World News at a Glance

That’s a Lot of Lamps: 300,000 Lit in India for Diwali, Breaking Record

Hundreds of thousands of oil lamps illuminated the northern Indian city of Ayodhya as part of the festival of Diwali on Tuesday. But the lamps did not just set the scene for the annual five-day celebration celebrated by millions around the world. The 300,150 oil lamps also broke a Guinness world record when they burned simultaneously for more than five minutes. While Diwali is seen as a celebration of light and rebirth, it has also been a cause for concern in recent years, as air pollution from lamps and fireworks exacerbates poor air quality in some of India’s major cities.

Trump Says He Will Not Meet Putin This Weekend, Contradicting the Kremlin

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he will not meet with President Vladimir Putin of Russia this weekend, contradicting the Kremlin, which said earlier in the day that the two would have a discussion while in Paris. Trump said he expects to sit down with Putin later in the month in Buenos Aires on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the Group of 20. French officials had asked the Americans and Russians not to hold the meeting for fear that it would overshadow their event marking the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.

In Cave in Borneo Jungle, Scientists Find Oldest Figurative Painting in the World

An image of a thick-bodied, spindly-legged animal found on the wall of a cave in the jungles of Borneo is more than 40,000 years old, scientists reported Wednesday, making it the oldest figurative art in the world. The discovery indicates that people in Borneo were already making figurative images at the same time as people in Europe — perhaps even thousands of years beforehand. Many cave paintings lack the carbon required to date them, so scientists used a new dating method that involves a translucent curtain of minerals called a flowstone, which is created by water trickling down cave walls.

Indonesia Plane Crash Inquiry Focuses on Possible Aircraft Problems

Indonesian investigators on Wednesday broadened the possibilities of what may have contributed to the fatal crash of a Boeing 737 Max 8 last week, suggesting there were aircraft problems that may have played a role in the new plane’s nose-dive into the sea. The deputy head of Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee said he held several discussions with Boeing officials about the possibility that inaccurate readings fed into the planes’ computerized system could make the plane enter a sudden, automatic descent. Investigators are also looking into the possibility of faulty airspeed indicators and flawed maintenance in the plane’s short life.

Canada Runs Low on Legal Marijuana Just Weeks After Its Approval

Canada is running low on legal pot three weeks after the government approved recreational marijuana, a shortage that is sending some frustrated consumers back to the black market. At least three provinces — Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick — are facing a dearth of legal marijuana, and two of them have seen outlets selling cannabis temporarily shut down. The shortage threatens to undermine a major aim of legalization: to tame an illegal marijuana trade estimated at about 5.3 billion Canadian dollars annually. Of the 132 producers approved by the government to supply marijuana, 78 have received sales licenses.

Cameroon Students Have Been Released, Officials Say

Dozens of students kidnapped from a boarding school in a restive region of Cameroon were freed late Tuesday after being held hostage for about two days, according to local and military officials. More than 70 teenage students were dropped off at the campus of their Presbyterian Secondary School by masked men around 11 p.m. No ransom had been paid for the release of the children, who were taken sometime Sunday or Monday from their campus in Nkwen, a small village outside Bamenda, where separatists are waging a violent battle for independence from Cameroon. It remains unclear who abducted the hostages.

Pompeo Meeting With North Korean Diplomat Postponed

A meeting in New York this week between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and North Korea’s leading nuclear weapons negotiator has been called off, the State Department said Wednesday. The meeting had been scheduled for Thursday. No reason was given for the decision, and the statement did not indicate which side requested it. The State Department had said earlier that Pompeo planned to meet with Kim Yong Chol, North Korea’s former intelligence chief and top diplomat. The abrupt postponement of the meeting has raised questions about the potential for progress on negotiations over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.