World briefs

INDONESIA Strong currents and blinding silt thwarted an attempt by divers to find AirAsia Flight 8501’s black boxes yesterday, which they hope are still located in the recently discovered tail of the plane. The flight data and cockpit voice recorders, which are crucial to helping determine what caused the jet to go down with 162 people aboard on Dec. 28, are located in the rear of the aircraft.

N KOREA Recent satellite imagery appears to show that a North Korean submarine is being equipped to fire missiles, posing a potential new threat to its neighbors, a U.S. research institute said yesterday. The finding published by 38 North, the website of the U.S.-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, comes as Washington ratchets up sanctions against North Korea following a destructive hacking attack against Sony Pictures.

CANADA The Canadian sergeant-at-arms hailed as a hero for shooting the gunman who stormed Parliament in Ottawa will be named the country’s ambassador to Ireland. The Canadian Press has reported that the appointment will be announced today. Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers is credited with killing a man who’d stormed into Ottawa’s Centre Block in October after killing a soldier at the National War Memorial.

USA Netflix wants to make Sony’s “The Interview” available to its 53 million worldwide subscribers, the streaming service’s chief content officer said. The movie starring Seth Rogen and James Franco is available on some other video services and in some independent theaters, after its wide release was canceled due to the Sony hacking scandal. “People want to see the movie and we want to be able to deliver the movie,” Ted Sarandos of Netflix told reporters at a television conference.

FRANCE An assailant opened fire on a police officer on the southern edge of Paris early yesterday, killing her and injuring a nearby street sweeper before fleeing, officials and a witness said. France’s interior minister cautioned against jumping to conclusions a day after the deadly assault on a satirical newspaper that killed 12 people. The attacker in the pre-dawn shooting remained at large.

USA A Senate committee has taken up a bill approving the Canada-U.S. Keystone XL pipeline with plans to move it toward the full Senate, despite a veto threat from the White House. Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Lisa Murkowski says lawmakers should not be deterred by President Barack Obama’s threat. She notes the bill has Democratic supporters and came within one vote of passing last year.