there they were, on philippine television. incomprehensible images, gerfa's and kevin's passports, their half-packed suitcases. the stricken relatives they'd been visiting on tictabon, a small island at the tip of southern philippines. gerfa, kevin and one of gerfa's young cousins, said the news reports, kidnapped by boat in the dead of night. >> i was thinking, no, that doesn't happen to us! >> well, nobody thinks it's gonna happen to us, right? >> yeah, but my wife's heart is in the philippines. that's her family. >> gerfa was born in the philippines. had always felt safe there. her older sister married a u.s. navy sailor and moved to america in 1985. and brought then 16-year-old gerfa with her, hoping to give her a chance at a better life. >> she was so excited about the opportunity. i remember she worked a lil' caesar's pizza and that was the greatest thing to get a job. >> reporter: she had a son, josh, went back to community college to improve herself. and there she met a german immigrant named heiko. and from then on, t

in exchange, the philippines will get loans from the philippines will get loans from the chinese was from the chinese but will be on the short end of the south china sea dispute. chinese but will be on the short end of the south china sea disputelj don't think so because the idea is... think of it this way. if we we re is... think of it this way. if we were to have a conflict in the south china sea, what purpose would the loa ns china sea, what purpose would the loans atlas? it is not in the interest between america and china 01’ interest between america and china or the philippines and the southeast asian nations to enter into a wall. —— war. if the idea is to get loans, the idea is to create a zone of stability. previous to that we would have to look at zones or areas of agreement where we and china could actually agree on. we need to leave it there. thank you for your insight. hundreds of thousands of sufi followers have flocked to a shrine in southern pakistan in defiance of threats of terrorism. a suicide bomber attacked the shrine in february, killing over 70 people. we have be

to manila, the philippines' capital.oud thought he knew why the kidnappers released gerfa. >> their intent was to let her go to help raise more money. now she's out. and now she's got to talk to these people. >> right. >> someone needs to be there with her. >> reporter: heiko decided he should stay in lynchburg, try to find the money, and mark thundercloud moved his operations from the family's kitchen to a hotel room in manila. and there, as one month passed, then another, they tried to help gerfa deal with mr. so. >> december 6th was the last day that we talked with mr. so. basically, he was saying, "look, what you're offering is not enough. this might be the last communication that we ever have. we still expected calls. but on the 7th, nothing. on the 8th, nothing. on the 9th, nothing. >> reporter: oh, they would hear what happened to kevin. soon enough. a shock in waiting. >> coming up -- >> when i opened the door, everybody was looking at me so quiet. i was like, oh, something happened. something happened to kevin.

in the philippines?there for almost 30 years. >> anthony: aurora is recently back in manila after most of her life spent abroad. what kind of work were you doing? >> aurora: i did the housekeeping, you know, and babysitting. >> anthony: the money she sent home put everybody here and many, many more through school, lifted them up to a more comfortable life. and you would have left family behind? >> aurora: yeah. >> anthony: to go out there and make money. that's never an easy decision, a painful, painful choice. aurora's children, now middle-aged, are finally getting to know their mother. >> aurora: okay, okay, okay. bring in the food inside. >> anthony: many, many, many filipino women like you who had to leave their families, go abroad. >> aurora: yeah, absolutely yes. >> analyn: her three children. >> emy: children -- my eldest is about four years now in qatar, and the other one is two years, and the other one is in hong kong. >> anthony: working conditions, for ofws, particularly in some gulf states, c

and philippines. and also, this is a democratically elected leader of the philippines, people there very concerned about crime and drugs. thank you so much for that, ivan in hong kong this morning. >> to break down the latest developments, we bring in cnn politics reporter scott and celin salena zito, with a new article in "the washington examiner." salena, your piece is fantastic. another insightful interview with president trump. but let's talk about the latest developments, inviting rodrigo duterte into the white house. during the campaign, he talked glowingly about vladimir putin, he invited egyptian president el sisi, he calls kim jong-un a very smart cookie, and this filipino president, again, an admitted killer, a man who once offered himself as a gift to brides in the philippines. what's behind -- how do you connect the dots on all this? >> reporter: well, again, i can't totally get inside the mind of the president, but what i can tell you is in our interview, north korea was weighing heavily

