World News at a Glance

Palestinian Leader Incites Uproar With Speech Condemned as Anti-Semitic

Opening a rare gathering of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s legislative body on Monday night, Mahmoud Abbas, the chairman of the group and the president of the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, declared that he wanted the Palestinians to live in peace alongside Israel. But his long, rambling speech was laced with deeply anti-Semitic tropes, including that the Jews of Europe brought persecution and the Holocaust upon themselves. The furor following his speech underscored what many critics view as the increasing irrelevance of Abbas and the chasm between his stated goal and any imminent prospect of achieving it.

Israeli Parliament Gives War Power to 2 Top Leaders

As Israel faces rising tensions with Iran, Syria and Gaza, its Parliament passed a new law allowing the prime minister and defense minister to decide alone whether their nation will go to war. Although the new law restricts the use of that power to “extreme circumstances,” it has provoked domestic criticism for concentrating it in the hands of just two people. It is one of three bold moves this week that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used to strengthen his hand in trying to foil Iran’s strategic ambitions while potentially pulling the two nations closer to direct conflict.

Gunmen Attack Church in Central African Republic, and Warn of More Violence

Former members of a Muslim militia killed at least 16 people in an attack on a church in the Central African Republic, raising fears that ongoing violence could return to the capital city. Notre Dame of Fatima, a Roman Catholic church in the capital, Bangui, was attacked Tuesday morning with grenades and gunfire by men allied with a rebel group once known as Seleka. United Nations peacekeeping officials in Bangui said the attack had followed the arrest of a member of a “criminal group” associated with the former rebel group.

‘Shocked’ by Attack on Mosque, Nigeria Tightens Security in Northeast

Twin suicide bombings at a mosque and at a market have left at least 27 people dead and scores wounded in northeastern Nigeria, leading the authorities on Wednesday to tighten security in the region, which has been targeted repeatedly in recent years by Boko Haram, the rebel Islamist insurgency. The bombings took place around 1 p.m. on Tuesday during afternoon prayers in Mubi, a town roughly 120 miles north of Yola, the capital of Adamawa state. A local police spokesman, said 58 people were wounded by the suicide bombers, which he said were believed to have been Boko Haram militants.

U.S. Returns Iraqi Artifacts to Baghdad

The U.S government on Wednesday showed off some of the ancient artifacts it is returning to Iraq in the backyard of the Iraqi ambassador’s home. They were just a fraction of the thousands of smuggled artifacts that Immigration and Customs Enforcement formally returned. Their coming return to Iraq will complete a long, circuitous voyage through Israel and the United Arab Emirates to Hobby Lobby, the arts and crafts chain, and eventually into the hands of the U.S. government. The artifacts, from the second and third millennium B.C., will eventually be taken to the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad.

Abuse Victims Meet With Pope Francis: ‘We Need Concrete Actions’

Three victims of a notorious Chilean pedophile priest, at a news conference in Rome on Wednesday, discussed their intense and emotional sojourn this past week as guests of the pope in the Vatican. The first thing Pope Francis said, when he met privately on Sunday with Juan Carlos Cruz, a victim of sexual abuse, was: “Juan Carlos, I want to say sorry for what happened to you, as the pope and also for the universal church.” But even as the three men expressed gratitude for the meeting, they urged the pope to transform “his loving words” into “exemplary actions."

U.S. Transfers First Detainee Out of Gitmo Under Trump, Who Vowed to Fill Its Cells

The Pentagon has transferred a Guantánamo Bay prisoner to the custody of Saudi Arabia, a spokeswoman announced Wednesday. The handoff is the first time a detainee has left the wartime prison under President Donald Trump, who vowed to fill it back up but has instead overseen a reduction in its population. The prisoner, Ahmed Muhammed Haza al-Darbi, is unlikely to be set free soon. U.S. officials intend for him to serve the roughly nine years remaining in a 13-year sentence. Darbi’s departure leaves 40 detainees at Guantánamo, down from 41 when President Barack Obama left office.