World News at a Glance

Chinese Scientist Who Says He Edited Babies’ Genes Defends His Work

A Chinese scientist who claims to have created the world’s first genetically edited babies said at a conference Wednesday that his actions were safe and ethical, and he asserted that he was proud of what he had done. But many other scientists seemed highly skeptical, with one calling his actions irresponsible. Indeed, the only thing He Jiankui apologized for was that news had “leaked unexpectedly” that he had used the gene-editing technique Crispr to alter embryos and then implanted them in the womb of a woman who gave birth to twin girls this month.

Escaped Militant Leader, 21, Is Shot Dead in Kashmir

Indian security forces Wednesday killed one of the most wanted Kashmiri militants, a young fighter who had escaped from police custody earlier this year and was accused of later assassinating a prominent newspaper editor. According to police officials, Naveed Jatt was cornered in a small house that was being used as a hideout, and shot dead after a gunbattle. Jatt, 21, was like a legend in the Kashmir Valley, a territory that both India and Pakistan claim. Jatt was the senior leader of a Pakistan-based militant group. Police officials said he planned the assassination of Shujaat Bukhari, a Kashmiri journalist.

At Least a Dozen Civilians Killed in Afghan and U.S. Operation

An operation by Afghan and U.S. forces in the southern Afghan province of Helmand has left at least a dozen civilians dead, officials and residents said Wednesday, adding to the plight of noncombatants caught in the middle of the 17-year conflict. Afghan and Western officials said that Afghan special forces had come under heavy fire overnight during an operation against the Taliban in the Garmsir District, and had requested U.S. airstrikes against Taliban fighters. But Wednesday, officials acknowledged that civilians had also been struck. One Western official said 13 civilians had been killed, in addition to 16 members of the Taliban.

His Father-in-Law Insulted Mexicans. Now Kushner Has Won Mexico’s Highest Honor.

The outgoing president of Mexico had expected to end his troubled term on a positive note — signing a new free-trade deal with the United States and Canada on Friday. Now even that moment of triumph has gone awry. An announcement that President Enrique Peña Nieto would bestow Mexico’s highest honor for foreigners to Jared Kushner, son-in-law of President Donald Trump, for his role in pushing through the trade pact has incited fury in Mexico, where anger and resentment toward Trump is intense. The Foreign Ministry announced the recipient of the award, the Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle, on Tuesday. The incredulity and outrage spread almost immediately.

Brazil Backs Out of Hosting 2019 Climate Change Meeting

Brazil this week pulled out of hosting next year’s United Nations global summit on climate change, the latest signal that Latin America’s largest nation no longer aspires to be an influential player in efforts to mitigate the effects of a warming planet. The decision leaves the U.N. scrambling to find a new venue for the summit, which was scheduled to take place next November. It comes about a month before the inauguration of President-elect Jair Bolsonaro, who has vowed to empower commercial ventures in the Amazon and other Brazilian biomes while weakening enforcement of environmental laws.

Putin Plays Down Sea Clash with Ukraine as ‘Border Incident’

President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday dismissed the maritime clash between Russia and Ukraine as a criminal incident rather than the opening of a new front in the long-running conflict between the two countries, while a Russian court on the disputed Crimean peninsula sent a second group of captured Ukrainian sailors to jail. “This is a border incident, nothing more,” Putin told an international business forum in Moscow when he was asked about the confrontation Sunday when Russian ships fired on and seized three Ukrainian naval vessels in disputed coastal waters. It was his first public comment on the subject.

Knickers Isn’t a Cow, but He’s Real, and Enormous

The world’s expectations for a hero have perhaps never been lower. Which brings us to the steer. It’s like a normal steer, but bigger. The very big steer is, according to the nearly unanimous acclaim on social media, a hero. At 6 feet 4 inches tall and more than 1.4 tons (2,800 pounds), it is roughly the height of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson but weighs about 11 times as much. Its enormous size saved it from certain death, its owner said. No one bought it for slaughter at auction last month because potential buyers said it wouldn’t fit in their farm equipment.