>> duterte even once offered himself as a gift to brides in the philippines.this visit, let alone the politics, ivan, are just mind-boggling. thank you for the perspective. >>> all right, president trump will not rule out military force against north korea following the latest missile test by pyongyang, trump downplaying, really, friday's test, even after saying the next nuclear test could result in a u.s. military strike. and for some reason, trump continues these words of praise, expanding on words of praise from north korea's dictator, kim jong-un. >> at a very young age, he was able to assume power. a lot of people, i'm sure, tried to take that power away, whether his uncle or anybody else. obviously, he's a pretty smart cookie, but we have a situation that we just cannot let -- we cannot let what's been going on for a long period of years continue. >> now, on the subject of who will pay for the deployment of the thaad antimissile defense system in south korea, the united states will, for now. that's according to national security adviser h.r. mcmaster. pr

, who is a commander who hasjoined this philippines, who is a commander who has joined this group philippines a commander who hasjoined this group in philippines, who is a commander who has joined this group in that operation. they encountered much bigger resistance than they thought of the military are saying that they think there was a plan by the group to ta ke think there was a plan by the group to take over marawi and that they happen to pre—empt it. that may be true but it has been a very destructive operation. the bigger question is what do they do now to reassure the philippines public that they commit progress on the broader issues of de—escalating conflicts? that was a signature policy for the president who was the first president who was the first president of the philippines to come from the island and he said i can do better than others, so far he has not moved forward on the broad peace agreement that have been put in place by his predecessors and is waiting for a lot of details to be sorted out with the mainstream islamic group, which does want to make peace with the government

because this meeting isjust about the philippines and china. i don't think so.. it does not mean that this is a bilateral... it begins as a bilateral talk, as you say, but it does not necessarily mean it will end as one. what we would like to see is china begins to cooperate with us through a series of trust and confidence building measures. basically confidence building measures, but it looks like the president, president duterte, is giving in to what the chinese want. right. we've got to think of diplomatic negotiations as over the long—term. the idea here again is that eventually the problem of these islands will not be resolved simply with china. what we are looking at is the spratly islands being claimed by six parties. the idea is to have a coalition of six party states and getting the direct stakeholders on board. i believe that it's actually part of what i call the duterte doctrine, which is the good neighbour policy. that is not to shun away long—time allies but to recover ties which we left on the wayside. in exchange, the philippines will get loans fr

it came shortly after the philippines army had arrayed. of isis in south asia and the philippines. it is a lot of pressure. he promised to get the peace process right. he almost obsessively focused on the war on drugs and the association with communist rebels. he could be partly to blame for this. right now people are giving him the benefit of the doubt. these measures are necessary to bring the situation under control. british airways passengers have suffered a second day of chaos and disruption as the airline struggled to restore service following a major it failure on saturday. more than one—third of flights departing from london heathrow were cancelled on sunday, leaving many passengers stranded. joe lynam reports. for some ba customers, it had been a long and uncomfortable night. bleary passengers this morning still hoping to catch their plane. even free bottles of water in a heavily congested terminal five failed to call some people's mood. a lot of moving around and standing in lines and lack of information. i think it is too big th

wanted to travel to the philippines. a woman alone traveling in the philippines is not recommended.i try to talk my sister into going with me, but then we would have been a double target. we would have gone down together, let's say. there's a lot of crime, kidnapping, burglary and worse and so i was struggling with what to do about this because i felt i needed to go. write about when i heard of a-- it was a charter trip for former prisoners or military that have fought in that military-- philippine campaign traveling together to other camps to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the limited-- liberation of manila and we qualified as family members to go and on that trip were dozens of a former prisoners. for example-- and at the end of each day i would go down to this , you know barely functioning typewriter in the basement of our hotel in type up these notes while they were fresh in my mind. we went to each of the prison camps and they would point say this is where this happened, that's where the graves were, this is where we buried our radio and when we were traveling to baton on th

