EU Commissioner defends Chinese 'slitty eyes' comment

Yahoo – AFP, October 30, 2016

EU-Commissioner for Energy German Guenther Oettinger was secretly filmed
at a Hamburg event earlier this month while mocking a delegation of Chinese
ministers (AFP Photo/Odd Andersen)

Frankfurt (AFP) - Germany's European Commissioner Guenther Oettinger on Sunday defended his use of the term "slitty eyes" for Chinese people which triggered outrage after they were revealed in a leaked recording of a speech to business leaders.

Oettinger -- the commissioner for digital economy who was last week named to the more powerful post of budget commissioner -- also made disparaging remarks about women and gay marriage.

In the comments, secretly filmed at a Hamburg event earlier this month, he mocked a delegation of Chinese ministers, "their hair combed from left to right with shoe polish".

Anonymous YouTube user "Sebas Travelling", who uploaded the clip on Friday, said Oettinger had used the words "slitty eyes" and "chiselers" to refer to Chinese people.

"That was a somewhat sloppy expression that was not meant in any way disrespectfully towards China," Oettinger told Die Welt newspaper on Saturday.

The comments were made during a speech focusing on EU relations with China, the world's second largest economy.

"Nine men, one party. No democracy, no female quota, and no women -- which follows logically," he said, referring to the delegation which had recently visited the Commission.

Oettinger insisted to Die Welt that his comments were taken out of context and that he had "received a lot of positive reaction" to the speech.

In his comments to the Hamburg forum, he also took aim at the political agendas of domestic German politicians, including more generous pensions and child benefits, a controversial road toll for foreign vehicles, and "soon to come, compulsory gay marriage".

"I have nothing against same-sex marriage," he said on SWR public radio on Sunday.

"But while we're all talking and arguing about that, there is no time for other, critical questions, which would keep Germany and Europe ahead in a dynamic world."

In the secretly-recorded speech, he said Germany and other EU nations were allowing Chinese firms to buy up European companies and their valuable know-how and intellectual property, while China did not allow Europeans to invest there as freely.

"The same rules should go for China and for Europe. We should open our markets to one another to the same extent," he told Die Welt.

The comments come at an embarrassing time as they emerged just after European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker announced Friday he had tapped Oettinger to take over the budget portfolio from Bulgaria's Kristalina Georgieva.

Juncker and German Chancellor Angela Merkel should "impose an adequate punishment in the face of this behaviour unworthy of a member of the European Commission", French activist group SOS Racisme said in a statement Sunday.

"Someone who openly spreads racist and homophobic opinions has disqualified themselves for top political positions," Katarina Barley, secretary-general of Germany's centre-left Social Democratic Party, told Spiegel Online on Saturday.

Related Articles:

Germany's Oettinger apologizes for Chinese, gay marriage slurs - New
China umimpressed with German politician Oettinger's racial slur

Kia, Hyundai reach $41.2 mn settlement with US states

Yahoo – AFP, October 27, 2016

Hyundai and Kia, which is partially owned by Hyundai, claimed fuel efficiency
ratings of up to 40 miles per gallon for some of their cars, exaggerating the true
consumption rate by one to six miles per gallon (AFP Photo/Justin Sullivan)

Washington (AFP) - South Korean automakers Kia and Hyundai reached a $41.2 million settlement with US states over inflated fuel economy claims for their cars, officials said Thursday.

The settlement with 33 states and the District of Columbia was the latest fallout after the automakers were caught in 2012 artificially boosting the fuel economy ratings.

"Consumers who do thoughtful research and purchase a vehicle in line with their budget and their desire to protect the environment should be able to trust what automakers say about their cars," Karl Racine, District of Columbia attorney general, said in a statement.

Hyundai and Kia, which is partially owned by Hyundai, claimed fuel efficiency ratings of up to 40 miles per gallon (7.1 liters per 100 km) for some of their cars, exaggerating the true consumption rate by one to six miles per gallon.

About 1.1 million vehicles in the 2011-2013 model-years sold in the United States and Canada had bogus fuel ratings, the companies admitted. They both agreed in 2012 to reimburse car owners for their additional fuel costs.

Both companies also agreed in 2014 to pay a combined $300 million in fines and regulatory credit forfeitures to settle a two-year probe by the US Environmental Protection Agency and Justice Department.

The news follows this week's approval of a $14.7 billion class-action settlement of Volkswagen's case in US courts over the German automaker's emissions cheating scandal.

