World News at a Glance

Brazil’s Supreme Court Considers Decriminalizing Abortion

A fight over reproductive rights is playing out before Brazil’s Supreme Court during a rare two-day public hearing. The court will consider whether Brazil’s abortion laws — which forbid terminating pregnancies with few exceptions, including cases of rape and instances in which the mother’s life is in peril — are at odds with constitutional protections. The hearing is unlikely to lead to the imminent legalization of abortion. But women’s rights activists hope it will draw attention to the risks hundreds of thousands of women take each year as they resort to clandestine abortions and ultimately pave the way to overhauling the existing law.

Saudis Deny Role in Attacks That Killed Civilians in Yemeni Port

The Red Cross on Friday reported a near doubling of the death toll from attacks on a rebel-held Yemeni seaport under siege by a Saudi-led coalition, describing the killings and destruction as a horrific disregard of international law. As recriminations over Thursday’s attacks escalated, the Saudis and their military partners in the Yemen conflict denied any responsibility and blamed their enemies, the Houthis, the Yemeni insurgent group that controls the seaport, Hodeida. At least 55 civilians were killed and 170 were wounded by bombings that struck densely crowded areas, the International Committee of the Red Cross said. It did not identify who was responsible.

Zimbabwe’s Opposition Calls Vote Results ‘Fraudulent’ in Tense Aftermath

Presidential election results showing that the man who ousted Robert Mugabe in a coup last year in Zimbabwe had won his own term in office were “fraudulent and illegitimate,” the main opposition candidate said Friday as he vowed to challenge them in court. Tension seemed to build just hours after election officials said President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who seized power last fall with the military’s backing, had defeated Nelson Chamisa in Monday’s voting. Police tried to break up Chamisa’s news conference before it began in the capital, Harare. But the government’s information minister, Simon Khaya-Moyo, directed police to stand down.

U.S. Sanctions Russian Bank in Slap to Moscow and Pyongyang

The Trump administration issued economic penalties Friday against a Russian bank accused of processing millions of dollars in transactions for North Korean businesses, in violation of United Nations sanctions. The penalties came as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused North Korea of failing to live up to its pledge to denuclearize and underscored the contradiction between President Donald Trump, who has lauded ties to Moscow and Pyongyang, and his government’s push for increasingly tough measures against both countries. The Treasury Department sanctioned Russian-registered Agrosoyuz Commercial Bank for facilitating transactions on behalf of a representative of the Foreign Trade Bank, North Korea’s primary foreign exchange bank.

There’s Trump’s Foreign Policy, and Then There’s His Administration’s

In the last five days, President Donald Trump has thanked North Korea’s leader for his “nice letter,” recalled his “great meeting” with Russia's president and offered to meet Iran’s president without preconditions. Meanwhile, the Treasury Department imposed sanctions on a Russian bank accused of assisting North Korea's weapons-related activities. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo listed preconditions for any engagement with Iran. And intelligence officials vowed to combat Russian interference in U.S. elections. “There is a clear dissonance” between what has been said by Trump and by administration officials, “and it has been noticed by allies and adversaries,” said Vali R. Nasr of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Bags of Cash in Argentina: Driver’s Notes Propel Corruption Inquiry

The driver took copious notes. In cheap spiral notebooks commonly used by schoolchildren, Oscar Centeno meticulously recorded a decade’s worth of trips hauling bags of cash to be delivered to government officials in Argentina from businessmen who had been awarded large government contracts. Now eight of Centeno’s notebooks are at the heart of a large-scale corruption investigation unveiled this week as the authorities carried out dozens of raids, arrested 16 people and continued to seek two others, rattling the political and business elite of a nation where corruption has seldom led to meaningful punishment.