FRANKFURT / AP Production of the 500-euro banknote is being discontinued amid concerns it had become too popular among crooks and money launderers. The European Central Bank, the monetary authority for the 19 countries that use the shared currency, made the decision at a meeting. The ECB said it was taking into account concerns that the banknote, which is …

  Manila / AFP Security forces fanned out across the Philippines on Sunday on the eve of national polls, following a vicious and deadly election campaign dominated by presidential favourite Rodrigo Duterte’s threats to kill thousands of criminals. Surveys show Duterte, mayor of the southern city of Davao, has a clear lead in Monday’s presidential elections as millions of voters …

  Kuwait City / AFP The UN special envoy to Yemen held talks on Sunday with the country’s warring parties in a bid to break an impasse, a day after the government pulled out of direct negotiations. Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed held separate morning talks in Kuwait City with delegates, and plenary or committees’ meetings were planned in the afternoon, …