EU parliament strips far-right FN founder Jean-Marine Le Pen of immunity

MEPs have revoked the elderly far-right leader's immunity over anti-Semitic comments made in 2014. It is a move likely to be hailed by French prosecutors, who have sought to charge him with inciting racial hatred.

Deutsche Welle, 25 Oct 2016

European lawmakers agreed on Tuesday to remove parliamentary immunity for France's far-right patriarch Jean-Marie Le Pen.  The decision has long been sought by French state prosecutors who want to see the founder of the National Front tried for inciting racial hatred.

The MEPs were able to gather the requisite number of votes after showing some footage from 2014 in which Le Pen slights Jewish singer Patrick Bruel and makes a pun alluding to gas chambers at Nazi concentration camps.

Le Pen has often been in the headlines over the past few years, not only for similar remarks downplaying the Holocaust, but also for his very public feud with daughter Marine, who now leads the populist party he created.

The legal affairs committee of the EU parliament said that immunity barring lawmakers from prosecution was not meant to "allow for slandering, libeling, inciting hatred or pronouncing statements attacking a person's honor."

According to French news agency AFP, parliament president Martin Schulz was moved to hand the complaint to the committee following complaints about Le Pen's Twitter account. He has been known to post disturbing images of crimes carried out by "Islamic State," such as the decapitation of American journalist James Foley.

Marine Le Pen, who has worked hard to try and recapture the headlines from her father's anti-Semitic views, called the video a "political error" and openly condemned the elder Le Pen for his statements. With an eye to the 2017 general election in France, Marine Le Pen has been hoping to position the National Front as a right-wing alternative to the conservative Republican party.

es/rc (AFP, dpa)

Car dealership agrees to €12m deal in offical vehicle corruption scandal

DutchNews, October 20, 2016

Car import company Pon’s Automobielhandel has reached a €12m out of court settlement for its role in a bribery and corruption scandal involving contracts for police and defence ministry vehicles. 

Pon agreed to the deal after an investigation showed its staff  bought presents for officials and paid for foreign trips in an effort to win lucrative deals worth millions of euros between 2001 and 2011. 

The police investigation found eight Pon workers were involved in the bribery, offering civil servants cheap rental cars, discounts on car repairs and exotic holidays and luxury cruises. In total, the company is said to have spent over €100,000 on bribing officials. 

The public prosecution department said in a statement it considered the settlement an ‘appropriate’ deal, given that the company’s current board had completely distanced themselves from the corruption and had introduced a new compliance structure. 

The company also cooperated fully with the investigation, the department said. 

The formal investigation into wide corruption involving police and defence ministry car contracts began in March 2012 and identified 37 potential suspects. 

Last year, the public prosecutor said four police officers and four defence ministry officials would face criminal charges for corruption. A number of other cases are still outstanding.

Wells Fargo CEO Stumpf steps down after fake accounts scandal

Yahoo – AFP, October 13, 2016

John Stumpf, Chairman and CEO of the Wells Fargo & Company, testifies
before the House Financial Services Committee September 29, 2016 in
Washington, DC (AFP Photo/Mark Wilson)

New York (AFP) - Embattled Wells Fargo chairman and CEO John Stump has retired with immediate effect following a sham accounts scandal, the San Francisco bank announced Wednesday.

Stump’s departure from the US commercial and retail banking giant capped mounting public outrage after the bank admitted last month that employees had opened millions of deposit and credit card accounts in customers' names without their knowledge in order to meet sales quotas.

Lawmakers in Washington had called for Stumpf's resignation, repeatedly castigating him in public hearings for stealing from customers and pressuring low-level employees to meet unrealistic sales targets, all while touting the results to investors.

Wells Fargo settled with US regulators

 and the City of Los Angeles last month for
about $190 million in fines and restitution

(AFP Photo/Frederic J Brown)

"While I have been deeply committed and focused on managing the company through this period, I have decided it is best for the company that I step aside," Stumpf said in a statement.

Stumpf had said publicly in mid-September that he would not resign.

The bank last month settled with US regulators and the City of Los Angeles for about $190 million in fines and restitution, a sum that did not reflect the magnitude of the scandal's effect on the bank, which has seen officials in Illinois and California suspend ties with it.

Wells Fargo announced last month that Stumpf would forfeit $41 million in compensation and receive no bonus for the year.

The bank told AFP on Wednesday that Stumpf would also not receive any severance payment.

Stumpf will be succeeded as CEO by president and chief operating officer Tim Sloan, a 29 year veteran of the company.

