World briefs

GERMANY Authorities say a man who drove into a group of pedestrians in the German city of Heidelberg, fatally injuring one man, is being held on suspicion of murder and attempted murder. The suspect is a 35-year-old German student who lives in the city.

INDONESIA-AUSTRALIA Indonesian and Australian leaders yesterday committed to free trade and closer naval cooperation. Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said the priority was the removal of all Australian barriers to the import of Indonesian palm oil and paper. In turn, Indonesia has agreed to reduce tariffs on Australian sugar and ease restrictions on cattle imports.

MYANMAR leader Aung San Suu Kyi has broken a month-long silence to describe the assassination of one of her top legal advisers as a great loss for the country. She spoke yesterday at a memorial ceremony for lawyer Ko Ni and Nay Win, a taxi driver who was killed as he chased the gunman in the Jan. 29 incident.

IRAN’s navy began an annual drill yesterday near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, its first major exercise since the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump, state television reported.

INDIA Police say at least 16 people were killed and 50 injured when a truck taking them to a Sunday church service overturned after hitting a concrete barricade on a highway in India’s remote northeast.

EGYPT Officials say they are drawing closer to meeting all demands set by Russia on airport security to restore flights to Egypt. They say work has begun this week to install up to 16 finger-print security gates for employees at two of Cairo airport’s main terminals and to raise a potentially vulnerable stretch of the facility’s perimeter fence at a residential Cairo suburb.

EU Lawmakers have granted special powers to the president to pull the plug on live broadcasts of parliamentary debate in cases of racist speech or acts and the ability to purge any offending video or audio material from the system.