World Briefs

INDONESIA Navy divers have recovered the cockpit voice recorder of a Lion Air jet that crashed into the Java Sea in October, Indonesian officials said yesterday, in a possible boost to the investigation into why the 2-month-old plane nosedived at high velocity, killing 189 people. 

RUSSIA-JAPAN Russia’s top diplomat yesterday threw cold water on Tokyo’s hopes for a quick return of disputed islands in the Pacific, warning Japan that it must recognize them as part of Russia’s territory as a starting point for talks.

ISRAEL-PALESTINE The Western-backed Palestinian Authority is threatening to step up pressure on Hamas amid renewed tensions in Gaza, even as Israel allows a lifeline of Qatari aid to flow directly to the Islamic militants.

IRAN The head of Iran’s nuclear program said that the Islamic Republic has begun “preliminary activities for designing” a modern process for 20-percent uranium enrichment for its 50-year-old research reactor in Tehran, signaling new danger for the nuclear deal.

ZIMBABWE Soldiers have deployed to some areas of the capital where police are clashing with protesters over fuel hikes.

GREECE Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he will ask for a vote of confidence in Parliament this week after the country’s defense minister, who leads the coalition government’s junior party, resigned over the Macedonia name deal.

POLAND The popular liberal mayor of the Polish port city of Gdansk died yesterday after he was stabbed during a charity event the evening before by an ex-convict who stormed onstage and said it was revenge against a political party the politician once belonged to.

BRITAIN Prime Minister Theresa May offered both a promise on workers’ rights and a reassuring letter from European Union leaders yesterday as she implored British lawmakers to support her floundering Brexit deal.

VENEZUELA When Venezuelans rang in the new year, few in the crisis-wracked nation had even heard of Juan Guaido. Two weeks later, the young backbench lawmaker has emerged as a key power broker as he leads the opposition-controlled congress in a high-stakes standoff with socialist President Nicolas Maduro.

BRAZIL A police officer died and three others were hospitalized yesterday after their helicopter crashed in Rio de Janeiro’s Guanabara Bay.