"My immediate and highest priority is to restore trust in Wells Fargo," Sloan said in a statement.

"We will work tirelessly to build a stronger and better Wells Fargo for generations to come."

Stephen Sanger, Wells Fargo's lead director, will serve as the board's non-executive chairman.

Wells Fargo shares rose 2.1 percent in after hours trade following the announcement.

The activist organization Public Citizen noted Wednesday that, while the bank had fired more than 5,000 employees accused of wrongdoing, Stumpf was allowed to retire.

"Those fired employees didn't receive golden parachutes and CEO John Stumpf shouldn't either," the organization's president Robert Weissman said in a statement, calling for federal authorities to press ahead with criminal probes.

"Americans are beyond sick and tired of big banks and their executives escaping accountability."

Stumpf's ouster represents a scalp for the bank's critics on Capitol Hill. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who has campaigned for stronger oversight of the US financial sector, accused him of "gutless leadership" and calling on him to step aside.

Stumpf had been with the company for more than three decades, having joined Norwest Bank in 1982 prior to its merger with Wells Fargo.

He became CEO in 2007 on the eve of the financial crisis. But he leaves the bank in a difficult state. Prior to the scandal, Wells Fargo had been the world's largest bank by market value. But shares in the company have fallen more than 9 percent following the September settlement, closing Wednesday at $45.32 in New York.

Dutch royals get financial compensation for paying tax: RTL Nieuws

DutchNews, October 11, 2016

The Dutch royal family receives ‘generous’ financial compensation for the tax they pay over their income from assets, according to RTL Nieuws. 

Family members have had to pay tax on their income from shares and savings since 1973. However, RTL has found secret documents showing that queen Juliana was given a higher allowance by the state to compensate her for the tax payments. 

The broadcaster says it is impossible to calculate how much the Oranjes have benefited from the extra payment, but says in the 1970s, the compensation was at least 150,000 guilders a year. 

King Willem-Alexander will get a tax-free allowance of €5.5m in 2017, calculated on the basis of the 1973 ruling, RTL said. 

Currently, members of the royal family receive a tax-free salary and are not required to pay gift or inheritance tax. 

A year ago, prime minister Mark Rutte defended the royals’ tax free status, arguing that ‘a deal is a deal’. 

Much of their money is in foundations, which do not pay tax. The taxpayer also picks up the bill for security, rebuilding palaces and the former queen’s yacht De Groene Draeck.  The Dutch royal family is considered to be the most expensive in Europe, and costs the taxpayer some €40m a year, excluding security.

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Europe's royals enjoy strong, but fragile, support - New

Economics Nobelist Holmstrom: CEO pay 'just a mess'

Yahoo – AFP,  October 10, 2016

Bengt Holmstrom, the Paul A. Samuelson Professor of Economics at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said his research hasn't always
gotten through to those who design pay packages (AFP Photo/Kayana
Szymczak)

Washington (AFP) - Bengt Holmstrom, the Finnish economist whose contract theory research earned him a Nobel economics prize Monday, said that executive compensation has gotten out of hand, and contributed to the collapse of Enron Corp.

Holmstrom, who shared the Nobel with fellow economist Oliver Hart, explored the way employment contracts can shape behavior and reach mutually beneficial outcomes for the hirer and hiree.

But he told an audience Monday at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he now works, that their research hasn't always gotten through to those who design pay packages.

"I was on the Nokia board for two or three years. And I think executive compensation went from reasonable to absolutely dreadful," he said, pointing to stock and option incentives given management.

Likewise, he said, the collapse of Enron, the high-flying energy company that failed in 2001, related to executives' pay deals, with generous stock options, that did not align their interests with the company's.

"I think the main problem with that scheme was that they were not vested, that executives could cash out very quickly," he said.

He told journalists that executive pay had gotten too complicated. "There's so many pieces of it and it's just a mess... I wish they would listen a little bit more about what we know or understand about executive compensation."

Holmstrom, 67, said he was delighted to receive the Nobel. He and Hart will share the eight million kronor ($924,000) prize.

"I feel dazed.... I am still wondering whether I will wake up or not."

He described himself as "lucky" for having gotten into a research topic just at the time it was garnering broader interest, "for being in the right place at the right time."

But he was not ready to offer a prescription on how pay should be decided, saying it is difficult to fiddle with the power of the market.

"Economics doesn't really have an opinion on the level" of pay, or why CEO pay has soared in recent years, he noted. "It is what it is. It is somehow demand and supply working its magic."

