Japan to ramp up defence spending

TOKYO • Japan aims to boost defence spending over the next five years to help pay for new stealth fighters and other advanced US military equipment, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of Defence will this month present a plan to spend 27 trillion yen (S$328 billion) on its military over five years starting from April, said the government source who declined to be identified.

The proposed plan would see spending rise an average of 1.1 per cent per year, exceeding the 0.8 per cent average under the previous plan.

REUTERS

India, Myanmar ink science and tech deals

NAYPYITAW (Myanmar) • India inked science and tech deals with Myanmar yesterday, as well as pledged to train judges and build houses in crisis-hit Rakhine state, as Delhi cosies up to the strategically important South-east Asian country.

Indian President Ram Nath Kovind was greeted yesterday with the full pomp of a guard of honour before meeting Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint.

The two countries discussed how India would help with the return of Rohingya refugees, after a military crackdown last year forced some 720,000 over the border from Rakhine state into Bangladesh.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Egypt probes video of naked duo on pyramid

CAIRO • The Egyptian authorities have launched a probe into images of a naked couple on top of the Great Pyramid that sparked an uproar in the country, an official said yesterday.

In a video, Danish photographer Andreas Hvid appears to scale the 4,500-year-old tomb on the outskirts of Cairo at night with an unidentified woman, who is later seen taking off her top. Mr Hvid said the video was taken late last month.

Climbing pyramids is forbidden in Egypt.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE