World News at a Glance

A Wary Pompeo Leads Talks to Suspend North Korea’s Nuclear Program

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with a top North Korean official for several hours Friday in talks aimed at persuading the North to give up its nuclear and ballistic missile programs — a mission that, in conversations with at least two outside experts, he said was doomed from the outset. The dire assessment from Pompeo comes despite the fact that he is one of the Trump administration’s most visible proponents of talks with North Korea. Pompeo is making his third trip to Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, even as others — including his rivals in the administration — have been skeptical of the diplomatic efforts.

Divers Describe Dangers in Thai Cave Rescue

Just reaching 12 boys and their soccer coach trapped in a cave in northern Thailand required a six-hour underground journey that is grueling and treacherous even for the most experienced cave divers: swimming in pitch blackness and vicious currents, squeezing through 2-foot-wide passages and climbing over boulders several stories high. One veteran diver, a former Thai navy SEAL, lost consciousness and died early Friday after placing spare tanks along the route. Meanwhile, oxygen is starting to run low in the remote cavern where the children have taken refuge. Three of those in the cavern are reported by authorities to be weakening.

May Secures Cabinet Agreement Over Brexit Plan

After nearly two years of bitter factionalism within her governing Conservative party over what terms Britain should seek in its divorce from the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May summoned her Cabinet to her country home Friday and told her ministers either to support her compromise plan or resign, turn in their government cars and find their own way home. Her threats appeared to work, up to a point. At the end of the day, she announced she had won agreement from her team to back a negotiating position in talks with Brussels that would keep Britain effectively tied to many EU rules.

Anne Frank’s Family Was Thwarted by U.S. Immigration Rules, New Research Shows

Attempts by Anne Frank’s father to escape the Nazis in Europe and travel to the United States were complicated by tight U.S. restrictions on immigration, one of a series of roadblocks that narrowed the Frank family’s options and thrust them into hiding, according to a new report released Friday. The research, conducted jointly by the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, details the challenges faced by the Frank family and thousands of others looking to escape Europe as Nazi Germany gained strength and anti-refugee sentiment swept the United States.

Border Patrol Stops Canadian Fishermen in Disputed Waters Off Maine

As tensions rise between the United States and Canada, there is a new clash in the cool waters off the northeast tip of Maine, which are rich with lobster, scallops and cod. For more than a decade, U.S. and Canadian fishermen largely have had a friendly but competitive relationship in an oval-shaped region of the Bay of Fundy known as the gray zone. But this summer that camaraderie has been threatened, Canadian fishermen claim, as officers with the U.S. Border Patrol have started to wade into the area, pull up aside their vessels and ask about their citizenship.

Scorpions, Dehydration, Disease: Syrians at the Border Face Deadly Threats

Thousands of Syrians who fled a government offensive in the southwestern province of Daraa are now at risk from scorpions, snakes, disease and dehydration. At least 15 Syrians have died in makeshift camps near the Jordanian border because of “scorpion bites, dehydration and diseases transmitted through contaminated water,” according to a report published this week by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Twelve of the dead were children; two women and one elderly man also died. More than 320,000 people in the Daraa region have been displaced by the fighting, according to the United Nations.

Ex-Pakistani Leader Is Sentenced to Prison for Corruption

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was convicted and sentenced to prison in absentia by a Pakistani anti-corruption court Friday, in a verdict that is likely to further disrupt an already chaotic campaign for national elections this month. The sentence, 10 years in prison and a fine of 8 million pounds ($10.6 million), came almost a year after Pakistan’s Supreme Court removed Sharif from office and less than five months after the court barred him from holding office for life. The case stemmed from the Panama Papers leak that disclosed expensive and undeclared property owned by the Sharif family in London.

‘Trump Baby’ Balloon for President’s Trip to U.K.? London Mayor Says Yesssss

A week before President Donald Trump’s working visit to Britain, the mayor of London has allowed an additional participant in the city’s welcome reception: a giant orange balloon of the president depicted as a baby in a diaper. The balloon was approved amid “Stop Trump” protests planned for the visit starting July 12. Activist groups and trade unions organized an online petition calling on the mayor to allow the effigy to be flown over Parliament. It drew more than 10,000 signatories. Trump’s visit to Britain was originally scheduled to coincide with the opening of the new U.S. Embassy in January, but it was abruptly canceled.