World News at a Glance

Pentagon Urges Greater Caution on Imminent Strike Against Syria

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis sought Thursday to slow down an imminent strike on Syria, reflecting mounting concerns at the Pentagon that a concerted bombing campaign could escalate into a wider conflict between Russia, Iran and the West. Officials said Mattis pushed for more evidence of President Bashar Assad’s role in a suspected chemical attack this past weekend. Defense Department officials predicted it would be difficult to pull back, given President Donald Trump’s threat on Twitter a day earlier of U.S. missiles that “will be coming, nice and new and ‘smart.'” The national security advisers ended an afternoon meeting without a decision to attack.

Attack on Skripals Shows Russia Is ‘Reckless,’ U.K. Says

The nerve agent attack on two people in England demonstrates how reckless Russia is, and “how little the Kremlin cares for the international rules-based order,” said Jeremy Fleming, director of the Government Communications Headquarters, a British intelligence agency. Fleming said the threat from Russia had become impossible to ignore after the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter, cyberattacks on Ukranian infrastructure and other actions. Russia has denied it was responsible for the March 4 poisoning. On Thursday, the international body that monitors compliance with chemical weapons treaties confirmed that the toxin used against the former spy was Novichok, which experts say was developed in the Soviet Union.

Is Trump Serious About Trade War? China’s Leaders Hunt for Answers

For the past few months, some of the most powerful men in China have been casting about for a better understanding of President Donald Trump and how to respond to his combative trade agenda, meeting with U.S. business leaders, former Cabinet officials and a China scholar in the United States. The Americans have warned that Trump’s complaints should be taken seriously because of widespread frustration in Washington with Chinese policies, especially a $300 billion program to dominate critical high-tech industries, known as Made in China 2025, that has alarmed the U.S. national security establishment. It is unclear whether that message is making it through to President Xi Jinping.

Libya’s Strongman of the East Looks to Washington

Gen. Khalifa Hifter, the military strongman whose forces routed the last Islamist militias from Benghazi, Libya, in December, now controls most of eastern Libya, and as he aims to consolidate his power, he is looking to woo the Trump administration. In December, he hired a firm of Washington lobbyists to burnish his image as a potential future leader of his country. He has allowed the CIA to establish a base in Benghazi. And the nomination of CIA Director Mike Pompeo as secretary of state could further align Hifter with the United States. Pompeo, whose confirmation hearing took place Thursday, and Hifter, a onetime CIA asset, are avowedly hostile to all forms of political Islam.

64 Pounds of Trash Killed a Sperm Whale in Spain, Scientists Say

A young sperm whale that washed ashore on the southeast coast of Spain in February most likely died after being unable to digest more than 60 pounds of plastic trash, fish netting and garbage bags in its stomach and intestines, scientists said this month. The 33-foot-long whale was swept onto a rocky beach in Cape Palos on Feb. 27. It was not yet fully grown but weighed just 13,000 pounds, an unusually scrawny size for a whale that can reach 120,000 pounds as an adult. When scientists performed a necropsy, they found plastic bags, ropes, netting and even a plastic drum clogging its intestines and stomach.

Taliban Overrun Government Offices and Kill Two Top Officials

Taliban insurgents overran a government headquarters in southeastern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing a district governor and the chief of security as well as at least nine others, officials said. A government spokesman said that Taliban insurgents attacked the government compound of Khwaja Umari district, killing the district governor, the district chief of the National Directorate for Security, five police officers and four NDS officers. Ten other officers were injured. They also attacked the police headquarters but were repulsed. In retaliation, he said, the Afghan air force bombed Taliban positions, killing 30 insurgents.

New Zealand Bans New Offshore Drilling, Citing Climate Change

New Zealand will stop issuing permits for offshore oil and gas exploration as it moves to combat climate change, the government announced Thursday, but it stopped short of halting exploration already underway. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the move was part of the country’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions that contribute to global warming. The government said it would allow the existing 22 active offshore permits, covering more than 38,000 square miles, to run until their expiration. Companies that find more oil and gas reserves where they already have permits could drill for decades and new onshore permits could be issued.