KEITH BRADSHER

Sophisticated sensors deployed at the site of a 17-story apartment complex that collapsed during a predawn earthquake Saturday here in southwestern Taiwan detected faint signs of life Sunday, including occasional cries, from some of the 119 people the authorities believed were buried deep under layers of rubble.

After its markets plunged last summer, and weeks after President Xi Jinping announced plans to avoid further disruptions, China again finds itself at the center of economic turmoil.

Trading was halted for the day on China’s stock market for the second time this week, as stocks plummeted Thursday over concerns about the country’s currency and the health of the economy. Trading stopped after only 29 minutes and didn’t reopen, with the main index in Shanghai down 7.3 percent.

After days of obstruction, Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine reached an agreement with Malaysia on Monday to surrender the flight recorder boxes of the Malaysia Airlines jetliner downed by a surface-to-air missile last week, and to allow the bodies of the victims to be evacuated by train.

For Edward J. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who has acknowledged leaking numerous documents about U.S. surveillance operations around the world, the path to a sudden departure from Hong Kong late Sunday began over a dinner days before of a large pizza, fried chicken and sausages, washed down with Pepsi.

Edward J. Snowden, the former National Security Agency computer technician who has acknowledged leaking highly classified documents about the U.S. government's monitoring of Internet and telephone communications, told a Hong Kong newspaper on Wednesday that he plans to stay in the city and fight extradition.