World News at a Glance

Visit to China Strengthens North Korea’s Hand in Nuclear Talks

Kim Jong Un’s surprise two-day visit to Beijing, his first known trip abroad since taking power in North Korea, was effectively a reminder of how much he has set the agenda in the crisis over his nation’s nuclear arsenal — and of what a strong hand he has going into talks, first with President Moon Jae-in of South Korea next month and later with President Donald Trump. Kim has yet to say what concessions he is willing to make, or what he may demand from the United States in return. But he continued to dominate the diplomatic process.

France Grieves for Holocaust Survivor

Thousands gathered in Paris on Wednesday to honor Mireille Knoll, marching from the Place de la Nation, on the eastern side of the capital, to her apartment building, a nondescript housing block where mourners had placed candles and flowers on the railings. The 85-year-old grandmother and Holocaust survivor was killed in her apartment last week in the 11th Arrondissement. The attack shocked her neighbors, France’s Jewish community and the country as a whole. Two suspects, men in their 20s, have been placed under formal investigation on charges of murder with an anti-Semitic motive.

Russia Mourns Victims of Mall Fire

Flags on government buildings flew at half-staff. Newspaper fronts were colorless. TV stations suspended commercials. Lawmakers observed a minute of silence. Russia was in an official state of mourning on Wednesday as funerals began for the 64 victims of a fire that swept through a mall in the Siberian city of Kemerovo on Sunday. The tragedy has led to public outrage over a perceived lack of transparency and accountability. Outside the burned-out shopping mall, called Winter Cherry, stuffed toys were left beside a makeshift shrine for the victims, 41 of them children. Impromptu memorials have appeared across Russia in honor of the Kemerovo victims.

Poison Was Left at Russian Ex-Spy’s Door, Police Say

The British authorities said on Wednesday that Sergei V. Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, the poison victims at the epicenter of a diplomatic crisis between Russia and the West, had been sickened with a nerve agent on the front door of Sergei Skripal’s house. The announcement narrows the many possibilities of how the Skripals came into contact with the poison. Detectives will focus their efforts now on Skripal’s house in the cathedral town of Salisbury, England, said Dean Haydon, senior national coordinator for counterterrorism policing, in a news release.

U.S. Says Drone Strike in Libya Kills Al-Qaida Officer

A U.S. military drone strike over the weekend in southern Libya killed a top recruiter and logistics specialist for al-Qaida’s branch in northwest Africa, the Pentagon said Wednesday, and a senior military official warned of more attacks on extremists there. The military’s Africa Command said in a statement that the attack killed two militants, one of whom was identified as Musa Abu Dawud, a high-ranking official in al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, known as AQIM. Until now, the Pentagon had focused its counterterrorism strikes in Libya almost exclusively on Islamic State fighters and operatives farther north.

Chile and Scientists Protest Research on Mummy Once Rumored to Be an Alien

Days after researchers announced that a tiny mummy once rumored to be an alien was actually a human infant, Chilean scientists condemned the new study as unethical and their government began an investigation into grave robbing. The Chilean National Monuments Council, a government agency, said in an email Tuesday that it had initiated an inquiry into whether the little girl’s remains were illegally exhumed in 2003y. The council has turned over its records to the Public Ministry of Chile in response to the outcry from Chilean researchers. They contended that the grave site was plundered and the skeleton was stolen.

Deal Expanding U.S. Military’s Role in Ghana Spurs Protests

Thousands of Ghanaians rallied in the streets of their capital on Wednesday to protest a deal that would give the U.S. military an expanded role in Ghana. As part of the agreement struck last week, the United States would invest about $20 million in equipment and training for the Ghanaian military, carrying out joint exercises with Ghana and using the nation’s radio channels and runways. Ghanaian officials said the agreement was an extension of a two-decades-long relationship between the United States and Ghana. But the deal struck a nerve in Ghana.

Myanmar Picks a New President, but He’ll Still Be No. 2

A longtime loyalist to Myanmar’s civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, was chosen by Parliament on Wednesday to be the country’s new president, a largely ceremonial role in which he is expected to be the official conduit for her authority. The new president, U Win Myint, 66, will succeed U Htin Kyaw, 71, who resigned last week. Htin Kyaw was widely regarded as an honest but powerless functionary who did the bidding of Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate who has been condemned globally for her acquiescence to the military’s ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims.