World News at a Glance

Trump Refuses to Sign G-7 Statement and Calls Trudeau ‘Weak’

President Donald Trump abruptly upended two days of global economic diplomacy Saturday, refusing to sign a joint statement with the United States' allies, threatening to escalate his trade war on the country’s neighbors and deriding Canada’s prime minister as “very dishonest and weak.” In a pair of tweets from aboard Air Force One as he flew to a summit with North Korea’s leader, Trump lashed out at Justin Trudeau, the prime minister who hosted the seven-nation summit, accusing him of making false statements. Trump blew apart the veneer of cordiality that had been in place throughout the meetings.

Pope Tells Oil Executives to Act on Climate: ‘There Is No Time to Lose’

Three years ago, Pope Francis issued a letter that highlighted the global crisis posed by climate change and called for swift action to save the environment and the planet. On Saturday, the pope gathered money managers and titans of the world’s biggest oil companies during a closed-door conference at the Vatican and asked them if they had gotten the message. “There is no time to lose,” Francis told them Saturday. The pope reiterated his call for a transition from fossil fuels “to a greater use of energy sources that are highly efficient while producing low levels of pollution.”

No Need to Prepare to Meet Kim? Trump Has a Point

When President Donald Trump declared that he did not really need to prepare for his meeting with North Korea’s leader, he drew sighs or snickers from veterans of past negotiations. But he had a point: In his own unorthodox way, Trump has been preparing for this encounter his entire adult life. For an American leader who came of age in the early 1960s, when the United States and the Soviet Union stepped to the brink of nuclear annihilation, the meeting with Kim Jong Un strikes a personal chord, offering Trump a historic chance to rid the world of the greatest threat from atomic weapons.

Taliban Offer Brief Lull in Afghan War

The Taliban announced Saturday that they would halt operations against Afghan forces for the three days of the Muslim festival Eid al-Fitr. Their announcement came days after the Afghan government declared a unilateral eight-day cease-fire, and for the first time it promised Afghan civilians, who have borne the brunt of the 17-year conflict, a temporary reduction in violence, which has only been getting worse in recent years. More than 50, and possibly as many as 70, members of the Afghan security forces and pro-government militias were killed overnight in three provinces, government officials said Saturday.

Malaysia Steps Up $4.5 Billion Corruption Inquiry

Malaysia’s new leader is moving aggressively to investigate the apparent theft of billions of dollars from a state investment fund under the previous government, including seeking the arrest of a key figure in the scandal, financier Jho Low. The U.S. Justice Department estimates that $4.5 billion went missing from the fund, 1 Malaysia Development Berhad, which was established and overseen by former Prime Minister Najib Razak. Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has made investigating the scandal and recovering the money a priority. Najib and his wife have been barred from leaving the country; and authorities seized $28.6 million in cash from their residences.

International Court Throws Out War Crimes Conviction of Congolese Politician

Appeals judges in an international court have thrown out the war-crimes conviction and 18-year prison sentence for Jean-Pierre Bemba, a powerful Congolese politician who prosecutors had accused of condoning rape, the killing of unarmed villagers and the pillaging of property. The ruling, announced Friday at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, did not question that the atrocities occurred during a five-month rampage by a militia Bemba, a former vice president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, founded and financed in 2002. But that it was logistically difficult for him to know what his militia, composed of about 1,000 fighters, was doing and to adequately investigate and stop any crimes.