After years of working on theoretical topics, Holmstrom said he was now thinking about real-world issues.

"In the last six years, since the financial crisis, have been intellectually very rewarding."

"I'm back into the mode of really thinking about problems, which you can lie in bed and wake up at night and feel excited about."

German taxman goes after foreign banks

German state prosecutors are investigating nearly 60 foreign banks for "abetting tax evasion," a newspaper report has said. Self-declaring former tax-evaders are proving a particularly valuable source of information.

Deutsche Welle, 4 Oct 2016

Prosecutors in Germany's most populous state are investigating 57 foreign banks on charges of abetting tax evasion, according to the "Süddeutsche Zeitung." The banks, from Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria and Luxembourg, have all been under suspicion over the past two years, the report said on Tuesday.

The banks were brought to the investigators' attention thanks to a wave of German citizens offering voluntary declarations of their foreign bank accounts over the past six years - concentrating in particular on banks mentioned repeatedly.

The German authorities have already negotiated fines with banks in around 10 cases, according to the paper, amounting to a total of around 120 million euros ($135 million). The biggest single fine came from the Basler Kantonalbank, Switzerland, which handed over 37.1 million euros.

The Luxembourg bank BCEE has paid 14 million euros, while the Deutsche Bank in Switzerland has paid some 10 million euros. On top of that, in one particularly egregious case, a bank is believed to be negotiating a fine of around 60 million euros.

Walter-Borjans said prosecutors will
pursue every indication of tax evasion

The Austria-based Akte Walser Privatbank confirmed that it had paid its fine of 5.4 million euros, and that its policies had become tighter since the case. "Our bank changed the way it deals with foreign customers radically in 2009," a spokesman told the paper. "The requirements for the identification of customers and the transparency about the origin of the means are very strict."

BCEE did not respond to a request for comment, while a spokesman for Deutsche Bank in Switzerland told DW that it never comments on such cases.

New methods

Paying closer attention to voluntary declarations has become German prosecutors' new favorite method of tracking down tax evaders.

Instead of buying up CDs of customer data from disloyal bank employees (or other illicit sources) - a move that divided Germany's political parties when authorities spent several million euros to do so in the past - the authorities now increasingly investigate banks that repeatedly appear on voluntary declarations.

The former tax evaders are then questioned for more information about the banks. In an email to DW, however, a spokesman for the Cologne state prosecutors said they could "neither comment on or confirm" the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" report and that they did not record statistics about voluntary declarations.

Tenacious taxmen

North Rhine-Westphalia has become Germany's most vociferous tax crime prosecutor in recent years.

The NRW authorities have acquired 

CDs with account data in the past

The state has acquired 11 data storage devices since 2010, which according to a statement from early August, created a wave of voluntary declarations and fines that has brought some 6 billion euros to Germany's public coffers.

The most recent example was in August, when someone anonymously (and free of charge) sent the NRW Finance Ministry an external hard drive containing the details of some 160,000 bank accounts - 54,000 of which were German, around 50,000 Belgian, and around 42,000 French. State Finance Minister Norbert Walter-Borjans has pledged to pass on all the data the state has to the relevant foreign authorities across Europe.

The latest revelations show that German prosecutors are now paying particular attention to banks in Austria, where banking secrecy was once protected by the constitution. In 2014, the European Court of Justice ruled that this was unlawful, triggering a sharp rise in voluntary tax declarations, particularly in Bavaria - while many Austrian banks let employees go.

Last week, various German media outlets reported that the NRW tax authorities were also pursuing major multinational financial institutions, including J.P. Morgan, Barclays and HSBC, on suspicion of "devious stock trading," allowing them to avoid some 10 billion euros of tax over several years.

"Our tax investigations go after every suspicion - without regard for either individuals or credit institutions," Walter-Borjans said. He added that a number of banks had already entered into negotiations and were cooperating with authorities, though he would not go into details. He went on to urge other banks to follow suit.

Related Article:

Just 16% of Dutch consumers trust banks, new survey shows

ING to slash up to 7,000 jobs, 2,300 will go in the Netherlands

Big three Dutch banks have announced 40,000 job cuts since 2011

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”

Just 16% of Dutch consumers trust banks, new survey shows

DutchNews, October 3, 2016

Photo: European Central Bank

Over a quarter of Dutch consumers mistrust banks, 16% trust them and 57% are neutral, according to a new survey by the Dutch banking association.

On average, banks score 2.8 on a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 represents ‘a lot of trust’, the VNG said on Monday. The figures are unchanged from last year.

