World Briefs

CHINA Some of the country’s wealthiest tycoons steered billions of dollars into electric-car companies in order to fuel the country’s dreams of becoming a leader in the field. Now a reckoning may be looming as car sales slow and the government reduces subsidies for the nascent industry.

MALAYSIA Najib Razak sought to show he was the victim of a cunning fugitive financier as he opened his defense yesterday in his first corruption trial linked to the multibillion-dollar looting of the 1MDB state investment fund. Najib is defending himself against seven charges of abuse of power, breach of trust and money laundering.

INDONESIA Police said a smoke grenade exploded near the presidential palace in Jakarta, wounding two soldiers. Jakarta Police Chief Gatot Eddy Pramono said the two soldiers were exercising in Jakarta’s National Monument Park when they spotted the non-lethal grenade on the ground. He said it exploded when they tried to pick it up.

INDIA NASA said that it has found the debris from India’s moon lander, which crashed on the lunar surface in September. The U.S. space agency released a photo showing the site of the lander’s impact and the debris field, crediting an Indian engineer for helping locate the site. Engineer Shanmuga said he examined an earlier NASA photo to locate the debris.

NATO The U.K. prime minister is set to call for unity at the NATO meeting near London. As host of the two-day meeting, Boris Johnson is expected to reiterate the importance of Nato staying united, calling it “the cornerstone of Euro-Atlantic security” that helps “keep a billion people safe”, his spokesman said.

TRUMP President Donald Trump criticized Democrats at the opening of a NATO leaders’ meeting yesterday, calling the impeachment push by his rivals “unpatriotic” and “a bad thing for our country.” Trump, who commented while meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, has criticized Democrats for holding an impeachment hearing while he is abroad.

US Racial disparities have narrowed across the U.S. criminal justice system over 16 years, though blacks are still significantly more likely to be behind bars than whites, new federal figures show. Racial gaps broadly declined in local jails, state prisons, and among people on probation and parole, according to the study released yesterday by the nonpartisan Council on Criminal Justice.