MANILA: Three Philippine soldiers were killed in a landmine blast yesterday when their patrol stumbled onto a communist guerrilla jungle training camp.
One other soldier was injured in the explosion on the southern island of Mindanao, said Brigadier-General Ricardo Visaya.
The fighting came eight days after the NPA killed eight police commandos in the country’s north, also by using a landmine. The government has long condemned the rebels for using such explosive devices, saying they violate international agreements.
N Korea to open nuclear reactor
PYONGYANG: North Korea may be just one or two months away from restarting a reactor to produce plutonium, potentially allowing the regime to ramp up its nuclear weapons program, a think tank said Monday.
Analysing satellite images, the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University said that North Korea has made “significant progress” at its Yongbyon site including on a five-megawatt gas-graphite reactor.
North Korea, led by young leader Kim Jong-Un, has repeatedly threatened to bolster its nuclear capabilities in response to what it perceives as hostility from the US, which stations troops in democratic South Korea.
Singaporean pardoned
BANGKOK: Thailand yesterday pardoned a Singaporean who was sentenced to 15 years in jail in 2009 under the kingdom’s controversial royal defamation law, a lawyer said.
Wanchai Sae Tan, who has lived in Thailand for several decades, is expected to be deported because his residence permit has expired, said lawyer Arnon Nampa. Under the controversial lese majeste rules, anyone convicted of insulting the Thai king, queen, heir or regent faces up to 15 years in prison on each count.
The royal family is a highly sensitive subject in politically turbulent Thailand.
$900m loan for oil refinery
BEIJING: China will give Costa Rica a $900m line of credit to finance the expansion and remodelling of an oil refinery in the Central American country’s Caribbean coast, the two countries announced Monday.
During an official visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping, the two countries signed nine cooperation agreements totalling $1.5bn that will provide resources for improving Costa Rican roads and public transit fleets, purchasing solar panels and the building of a new police school. AGENCIES
