World News at a Glance

Humiliating Downfall for Anti-Apartheid Hero

President Jacob Zuma of South Africa, who survived a string of corruption scandals and court judgments during his nearly nine-year presidency, agreed Wednesday night to step down, repudiated by the governing African National Congress Party and threatened by a no-confidence vote in Parliament. In an address to the nation Wednesday night, Zuma said he was resigning even though he disagreed with the party’s decision ordering him to do so. It is a humiliating end for Zuma, who was imprisoned on Robben Island with Nelson Mandela and was once the ANC’s intelligence chief. Cyril Ramaphosa, the deputy president, immediately became acting president.

Netanyahu Vows to Stay as Prosecutors Consider Bribery Charges

As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fought back Wednesday against a police finding that he had accepted nearly $300,000 in bribes, his cool self-confidence betrayed not the slightest worry that he could be forced to step down anytime soon. “The coalition is stable, and no one, me or anyone else, has plans to go to elections,” he declared in Tel Aviv, Israel. Beloved by his base and respected even by his adversaries as a guardian of Israel’s security, Netanyahu remains the dominant figure on the Israeli stage, his combined 12 years as prime minister closing in on the record of David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s principal founder.

Maldives Crisis Could Stir Trouble Between China and India

As the Maldives’ autocratic president, Abdulla Yameen, cracks down on opposition to consolidate power before another election, analysts and diplomats warn that the small nation’s troubles could provoke a larger crisis that draws in China and India, which have long competed for influence in the Indian Ocean region. Yameen, who this month declared a state of emergency and rounded up Supreme Court judges and opposition leaders, has cozied up to China. He has invited heavy investment into the Maldives as part of Beijing’s ambitious “One Belt, One Road” initiative, the infrastructure program reviving land and sea trading routes that China is using to spread its influence.

Iraq Secures Only a Fraction of the Funds It Needs to Rebuild

At the close of a donor conference Wednesday, Iraq secured only a fraction of the funds urgently needed to rebuild towns and cities demolished during battles against the Islamic State. But U.S. and regional officials nevertheless praised a last-minute rush of pledged investments, loans and guarantees, mostly by neighboring countries. Turkey, one of Iraq’s largest trading partners, stepped up with a promise of $5 billion in investment loans in expectation that some of its large-scale construction, transportation and infrastructure companies would jump back into northern Iraq, where they had long dominated the economy.

Jordan, a Pivotal Arab Ally, Gets More U.S. Aid Despite Rancor Over Jerusalem

President Donald Trump has threatened to retaliate against aid recipients like Jordan for having denounced his decision in December to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. But on Wednesday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson signed an agreement that guarantees Jordan nearly $1.3 billion in annual assistance from the United States for the next five years. The aid pact, an increase over the roughly $1 billion in current annual aid to Jordan, partly reflected Jordan’s longtime role as an important partner in fighting extremism in the region and housing millions of refugees from the Syria war.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Warns Against a Brexit Do-Over

No one polarizes opinion over Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union quite like Boris Johnson, the flamboyant foreign secretary who in 2016 helped persuade Britons to quit a bloc he had once accused of trying to unify the continent just as Napoleon and Hitler tried to do. So why, exactly, would Johnson try to woo the large minority who voted to remain? In a speech Wednesday, Johnson called on his opponents to unite around his vision of British withdrawal from the European Union, or Brexit, while warning that any rethink of the decision itself would be a “disastrous mistake.”

‘You Can’t Ban Love’: Pakistanis Defy a Valentine’s Day Prohibition

When a friend told Hussain Liaquat that police officers in Islamabad might be checking cars for anything red or heart-shaped the night before Valentine’s Day, he decided to get creative. Liaquat, 22, went to the giant Saeed Book Bank in Islamabad and found a poster from “House of Cards,” his girlfriend’s favorite television show. Then he went in search of the perfect romance novel. Last year, the Islamabad High Court banned Valentine’s celebrations across Pakistan, deeming them “against the teachings of Islam” and a sign of growing Western influence. But there were also many in Pakistan’s capital who didn’t mind taking a risk for love.