the philippines has become an unreliable partner. he's orchestrated that because he wants to, celebrated and chased by all of the parties in the region. >> when we look at this in the big picture, there are a lot of human rights groups upset about this, part of the statement that the white house released, they talked about the war on drugs essentially in the philippines, not saying that people who are involved in drugs are among the people who have been killed. chris murphy says we're watching in real time as the american human rights bully pulpit disintegrates into ash. what do you make of that in. >> i think chris murphy is right. i think america has always been a nation that pursued our interest but also tried to be the beacon on the hill, tried to elevate issues about human rights, hebeas corpus, these sort of important issues of the rights of the minorities in various countries. and what donald trump is showing is he's willing to go clobber on an ad hoc basis a foreign leader or some issue. but he really wants nothing to do with

it is 7am here in singapore, and this city has been under siege in philippines.monday the government said it had a decisive progress to retake the city, but at least 100 civilians have been killed in 2000 people may still be trapped in a militant held areas. our correspondent has more. we are seeing and much more optimistic note coming from the philippines bollettieri spokesperson now, they seem to be making more progress in regaining the city, but in the first place we do not know how long it will take to push out those last pockets of resistance while the group. they have shown themselves to be tenacious, very well armed and very tough to get out of the city. they cannot put a timeline on it. the military has regained control of most of the city, controlling people going in and out, there will be interesting to see, once this is over, people will want to know how many of the group who got involved in this attack, this hardline militant group, how many of them managed to escape than once that is done, there are bigger questions that the filmic —— the government

he has a very high approval rating in the philippines.er said improved relations with the philippines were needed because of u.s. interests in the region. >> it is an opportunity for us to work with countries in that region that can help play a role in diplomatically and economically isolating north korea. >> reporter: yet it's the latest sign of the president's affinity of strong men. president al sisi has been someone very close to me from the first time i met him. >> reporter: from inviting al sees toe the white house and pragz the leaders of russia and turkey. mr. trump's words for authoritarian leaders drawing fire. ja jake, the white house did not apologize at all for any of these comments, explaining the word honored though, saying this president was trying to show respect there, but that word still drawing attention and questions here today. jake. >> jeff zeleny at the white house with us, thanks so much. with the white house suggesting the conditions are not right for a meeting with kim jong-un right now, are there any circumstan

mr trump also extended an invitation to rodrigo duterte of the philippines, but rodrigo duterte isn'the will be able to make it. also coming up in the programme. her designs are seen as some of the most influential in fashion history. the netball in new york celebrates her work. and the faces of war. the exhibition which focuses in on us soldiers who fought in iraq and afghanistan. glad you could join us. it is 7am in singapore, midnight in london, and 7pm in washington, where president trump has roped in global diplomatic norms by saying he would be open to meeting with north korean leader kim jong—un. the president said he would be honoured to meet mr kim under the right circumstances. that may worry america's allies. japan has just sent its biggest warship to protect a navy supply vessel, a historic first for tokyo. a short time ago mr trump spoke of the danger posed by north korea to the region and beyond. i can say this. he is very threatening, he is a big threat to the world. how safe our troops in the world. how safe our troops in the demilitarised zone, and our ally in south k

the president of the philippines, rodrigo duterte, gets an invitation to the white house, but he says he may be too busy to go. also. violent scenes on the streets of paris as the city's traditional may day march becomes a protest against marine le pen. and a tribute to the japanese designer, reu kawakubo for the annual met gala in new york where the stars of fashion are meeting up. live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news. it is newsday. glad you could join us. in washington, dc, president trump has broken global diplomatic norms by saying he would be open to meeting north korean leader kim jong saying he would be open to meeting north korean leader kimjong on. he said it would need the right circumstances. they worry america's allies, japan, has sent its biggest warship to protect an easy supply vessel, an historic first for tokyo. i can say this. he's very threatening, he's a big threat to the world. how safe are troops in the demilitarised zone, and our ally in south korea? how safe are they with some of the defence systems we have provided, and what i

problem of insurgency or rebellion in the philippine youths.ird time. don't you think that by imposing it now, with the full force of the philippine national police and the armed forces, this could finally resolve the problem of the insurgency? no, not completely. maybe partially. the marshall is only one tool in the arsenal of government to respond to this problem. parts are very poor. they are hospitable to this kind of rebellion. they promise deliverance. their emptiness has been responded to by the militants. you said this is just to by the militants. you said this isjust one point, martial law. what else could repeat the process? we could see peace finally here. one of the things that is going on is the long winded peace process with the main muslim group. it has to be completed so that it will marginalise. and of course the long—term plans of winning hearts and minds for education. it has been going on. because of the rebellion, it is not on a full scale. ten months into the administration, i know the critics of the government. what do yo

the paper we don't often feature, the philippines style. trump, quite significant, president trump inviting the president of the philippines to the white house. some people say this could be seen as a tacit endorsement of the rather hardline approach of detergent.” guess there will be some criticism for guess there will be some criticism foertrump in guess there will be some criticism for mr trump in reaching out to rodrigo duterte imposing a christian with what he is doing with his legacy. as you mentioned, he is known for extrajudicial —— extradited —— extra judicial killings of drug addicts. with china becoming ever more important, also with rodrigo duterte turning more towards china and saying that the relationship with the uk —— us is broken, i think they needed to get the philippines back on the side of the philippines back on the side of the americans, especially as china is becoming ever more strong in its claims to the south china sea and, of course, an important role that the chinese play with regards to the relationship is north

it won't be anything like it in the philippines and actually even going beyond the philippines. this is going to be something that people love and that people respect as a structure. this service, everything involved is going to be first rated. we really look forward to it. it's going to be great. donald trump's trump partner on that project is now the trade and with the u.s. join nowed by national security, former deputy assistant secretary of defense. evelyn, there's this reporting from my colleague that state department and nsc blind sided by donald trump's off the cuff, i'm to see that was not all the talking points. how big of a deal is it to get a personal invitation from the president of the united states, particularly in the midst of the widespread of the extrajudicial killings there. >> it's a pretty big deal. i think this gets back to the whole issue of trump trump praising these leaders who have very checkered. he's in the category of vladimir putin. and reward them and he would be invited. worse case scenario when it comes to human rights and foreign leaders. the wor

philippines.as there to inaugurate a new shipping lane to boost trade between the two countries. it will reduce shipping time from five weeks to three days. us president donald trump has invited the philippine president to washington in a phone call over the weekend. they discussed the threat of north korea and the war on drugs in the philippines. public access to wi reless in the philippines. public access to wireless internet, wi—fi, maybe ubiquitous in many big cities right here in asia. in germany, would you believe it is a different story? public wi—fi is hard to find. there isa public wi—fi is hard to find. there is a legal reason for it. wi—fi owners can be potentially held liable for any illegal activity that occurs on their network. campaigners have been trying to change this and d raft have been trying to change this and draft legislation has been put forward. but that is also facing opposition. we have more from berlin. if you are looking for a morning coffee, there are few better place

a windy proposition in the philippines, but will the ousting of the environment secretary change itsr renewables? good morning asia and hello world. it is a tuesday. glad you could join us by asia business report. i‘m rico hizon. it is southeast asia‘s biggest airline group. but singapore airlines is dating increasing competition. some a nalysts dating increasing competition. some analysts suggest the carrier might soon go into debt for the first time in more than a decade. so will profits take off or hit turbulence this time round? here is a forecast. i think they will come out with a decent profit when the numbers come out. they have strong cash flow. they have very deep pockets, and very strategic view of what they wa nt to very strategic view of what they want to do in the next 3—5 years. i think that they have finally come on board and know what to do for the next two years. and they are on a record plane buying spree, but are not paying in cash? they are starting to have a net debt position. this is an interesting thing for singapore airlines. they have previously only played i

needs philippines to combat the north korean threat. as critics and human rights organizations respond with outrage. the president also raising eyebrows for again questioning if russia is responsible for hacking during the 2016 campaign. >> if you don't catch a hacker, okay, in the act, it is hard to say who did the hacking. with that being said, i'll go along with russia. could have been china. could have been a lot of groups. >> reporter: offering no evidence to discount the conclusion of the fbi director and 16 other intelligence agencies. president trump marking his 100th day in office over the weekend with a campaign rally with attacks on his favorite foe. >> i think we would all agree the media deserves a very, very big fat failing grade. >> reporter: the focus here at the white house now turning to the president's next 100 days. the other agenda items that haven't been finished, tax cuts and tax reform. he is getting ready for the first overseas trip in a few weeks. the whole world right now watching to see how the president will

the philippines is not that important. they are the chair of an important asian bloc of countries this year but that doesn't mean they're important and also doesn't mean they have the weight to do anything on north korea. what this is really about i think is president trump embracing strong men, and that's what's really scary. it doesn't matter whether you're a trump supporter or not. this is not a partisan issue. this is a question of whether you believe in governments run by law or governments that are run by violence, and duterte's government is operating by basically the rule of force. >> you're right, president trump is doing something different than we've seen before. he is if not reaching out, he is certainly sending signals, and speaking in a complimentary tone to some of the strong men such as vladimir putin, even kim jong-un this weekend president trump seemed to be speaking in very soft tones, not harsh tones, about. i think the white house would say he's trying to do something different. marginalizing and ostra

what we published was a philippine government document, classified philippine government document. so this was the transcript that e's people made of his call with trump. the reason i emphasize that is because after we published this, matt drudge put it at the top of drudge report. we had an enormous surge in traffic from many people who are supporters of donald trump. drudge gotarded in bombarded with a boycott campaign from trump supporters who are saying, whoever leaked this should be prosecuted for treason. in the journalist who published this should be put in prison, which echoes what we know trump has sort of suggested in meetings most recently to james comey right before he fired him. this was not a u.s. government document. people were saying, this is proof that obama left the white house bugged. it is like they don't understand the basic fact of went to foreign leaders are speaking, there are two sides of the conversation, so there we have it, the phone conversation -- amy: how did you get it? >> we're not going to talk about sources or methods as the us the government lik

>> windows in the philippines and the thing that i -- when i was in the philippines, i discovered itas a lot worse than originally thought it was. duterte operate in a and so not only is he the problem, but there are other political officials afraid to speak out. they are the problem. duterte has taken a page out of the 1980's u.s. drug war in that he is using drugs to separate people. the issue of drugs to separate the poor people from the people who have means. and he is allowing or providing the environment so people could kill, as you pointed out, kill people who are engaged in drug use and drug trafficking. and people are afraid to speak out against this wrong because duterte has no qualms about having people's lives be threatened. i discovered people are being $100. for his little as it ranges from about $100 to $500 to have someone killed. actually, i love the philippines early because my life was threatened because of me speaking out against what duterte was saying about drugs and what he is doing. so we have it that in the united states, but the philippines -- i've never see

. >> jenna: president trump inviting the press to the philippines in the white house.iticized for authoritarian practice is in his country. the next guests says that this move reflects the conundrum that we face in the region. adjoining a sound, the former director of middle eastern affairs at the national security council. as you point out, the president of the philippines was not the only president that president trump spoke to this weekend. speak about what you observed and what you think is important to point out to the viewers. >> the administration is apparently doing outreach to not just the philippines, but also southeast asian countries as well as other asian countries more broadly. regarding the north korea threa threat. there are a lot of issues to explore here. i would not exaggerate the fact that president trump invited the philippine president to the white house, because it does seem that he invited the other theaters to the white house, seems to invite everyone to the white house. >> jenna: we have not gotten our invitation yet, we are waiting for that,

that would be considered by many a step too far, given the human rights situation in the philippines right now. reporters today asking whether there's a link between these two diplomatic outreaches. >> does the president have a thing with these totalitarian leaders? does he admire something about the way these guys conduct themselves? >> the president clearly, as i've said, understands the threat that north korea poses. i think someone with the potential nuclear capability to strike another country, potentially our country at some point in the future, is something the president takes very seriously. >> nbc's chris jansing is at the white house. chris, you got two fronts here, you got duterte in the philippines, the idea of brings him to the white house, question of honoring somebody with a record like his with that kind of recognition but also the use of the word, honor, "i would be honored to meet with kim jong-un." is there a strategic calculation behind either one of these moves from the white house's standpoint? >> reporter: well, they say there is, they say that this is about ma

the president has accepted as you know, erin, an invitation to visit the philippines in november for a regional summit. >> that is right, interesting, of course he would hone in on his popularity readings, so near and dear to the president's heart. >>> and mark preston, the senior analyst. let's start with north korea, the president of the united states just said and we heard him say it he would be honored to meet a murdering ruthless dictator. >> big mistake, the president of the united states needs to be quiet in terms of our relationship with north korea. look, for the past seven years while the kim jong-un military is in power. we've created a strong military and alliance in the region, worked as best as we can to try to contain north korea and hopefully modify their behavior. inarguably, none of that has worked. >> they have made a lot of progress, they have gotten the nuclear weapons. >> and north korea will continue to march along this path. the president of the united states should not be honored to meet kim, not a single bit. what has to happen there has to be at the lowest

