World News at a Glance

A Power Grab by Xi in China Rattles Europe

With President Donald Trump abandoning leadership of the global order and Xi Jenping, the president of China, challenging it, Europe sees an increased risk to its livelihood and its values. The abolition of the two-term limit for China's presidency, which could make Xi China's ruler for life, has punctured the hope that China would become “a responsible stakeholder” in the global order. And many European leaders now accuse China of trying to divide the European Union as it woos Central Europe and the Balkan states with large investments.

Italy’s Hard Right Makes Major Gains as Voters Reject Political Establishment

Italians registered their dismay with the European political establishment Sunday, handing a majority of votes to hard-right and populist forces that ran a campaign fueled by anti-immigrant anger, early results showed. In the election, the first in five years in Italy, far-right and populist forces appeared to gain more than 50 percent of the vote. But with no one party or coalition appearing to win enough support to form a government, the election offered up an outcome familiar in Italy: a muddle. It may take weeks of haggling to sort out who will lead the next government.

On Subway Cars for Women in China, Men Elbow In

In an effort to curb sexual harassment, the southern city of Guangzhou in China is reserving seats and space for female passengers. The problem: Men are claiming them. When the Guangzhou government began reserving cars for female passengers worried about being groped and harassed, they filled up — but not with the intended passengers. "Men are totally clueless,” said Lu Lili, a 28-year-old bank employee, who was waiting for a train on Guangzhou’s Line 1 to appear. “It’s basically all the men trying to squeeze in.”

Visiting Vietnam, Carrying a Message for China

For the first time since the end of the Vietnam War, a U.S. aircraft carrier is scheduled to make a port call in Vietnam on Monday, signaling how China’s rise is bringing together former foes. The USS Carl Vinson will anchor off Danang. Vietnam has watched warily as China has transformed areas it controls in the South China Sea into sprawling artificial islands. "Hanoi’s agreement to the aircraft carrier visit demonstrates Vietnam’s anxiety about what China will do next in the South China Sea,” said Murray Hiebert, senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Merkel Averts a Crisis in Germany, Forming a Coalition Government

Germany’s Social Democrats voted in favor of forming another government with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, ending nearly six months of political limbo and setting Europe’s economic powerhouse on a path to the political stability it craves. The results announced Sunday clear the way for Merkel, who was long considered a de facto leader of Europe, to remain in the chancellery in Berlin for another four years. But Merkel will lead a diminished coalition, and many predicted that the country, shaken by the prolonged uncertainty that followed inconclusive elections in September, would not be the same again.

Trash in the Fjords? Norway Turns to Drones

Norway’s fjords have long inspired the country’s artists and drawn streams of tourists. In winter, their ice-laced surfaces shimmer beside snow-capped mountains: a vision of natural beauty, blissfully untouched. But the fjord in Oslo is filled with garbage, and that has alarmed environmentalists. Now, the capital is turning to new technology to help pinpoint the litter so that human divers can scour it off the seabed. “We will test out drones,” said Svein Olav Lunde, the chief technical officer of the Oslo Port Authority, explaining that the unmanned vessels will be used to help clear out underwater "islands of trash.”