IN BRIEF (Page 12)

Panama

Detention ordered for ex-president

Panama's top court has ordered the detention of former president Ricardo Martinelli, prompting the absent millionaire supermarket tycoon on Tuesday to furiously dismiss the ruling as a "political trial". Martinelli, who ruled the Central American country between 2009 and 2014, was ordered to be taken into custody for failing to show up for a trial on charges of spying on opponents. He left the country in January in a plane headed to Florida, a day after the court started hearing corruption allegations against him.