but at the end of the day the philippines-american relationship is long-standing.have very strong ties between our peoples, our countries and our governments. and i think it's important to use those ties as leverage to insist and press for better treatment of the people of the philippines. >> brangham: last quick question, president trump today also said he would meet with the north korean leader. how does that sit with you? >> i would hope that that would be a last resort after everything else is tried at lower levels. granting an audience to the worst abuser of human rights, the north korean leader, president kim, is something i hope we don't see any time soon. the problem is, obviously, not just nuclear concerns, nuclear security, but also the treatment of north korean people by its leader. that is a huge problem. and i hope that would also not get swept under the rug. >> brangham: all right, david kramer of the mccain institute, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> brangham: the world's youngest country is tearing itself apart. south sudan was founded in 2011,

so we have it that in the united states, but the philippines -- i've never seen anything like the philippinesamy: professor, explain more what happened to you and your response to president trump, to the shock of many, inviting the philippines president duterte to the white house. >> i gave a talk basically saying what duterte they had said, he s said methamphetamine showing sure brain. this provided justification for people to kill people who use methamphetamine. i said that was ludicrous, there is no science to support that. he was upset about it. he responded. his people online responded with threats and that sort of thing. i did not think my statement was controversial, but it turns out it was because this is justification for killing people. duterte trump to invite to the united states, given that this sort of thing is happening, it is just consistent with what trump has been doing. trump has shown himself to be the most ignorant president that we have ever had. he has shown himself to be the one that disregards law more so than any other president we have had. so it is just consistent -

the philippines denies president duterte‘s war on drugs is causing a "new wave of killings" — blaminghow the deaths are counted. some local media change the definition of extra judicial killings therefore deceiving the public and foreign media into believing there is a sudden wave of state sponsored extra judicial killings. the white house was warned — former us attorney general, sally yates reveals she told officials that general mike flynn could be vulnerable to russian blackmail — less than a month before he resigned. residents on a remote irish island, flock to see a sandy beach that's reappeared after being washed away by storms more than 30 years ago. it's 8am in singapore, 1 in the morning in london and 9am in seoul, where voting is underway to elect a new president. the election is months ahead of schedule, after conservative president park geun—hye was impeached over a corruption scandal. the poll comes amid major tensions with north korea, rising youth unemployment and bubbling anger among the electorate over corruption. the election is widely seen as a contest between moonj

the philippines president's war on drugs.local media change the definition of extradition dished —— extradition —— make extrajudicial killings. national security adviser... asians in britain used to ca re adviser... asians in britain used to care for their relatives at home but a new ca re care for their relatives at home but a new care centre is care for their relatives at home but a new care centre is changing that. it's 7am here in singapore, midnight in london and 7am in seoul where voting is currently under way to a late and new president. the election is months ahead of schedule after the president park geun—hye was impeached over a corruption scandal. the poll comes over major rising tensions with north korea and bubbling in the electorate over corruption. it is seen as a battle between these two. moonjae—in has promised to create newjobs in the public sector. to tackle corruption, he has promised to end residential pardons for executives. he said the future president should make the final decision on the us defence sy

the reef is also claimed by taiwan and the philippines. military build—up in the arctic is spooking its neighbours. under the headline, frozen conflict: russia's arctic expansion, is a dramatic picture of a soldier decked out in white and grey arctic camouflage. now, kasia, we know the internet is all about cat stories, but one particular cat has really got people talking on—line. it certainly has, and, rico, when you see this moggy, you'll understand why it's trending. meet omar, from melbourne, in australia. omar is a whopping 120cm long. and this super—sized feline could be the world's longest domestic cat. he found fame after his owner, stephy hirst, started his own instagram account. the guinness world records then asked ms hirst for his measurements. the current record—holder is a 118cm long cat from west yorkshire in the uk. omar weighs 14 kilograms and eats human—grade kangaroo meat. do you like big cats or smaller ones? i like smaller ones as they are easier to cuddle. apparently she cannot pick her one up. now back to our main st

