odds with his recent comments about Obama. Duterte's spokesman Abella said on Tuesday: "Our primary intention is to chart an inde- pendent foreign policy while promoting closer ties with all nations, especially the US, with which we have had a longstand- ing partnership." With domestic popularity rat- ings in the order of 90%, the Philippine leader has won ap- proval for his foul-mouthed press conferences from a public tired with years of well-spoken politicians from a small Manila- based elite. Duterte previously named the US ambassador to Manila a "gay son of a whore" and told the Catholic church: "Don't fuck with me." He has called the United Na- tions "stupid" for criticism of his controversial war on crime, in which he said 100,000 people would be killed and told citizens they should murder addicts. The Filipino leader did manage to hold meetings with the Japa- nese prime minister, Shin- zo Abe, and Singapore's prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong. News Nobel prize judges fired over medical scandal TWO of the judges of the No- bel prize have been sacked for their part in a scandal over a disgraced Italian stem cell scientist.a Paolo Macchiarini, a scientist who was once considered a pio- neer in windpipe transplants, is at the centre of a crisis in Stock- holm's Karolinska Institute that has caused huge problems for the Nobel committee. The pan- el is set to announce the winner of this year's prize next month. The decision to drop Harriet Wallberg and Anders Hamsten came after the Swedish govern- ment sacked the entire board of the prestigious Karolinska Institute, where Macchiarini worked. Macchiarini was seen as a leading specialist on windpipe transplants but two of his pa- tients died and he was accused of falsif ying his work record. Macchiarini denies all the charges against him. The two judges that have been removed from the Nobel com- mittee are part of a group of in- dividuals who are suspected of having ignored warnings about the scientist. The two judges have also served as heads of the Karolinska Institute, where Macchiarini worked and which has since seen the Swedish gov- ernment sack its entire board. Nobel Assembly secretary Thomas Perlmann told Swedish news agency TT on Tuesday that Wallberg and Hamsten would be asked to leave the 50-mem- ber group, which will announce the annual award next month. Wallberg and Hamsten have already left high-ranking jobs at Karolinska amid scathing criticism of how the institute handled allegations of scien- tific misconduct against Mac- chiarini. Macchiarini was hired in 2010, two years after he was part of a team that carried out the first windpipe transplant partly made of the patient's stem cells. In 2011 he was hailed for lead- ing a team that carried out the first synthetic organ transplant. But he lost his job earlier this year after a TV documentary by Swedish broadcaster SVT showed footage of operations he carried out in Russia which the Karolinska Institute itself de- scribed as "truly alarming". Prosecutors in Sweden said in June they were investigating the stem cell surgeon on suspi- cion of two cases of involuntary manslaughter at Swedish hospitals in 2011 and 2012. Paolo Macchiarini was a renowned stem cell scientist who has denied all allegations made against him Obama cancels meeting with Philippine leader after 'whore' jibe Philippine President Duterte (right) regretted calling US president Barack Obama a "son of a whore"