World News at a Glance

U.S. Weighs Sanctions Against Chinese Officials Over Muslim Detention Camps

The Trump administration is considering sanctions against Chinese senior officials and companies to punish Beijing’s detention of hundreds of thousands of Muslims in large internment camps, according to current and former U.S. officials. The economic penalties would be one of the first times the Trump administration has taken action against China because of human rights violations. U.S. officials are also seeking to limit American sales of surveillance technology that Chinese security agencies and companies are using to monitor Uighurs throughout northwest China. Until now, President Donald Trump has largely resisted punishing China for its human rights record.

U.N. Presses Iran to Free Princeton Scholar

A U.N. rights panel has issued a strongly worded opinion calling on Iran to immediately release an American scholar imprisoned two years ago while doing historical research that the Iranian authorities had approved. The opinion, by the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, said Xiyue Wang, a graduate student at Princeton University, had been wrongly accused of espionage, secretly tried and imprisoned. There was no immediate response by Iranian government officials to the U.N. opinion. While not binding, the opinion cast an unflattering light on Iran’s opaque judiciary, which has never provided evidence to explain precisely why Wang was arrested.

Several Reported Killed in Libya as Gunmen Storm National Oil Company

Gunmen stormed the headquarters of Libya’s national oil company in Tripoli on Monday, setting off explosions, taking hostages and spraying gunfire, leaving several people dead or wounded before forces aligned with the government took control of the building. The identity and motives of the assailants were not clear. The oil company said two employees had been killed and there were reports of two gunmen killed. The attack follows a month of escalating violence among rival militias competing for control of Tripoli, where a U.N.-backed government has its headquarters but remains largely powerless. Last week, clashes killed more than 60 people.

Cambodia’s Jailed Opposition Leader Is Released

Cambodia’s imprisoned opposition leader was freed on bail Sunday after spending a year locked up on charges of treason widely seen as designed to neutralize him during an election year. Kem Sokha’s daughter, Kem Monovithya, confirmed that her father had been released. As a condition of his release, he will not be able to leave the city block surrounding his house, she said. His bail was granted on grounds of ill health, according to a statement by a Cambodian court. Kem Sokha was arrested Sept. 3, 2017, and accused of conspiring with the United States to bring down Cambodia’s government.

Bolton Expands on His Boss’ Views, Except on North Korea

President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, John R. Bolton, fleshed out his boss’ “America First” foreign policy Monday, disparaging an international organization and reaffirming a pro-Israel tilt in the Middle East. But on one of Trump’s signature projects, nuclear diplomacy with North Korea, he parted company. On the same day the White House welcomed a letter to Trump from Kim Jong Un proposing another meeting of the two leaders, Bolton struck a markedly less optimistic tone, expressing frustration that Kim had not yet begun to fulfill his promise to rid North Korea of its nuclear weapons.

Crisis of Democracy Looms in Guatemala

Three years ago, Guatemala became a startling example to Latin America. It launched a corruption investigation that reached the highest level of government, ultimately landing President Otto Pérez Molina in jail. But now the nation risks becoming another kind of example — of the danger when the entrenched interests of the powerful are challenged. The crisis was ignited when President Jimmy Morales, once the beneficiary of the commission’s investigations, found himself in the commission’s cross hairs. Morales has gone on the offensive, even defying the country’s highest court in his attempt to throw out the international prosecutors leading the investigation.