tom: let me bring up a picture of the philippines currency, which really shows the philippine miraclewas seen through 2013. that green line going down is a strong, strong, strong philippine peso. there has been a reversal. can mr. duterte have it both ways? can he of the government he desires and at the same time, can he get back to a strong philippine peso? peso has sortine of been -- it has been up and down and hard to predict. on the one hand, on some days, the media would say and observers would say this is the worst-performing currency in asia. the next week, it is the best-performing currency. external factors. a lot of things happening in the united states. it is for us economic direction is concerned, if you look at the surveys, one thing that is very there is a slight erosion in his popular support in the lower segment of the income brackets will stop at the same time, there is an uptick in the abc crowd, the upper to middle income class, investors and entrepreneurs. a lot of that is contributed to the fact the businessman in her together seem to be getting consortium both ho

gdp for the philippines grew 8.6%, the fastest since 2010.t is your assessment of the economy, and do see potential headwinds given china or the volatility in commodities prices? as the domestic isnomy is concerned, it driven by robust household consumption, private investment, increased government spending, and there is a lot of liquidity and sustain credit growth, said the domestic conditions are in good shape here it as far as external headwinds are concerned, the outlook seems to have significantly improved based on recent assessments, like the imf in its latest world economic out look, although there is recognition that there are downside risks, but the economy at this stage has developed a lot of buffers to be able to manage any situation that might arise. thank you so much for your that is the incoming governor for the philippine central bank. still ahead, we will be talking asian growth with general electric's vice-chairman life from the world economic forum. rishaad: china ahead with its oil and road project. every partner is keen to

he invieded philippines president to washington.ded a crack down on drugs in his country. >> he's suggested that he's been a cannibal once more. critics say he carried out human rights abuse. but the white house says to tear it and being helpful. let's now bring in john, he's the advocacy director for human rights, watched. it's good to have you with us, john. this came as quite a surprise to many people in washington. the president and of the united states inviting to washington. what are your thoughts. >> inviting somebody who is says they have killed people with his wrong hands and promoting a murderous war on drugs, is not embracing of human rights principles, very disturbing what the white house has done here. they're basically sending a message they believe the illegitimate violence is more important than human rights law. >> looking back at the previous administration. what are the differences is how the obama administration interacted with the philippines, versus this new invitation from president trump. >> well, he's only b

he he's very popular in the philippines. the white house says, duterte could help with north korea. >> the number one concern of this president, is to make sure we do everything we can, to protect our people. and specifically, to economically and diplomatically isolate north korea. >> and jim acosta joins us now. what's your reaction to the comments on duterte in the philippines. >> reporter: officials were not surprised about the comments about duterte. he said similar things in the past. they were surprised by the invitation that the president extended for duterte to meet with the president at the white house. duterte has made comments or it's on reported that he's not sure he has time to meet with president trump. it appears they will be able to meet at the azion summit later in the philippines. but i think it's worth repeating and pointing out to our viewers, duterte and kim jong-un, are not the only undemocratic leaders that the president has been praising. he praised xi of china as terrific. and he's been saying flatte

to be connected to the drug trade, drug users in the philippines. while the philippines is a long-standing ally, duterte is highly controversial because of his dismal rights record. and the fact that president trump invited him to the white house does appear to countenance duterte's behavior. >> tell me about the significance. we have figured out the relationship with south korea and the dangers of north korea. tell me about the significance of a closer or colder relationship with the philippines? >> well, the philippines has traditionally been the lynch pin of the u.s. strategy in the south china sea. during the obama administration, the president and his top aides negotiated rotational base access in the philippines so that the united states could have access to places like the south china sea more quickly if they needed it. and in general, it's been an increasingly strong relationship. but since duterte took office, the relationship has chilled in large part because the obama administration decided to stand back given his deeply problematic extra

and kim jong-un, the president of the philippines who has killed thousands of people. the words he said about vladimir put putin, what do you make about this and what we heard from sean spicer specifically saying he's inviting duterte to the white house because he wants to have a coalition. >> you can't prove it wrong. you can always say it's important to have allies around the world who can bring pressure to bare on north korea. at the same time, back to my earlier point, we're talking about at least 7,000 people killed in this broad anti-drug clean up program. put aside what e he said about former president obama. so again, i just think this idea we're prioritizing this. congratulations to president erd won for his victorievictories. you can't say i'm going to pick these things that are beneficial to us and they are positioning them in the region. the human rights stuff, they come together. it's part and parcel. >> i want to bring in your reaction to the notion that president trump is saying he would be honored to meet with kim jong-un. it seemed like sean spicer dod

