World News at a Glance

Superstorm Makes Landfall in Philippines

A powerful typhoon slammed the northern Philippines early Saturday with an intensity not seen since Typhoon Haiyan ravaged the center of the country in 2013, killing more than 6,000 people. Heavy rainfall and whipping winds were reported on the island’s eastern coast as Super Typhoon Mangkhut, the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane, made landfall on the nation’s largest island, Luzon. Power outages afflicted several areas. The maximum sustained wind speed of the typhoon was about 120 mph as it reached Luzon’s shores, causing power outages in some areas and leading thousands of people to evacuate their homes and stockpile emergency supplies.

U.S. Is Ending Final Source of Aid for Palestinian Civilians

The United States is blocking millions of dollars to programs that build relationships between Israelis and Palestinians, according to current and former U.S. officials briefed on the change. It is part of a Trump administration policy to end aid for Palestinian civilians — including, in many cases, children. The money had already been budgeted by Congress for allocation in fiscal 2017, which ends this month. In the past, these designated funds went mostly to programs that organized people-to-people exchanges between Palestinians and Israelis, often for youths. Some went to programs for Israeli Jews and Arabs.

North and South Korea Open Full-Time Liaison Office at Border

North and South Korea on Friday opened their first joint liaison office, a facility that will be staffed by personnel from both countries. The liaison office, in the North Korean border town of Kaesong, establishes the first channel for full-time, person-to-person contact between the Koreas. The countries have technically been at war for decades because an armistice, not a peace treaty, halted the Korean War in 1953. South Korean officials consider the office another important step toward ending decades of enmity and hope it will lead to diplomatic missions.

4,000 Children Flee Pollution Disaster on Ukraine-Crimea Border

Authorities have evacuated about 4,000 children from towns and villages on both sides of the de facto border between Russian-controlled Crimea and Ukraine and treated many for breathing ailments and allergies. Ecologists and doctors say the culprit was a significant release of industrial pollution that began in August from a Crimean chemical factory that makes titanium dioxide, a powder that is a precursor for paint and other products, and has created a gigantic effluent pond of sulfur waste that has acidified. Russian authorities in Crimea shut the factory a week ago, but it was unclear how this would help if the cause is the reservoir.

In Face of Trump Criticism, NATO Works to Build Conservative Support

The head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization worked to shore up support in Washington this week, with boosters of the alliance anxious to retain the support of conservatives in the United States amid criticism by President Donald Trump and before a possible Senate vote next year on expansion. Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO secretary-general, made a case that the alliance was important to U.S. prosperity and security, keeping peace in Europe and bolstering U.S. military might and intelligence. NATO has remained a favorite punching bag of Trump, who has long criticized Western European countries for not meeting the alliance's military spending goal.

Police Move to Clear Tree House Protest Against Coal Mine in German Forest

The police started evicting protesters from tree houses in a forest in western Germany, moving cranes and backhoes into a woodland strip where activists have lived for years on the edge of a growing open-pit mine. Thousands of police officers began cutting trees to reach a central community called “Oaktown,” where some 60 tree houses have been built over the years. They tore down at least one tree house and detained more than a dozen protesters. Environmentalists have drawn attention to the mine to highlight the disparity between Germany’s pledges to reduce carbon emissions and its heavy use of lignite.

Putin’s Ex-Bodyguard Challenges Navalny to a Duel (of a Sort)

Over the years, the Russian government has tried many ways to silence Alexei Navalny, the anti-corruption campaigner and opposition leader. He has been jailed, harassed by tax auditors and security agents, attacked with green dye and castigated by the state news media as a traitor. Now this: the head of the Russian national guard released a video in which he essentially challenged Navalny to a duel. “I simply challenge you to a fight — in the ring, on the tatami, whatever, and I promise to make nice, juicy mincemeat out of you in a few minutes,” said Viktor V. Zolotov, who formerly headed President Vladimir Putin’s security detail.