Consumers with little trust in banks say financial institutions serve their own interests first. Concerns about executive pay and low interest rates are also reasons for consumers to mistrust banks, broadcaster NOS quoted the report as saying.

However, consumers are happier about banking services and the way they deal with complaints, the VNG said.

‘We had a lot of ground to make up and it takes time to build up trust again,’ said chairman Chris Bujink. ‘Consumers see improvements in services but remain sceptical about whether banks have actually changed. Banks must continually show they can be trusted.’

Related Articles:

ING to slash up to 7,000 jobs, 2,300 will go in the Netherlands

Big three Dutch banks have announced 40,000 job cuts since 2011

German taxman goes after foreign banks - New

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”

Philippines' Duterte draws Hitler parallels in war on drugs

Yahoo – AFP, September 30, 2016

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte won elections in May in a landslide after a
campaign dominated by his pledge to eradicate drugs by killing tens of
thousands of people (AFP Photo/Manman Dejeto)

Davao (Philippines) (AFP) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday likened his deadly crime war to Hitler's efforts to exterminate Jews, as he declared he was "happy to slaughter" millions of drug addicts.

Duterte also railed against Western critics of his unprecedented law-and-order crackdown, which has left more than 3,000 people dead in three months and raised concerns about a breakdown in the rule of law in one of Asia's most chaotic democracies.

"Hitler massacred three million Jews. Now there are three million drug addicts (in the Philippines). I'd be happy to slaughter them," Duterte told reporters in his home city of Davao, although he vastly underestimated the number of people killed in the Holocaust by the Nazi leader's regime.

"At least if Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have," he said, then paused. "But you know, my victims, I would like to be (sic) all criminals to finish the problem of my country and save the next generation from perdition."

Duterte, 71, won elections in May in a landslide after a campaign dominated by his pledge to eradicate drugs in society by killing tens of thousands of people.

The lawyer and former city prosecutor promised immunity for security forces if they were charged with murder, and on his first day in office urged residents of a Manila slum to kill drug addicts within their own community.

His police chief also urged addicts to burn down the homes of drug traffickers and kill them.

Since Duterte came to power on June 30, police have killed more than 1,200 people and about 1,800 others have died in unexplained circumstances, according to official figures.

A piece of cardboard, with "drug peddler" or "drug addict" written on it, is frequently placed on corpses that are left on the streets. This has led to the war on crime becoming known as "cardboard justice".

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's law-and-order crackdown has left more

than 3,000 people dead in three months (AFP Photo/Noel Celis)

'Revolting, inhumane'

Duterte has faced a barrage of criticism from Western governments and rights groups, but he has reacted defiantly and often with abusive language while insisting he is not doing anything illegal.

Duterte has branded US President Barack Obama a "son of a whore", called UN chief Ban Ki-moon a "fool" and used expletives in referring to the European Union while raising his middle finger.

His analogy with Adolf Hitler, whose campaign to wipe out Jews in Europe led to about six million deaths by the end of World War II, triggered more condemnation.

"Any comparison of the singular atrocities of the Holocaust with anything else is totally unacceptable," German foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer told reporters.

World Jewish Congress president Ronald Lauder described Duterte's comments as "revolting" and demanded he apologise.

"What President Duterte said is not only profoundly inhumane, but it demonstrates an appalling disrespect for human life," Lauder said in a statement.

Hypocrisy

Duterte on Friday also criticised the European Union and the United States for alleged inaction on the migrant crisis emanating from the Middle East.

Activists light candles for the victims of extrajudicial killings in the Philippine 

government's drug war in Manila on September 16, 2016 (AFP Photo/Ted Aljibe)

"You US, EU. You can call me anything. But I was never into or I am never into hypocrisy like you," he said.

"There are migrants escaping from the Middle East. You allow them to rot and then you're worried about the deaths of about 1,000, 2,000, 3,000?"

In response to American criticism, Duterte has signalled he intends to downgrade military ties with longtime ally the United States, while forging closer relations with China and Russia.

Duterte said this week he intended to end joint military exercises with the United States.

The nations conduct war games regularly in the Philippines and coastal waters, which previous governments have intended as a form of deterrence against China's ambitions to control most of the South China Sea.

US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter responded to Duterte's comments by insisting on Thursday America's alliance with the Philippines remained "ironclad".

But Duterte on Friday insisted the war games next week involving more than 1,000 troops would be the last of his six-year term, as he hit out again at the United States.

"Do not pretend to be the moral conscience of the world," he said.