World Briefs

THAILAND Police have arrested a man on suspicion of ruthlessly killing three people, including a toddler, during a gold shop robbery that shocked the country. Local media said the suspect is the director of a primary school. It was unclear when he was arrested.

INDONESIA An American journalist is facing up to five years in an Indonesian jail and a fine on charges of violating immigration regulations, a lawyer and officials said yesterday. Philip Jacobson of California is accused of conducting journalistic activities not permitted by his business visa, according to the arrest warrant.

SWITZERLAND European automakers were left in little doubt they face a tough year after U.S. President Donald Trump renewed his threat to impose tariffs on imported cars from the region and a lobby group forecast a drop in annual sales. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos yesterday, Trump said the European Union is “more difficult to do business with than China,” indicating he’s about to turn his attention to renegotiating trade deals with the bloc.

LEBANON The new government held its first meeting yesterday, a day after it was formed following a three-month political vacuum, with the prime minister saying his Cabinet will adopt financial and economic methods different than those of previous governments.

GREECE’s lawmakers elected their country’s first female president yesterday, with an overwhelming majority voting in favor of high court judge Katerina Sakellaropoulou.

RUSSIA-POLAND Over the next several days, world leaders will gather twice to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the most notorious of Nazi Germany’s death camps. That there will be two competing ceremonies — one in Jerusalem today and the other at the Auschwitz site in southern Poland on Monday — underlines how politically charged World War II remains as nationalist governments in Russia and Poland seek to use their own interpretation of the past for contemporary political gain.

VENEZUELA The opposition leader said yesterday that he wants the European Union to broaden sanctions against members of the Venezuelan government as a way to push toward free presidential elections in the country. Speaking in Brussels during a global tour that defied a year-long travel ban at home and sought allies’ support to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

FRANCE’s finance minister said yesterday that his country will delay its tax on the digital business of big tech firms like Google and Faceook and that the United States will hold off retaliatory sanctions.