World briefs

PHILIPPINES A bomb-laden van driven by a suspected militant went off in a powerful blast yesterday that killed 11 people, including a soldier, five militiamen and the driver, in a brazen attack that reignited terrorism fears in the southern Philippines.

THAILAND is seeking the extradition from the United Kingdom of former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who fled her country last year ahead of a conviction on a charge of negligence in overseeing a money-losing rice subsidy program.

NORTH KOREA U.S. spy agencies suspect that North Korea is building new missiles in the same research facility that manufactured the country’s ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States, according to a recent report by The Washington Post, which cited officials who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to describe classified intelligence. 

JAPAN’s nuclear policy-setting panel yesterday approved revised guidelines on plutonium use, putting a cap on its stockpile and pledging to eventually reduce it to address international concerns, but without giving a specific timeline or targets.

RUSSIA Four members of the Russian punk protest group Pussy Riot who disrupted the World Cup final have been detained just after being released from jail in Moscow.

SYRIA The government regained control of the frontier with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights for the first time in seven years, after Islamic State-linked militants gave up their last pocket of territory in the area.

GREECE still faces an uphill struggle after the end of its bailout program and it is not clear that its public debt load will be sustainable in the long term, the International Monetary Fund said yesterday.

SLOVAKIA The president says a recently established base in Slovakia for a Russian motorcycle club known for its allegiance to President Vladimir Putin poses a security risk.

FRANCE President Emmanuel Macron’s government is facing two votes of no confidence brought by opposition parties in response to a political uproar triggered by a former presidential security aide seen in a video beating a protester.

COLOMBIA Powerful former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe is mounting his defense against allegations of bribery and witness tampering. The Supreme Court is investigating Uribe for allegedly pressuring witnesses in a protracted legal dispute with another senator.

VENEZUELA Most of Venezuela’s capital is without power following a failure at an electrical plant that is paralyzing metro lines.