World briefs

INDONESIA The battle lines for Indonesia’s 2019 presidential election are drawn as the incumbent Joko “Jokowi” Widodo formally registered as a candidate after choosing a conservative Islamic cleric as his running mate.

MALAYSIA Former Prime Minister Najib Razak has failed to win a court order barring the media from discussing the merits of corruption charges against him ahead of the start of his trial on February 12. More on p13

JAPAN Tens of thousands of protesters in Okinawa vowed to stop the planned relocation of a U.S military base, saying they want it off the southern Japanese island entirely.

PAKISTAN  Police say they have detained eight Chinese nationals who tried to enter a power plant with weapons in the eastern Punjab province.

CASPIAN SEA Leaders of the five countries along the Caspian Sea – Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan – have signed a convention aimed at ending decades-long uncertainty over exploitation of its resources.

YEMEN’s Shiite rebels are backing a U.N. call for a probe into a Saudi-led coalition airstrike in the country’s north that killed dozens of people, including many children, in an attack that drew wide international criticism.

SYRIA An explosion in northern Syria killed at least 36 people yesterday and wounded many others, but the cause of the blast wasn’t immediately known, opposition activists said.

ROMANIA Tens of thousands of Romanians flocked to an anti-government protest from places near and far, urging the left-wing government to resign and call an early election.

BRITAIN Ten people, including two children, were injured yesterday when shots were fired after a Caribbean carnival in the northern English city of Manchester.

PORTUGAL Authorities say they have brought under control a major wildfire in the south of the country after a weeklong effort.

US Prosecutors say a father tossed his dead 7-month-old son into the water in New York City, fled the country to Thailand and later texted the child’s mother that she would never see her son again.

VENEZUELA Officials have released a videotaped statement from an opposition lawmaker accused of having a role in an assassination attempt on President Nicolas Maduro.