World News at a Glance

Tanzanian Ferry Capsizes, Killing at Least 131

The death toll from the capsizing of a Tanzanian ferry on Lake Victoria had climbed to at least 131 people and could rise further, officials said Friday. Exactly how many people were onboard the ferry remains unclear, but some estimates put the number of passengers on the boat when it overturned Thursday at more than 300, according to Reuters. Officials say the ferry appears to have been overloaded; one official said the ferry’s capacity was 100 passengers. By Friday evening, dozens of survivors and 131 bodies had been pulled from the water, and identification of the victims was underway.

The Death Toll for Afghan Forces Is Secret. Here’s Why.

Taliban insurgents killed so many Afghan security forces in 2016, an average of 22 a day, that by the following year the Afghan and U.S. governments decided to keep battlefield death tolls secret. It’s much worse now. The daily fatalities among Afghan soldiers and policemen were more than double that last week: roughly 57 a day. Seventeen years after the United States went to war in Afghanistan, the Taliban is gaining momentum, seizing territory, and killing Afghan security forces in record numbers. The growing losses have made recruiting fresh soldiers harder than ever as the momentum is all with the Taliban.

Brazil Fires Diplomat Accused of Assaulting Women

A Brazilian diplomat accused of assaulting women was fired this week after neighbors heard a woman calling for help from his home in Brasília and summoned the police. The diplomat, Renato Ávila Viana, 42, had previously been accused of kicking and head-butting an ex-girlfriend in November 2016, knocking out a tooth. The episode prompted a group of female diplomats to raise the nearly $15,000 the woman needed for reconstructive surgery. The Association of Brazilian Diplomats said it had expressed its concerns about Viana to the Foreign Ministry several times. Violence against women is endemic in Brazil, but there has not been a widespread public reckoning of powerful men.

Fingers Point to China After Break-Ins Target New Zealand Professor

A burglary targeting a New Zealand professor who has examined the Chinese Communist Party’s influence in Western countries has drawn the interest of Interpol and other police agencies. Anne-Marie Brady, a China specialist at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, said her home was burglarized in February. The thief or thieves ignored a glass jar of cash and other valuables, she said, in favor of an “old, broken” laptop, on which she had conducted research, and a “cheap” cellphone she used on travels to China. Analysts said there was strong circumstantial evidence that agents of Beijing were responsible.

Cambodia Frees Australian Filmmaker Convicted of Spying

An Australian filmmaker whose imprisonment in Cambodia on espionage charges made him a symbol of the government’s crackdown on journalists and opposition figures was pardoned Friday, his lawyer said. The filmmaker, James Ricketson, 69, had been jailed since June 2017, when he was arrested while filming a street rally held by the country’s most popular opposition party. After his arrest, Cambodian police searched his computer and found emails to members of the opposition, seeking information and discussing the possibility of collaborating on a documentary. Ricketson defended his actions as normal journalistic conduct, and vigorously denied that he was a spy.

Brexit Talks at ‘Impasse,’ Theresa May Says, After a Rancorous Summit

Negotiations on Britain’s exit from the European Union are at an “impasse,” the country’s prime minister, Theresa May, said Friday, after the bloc’s leaders rejected her proposals at a bitter meeting that cast doubt over the prospects of reaching an agreement. Back in London after the meeting, held in Salzburg, Austria, May was greeted by British newspaper headlines describing her “humiliation” after an “ambush” at the two-day event. May called it “simply unacceptable” for the EU to reject her plans without offering an alternative. In effect, May and the European leaders are now locked in a game of chicken, with each unwilling to accept the other’s timetable.

Italy Loosens Vaccine Law Just as Children Return to School

On Thursday, as school began this week around Italy, the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and its coalition partner passed a measure that allows children to stay in school as long as their parents attest that they have been vaccinated, or will be by March. No doctor’s note is required. Critics consider the decree a dangerous, and purely political, measure that creates chaos in the school system, increases the risk to classmates with autoimmune deficiencies and tempts a public health crisis. Only a year ago, the number of measles cases in Italy climbed to 5,006 in 2017, from 843 in 2016.