World briefs

JAPAN Thirteen Japanese cult members may be sent to the gallows any day now for a deadly 1995 gas attack on the Tokyo subway system and other crimes. But when is uncertain. Such is the secrecy that surrounds Japan’s death penalty system.

VIETNAM A court in Hanoi has begun a criminal trial of a former Politburo member accused of mismanagement at state oil giant PetroVietnam that cost millions of dollars.

PHILIPPINES The Philippines’ decision to leave the International Criminal Court will not derail an on-going preliminary probe into possible crimes committed during Manila’s war on drugs, the court said yesterday in its first reaction to the Asian nation’s withdrawal.

PAKISTAN is still mulling Afghanistan’s recent overtures, including an invitation that Pakistani prime minister visit Kabul — an offer that analysts see as a good sign.

TURKEY has accused a senior U.N. official of lacking impartiality and collaborating with terrorists over a new report that called on the country to end a state of emergency imposed after a 2016 failed coup attempt.

EGYPT There is no question the general-turned-president Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi will win a second four-year term. But the March 26-28 election will likely be remembered as the event that signaled Egypt’s break with the little pretense it had left of democratic rule.

MOLDOVA Two people died yesterday in an explosion in a grocery shop in the Moldovan capital, Chisinau, police said.

ITALY Milan and Turin are in discussions with the Italian Olympic Committee about a possible bid for the 2026 Winter Games.

UK A British parliamentary committee yesterday summoned Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to answer questions on fake news as authorities step up efforts to determine whether data has been improperly used to influence elections.

SPAIN Police say the man suspected of plotting an ISIS-inspired attack in Colombia appeared on their radar for hate-filled messages online toward the United States, a country where he had lived and was allegedly trying to get to. More on p14

VENEZUELA-BRAZIL Hungry and destitute, tens of thousands of victims of Venezuela’s unrelenting political and economic crisis are trying their luck in Brazil — a country where they do not speak the language, conditions are often poor and there are few border towns to receive them.