>> philippines are still a democracy. we have a certain amount of power for that.s view on china is that of a huge majority of the filipino people. so i think you have to keep your priorities in order. dealing with him on the big issue is a way to engender some confidence if we can bring him back on our side. and then you can deal with these other issues in ways that are less public. in south america, we've seen over the years that the drug problem and radical leftists gorilla gangs are closely related. this muslim insurrection has been a problem. he may not behave according to our standards. he may behave reprehensibly. if the choice is to say, well, we're just going to cast him into outer darkness and he's foolish enough to go to the embrace of china, we have lost a huge strategic struggle here. >> neil: do you find it odd the overtures the president has made to the north korean leader saying he's a smart cookie, we're not trying to topple him and the overture of vladimir putin, that's been weirdly received if you think about the way we've gone after the syrians

president trump is inviting the philippines' president rodrigo duterte for a visit. duterte faces international outrage over his ultraviolent and anti-drug campaign. but he's a potential ally in the region on north korea. >> human rights don't matter now? >> absolutely not. but the issues facing us in north korea are so serious, we need cooperation at some level with as many partners in the area that we can get to make sure we have our ducks in a row. >> reporter: the hermit kingdom continues to be a major international trouble spot. just today, north korea threatened a u.s. submarine deployed nearby, "it will meet a miserable end and turn into an underwater ghost." at trump's event in harrisburg last night, abc news asked if he plans to respond to friday's missile launch. >> you'll soon find out, won't you? >> does that mean military action? >> you'll soon find out. >> reporter: until now, the white house has drawn a distinction between missile launches and nuclear tests. >> if he does a nuclear test, i will not be happy. >> reporter: today, trump even expressed gru

/philippines alliance which now heading in a now positive direction.d president obama a son of a who are last year right before they were supposed to meet. and it seems as though obama might ask about the kwassy official killing, the obama administration swiftly canceled that meeting. but in this new administration, relations already very friendly and the white house my door wide open. the state department and the national security council reportedly no idea this invitation was coming from the white house. backlash outside the administration has been a little more overt. human rights organizations saying this invitation puts blood on donald trump's hands, makes him morally complicit in future killings in the philippines. democratic senator chris smauv on the foreign relations committee said we are watching in realtime as the american human rights bully pulpit disintegrates into ash. joining is senator chris murphy. senator murphy it's nice to have you back with us tonight. thank you for being here? >> sure thanks for having me. >> how valuable is the a

the philippines is important to us.ve military bases, a strategic relationship, a long history. yes, they're important in containing china, but they're not important with north korea. but apart from that, when you have the president of egypt -- egypt's an important ally -- but you have the president of egypt at the white house, el sisi, human rights violator, now we invite duterte, human rights violator. it doesn't send a signal of moral authority by the united states. the president needs to walk this back. >> but he did get something from el sisi of egypt, right? aya hijazi was released, so are there some possible rewards to outreach? look, you did go to north korea yourself several times. it was to release prisoners and for other reasons. so you, yourself, have talked to people considered unsavory, shall we say. >> well, yes, i will give credit to the administration for releasing this woman in egypt. they did that quietly. that's the way to do it. i hope the president is also considering otto warmbier and another amer

extending martial law across the philippines, trying to subvert wider democracy.is in the news because of the leaked pictures of the various bits used by the manchester bomb but this article is quite interesting. it's a feature. some migrants flee in style. talking about the cost for those who perhaps wants —— want a guaranteed safe trip if that is possible. there are no guarantees in any of this. the number the new york times has as a family of six paying about $96,000. that is for the whole journey from afghanistan across to turkey. yet as we were having a chat before we came now, there are people paying not much less than that to go oi'i paying not much less than that to go ona dinghy, paying not much less than that to go on a dinghy, on a raft. again, this isjust another on a dinghy, on a raft. again, this is just another example of how desperate people at the end of any economic spectrum being exploited and there are no guarantees. there are no guarantees to when they arrive in turkey or the european union. we are still in early summer. these numbers could in