World News at a Glance

China Moves to Allow Xi to Stay in Power for Years

China’s Communist Party has cleared the way for President Xi Jinping to stay in power indefinitely, announcing Sunday that it intends to abolish term limits on the presidency. It is a break with decades-old rules meant to prevent the country from returning to the days when Mao was shown cultish obedience. The surprise move, revealed in a proposal to amend the constitution, is the boldest yet by Xi as he seeks to strengthen the party’s control and restore China to what he considers its rightful place as a global power — an agenda his allies have suggested requires his personal leadership.

Ignoring a Cease-Fire Demanded by the U.N., Syrian Forces Attack Rebels

A new U.N. resolution demanding a cease-fire across Syria appeared to have little effect Sunday, as Syrian government forces began new ground attacks against a rebel-held enclave east of Damascus, the capital, and continued aerial bombings that have killed more than 500 people there in the past week. There were reports Sunday of a suspected chlorine attack, with one child killed and 11 people suffering symptoms like labored breathing, according to medical staff supported by the Syrian American Medical Society. The violence was disappointing after haggling over the wording of the Security Council resolution, which passed Saturday.

With Olympics Over, Team Korea Goes Back to Being 2 Countries

The 23rd Winter Olympics came to a festive close Sunday, with athletes from the two Koreas marching into the cold stadium together, but wearing different uniforms and waving the flags of their own countries. Although some athletes also carried flags showing a unified peninsula, the fact that so many were carrying distinct national flags was a sign that the truce between North and South Korea that had marked these Olympic Games might already be dissipating. The 22 North Korean athletes will now depart for home across the heavily fortified border that divides the two nations.

North Korea Is Willing to Talk With U.S., South’s Leader Says

President Moon Jae-in of South Korea said Sunday that high-ranking officials from North Korea told him their country was willing to start a dialogue with the United States, a potential diplomatic victory for Moon, who has been urging the countries to talk. Kim Yong Chol, a vice chairman of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, expressed that willingness when he met with Moon before the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Moon’s office said. Kim led a North Korean delegation to the ceremony, in the latest sign that the two Koreas were working toward a political détente.

Kurdish Leader Is Arrested in Prague at Turkey’s Request

A senior Kurdish official from Syria was detained in the Czech Republic on Sunday under an extradition request from Turkey, according to the Czech police and the Anadolu News Agency in Turkey. Salih Muslim is the foreign affairs spokesman for the political coalition that governs the Kurdish regions of northern Syria, the Movement for a Democratic Society. He was detained after an Interpol “red notice” was issued by the Turkish government, which describes him as a terrorist, the agency said. Muslim was formerly co-president of the Democratic Union Party, the political arm of the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units in Syria.

Feud Over Wall Derails Mexican Leader’s Visit

President Donald Trump’s refusal to publicly drop his demand that Mexico pay for a wall on its border with the U.S. has derailed tentative plans for President Enrique Peña Nieto to make his first visit to the Trump White House next month, after a contentious telephone call last week reinflamed tensions on the issue, U.S. and Mexican officials said. The two presidents agreed to scrap the trip after what had been planned as a diplomatic phone call to lay the groundwork for a meeting devolved into a bitter quarrel over the wall, which has long outraged Peña Nieto.

Joyce Resigns as McCormack Becomes Australia’s New Deputy Prime Minister

Barnaby Joyce officially resigned Monday as Australia’s deputy prime minister, clearing the way for a replacement — Michael McCormack, the veterans affairs minister — who was named to the post in an awkward news conference that included Joyce sulking in the back of a Nationals Party gathering he had grown used to leading. It was an embarrassing public comedown for Joyce, a conservative closely identified with the country’s rural voters. He has been battling a series of scandals that started earlier this month with his admission of an affair with a former staff member, who is pregnant with his child.