World News

BRUSSELS – Lobbyists can easily bypass EU transparency rules to influence policy, the 27-nation bloc’s auditors said on Wednesday. The European Court of Auditors’ (ECA) report comes as European Union institutions discuss a new Ethics Body to guide the conduct of officials and ahead of a planned review of the bloc’s transparency register of lobbyists. That review follows a 2022 cash-for-influence scandal at the heart of the European Parliament in which Qatar and Morocco have been accused of bribing decision-makers. Qatar has denied wrongdoing....

A section of TC Energy’s NGTL gas pipeline system in Alberta ruptured and caught fire on Tuesday, sparking a wildfire in a remote area, the company said. “An initial ignition of natural gas at the rupture site is now extinguished. We are working to support Alberta Wildfire in their response to contain a secondary fire,” the company said in a statement on its website. TC said there were no injuries and it was working closely with...

 An Ohio judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked a Republican-backed state law banning gender-affirming care, such as puberty blockers and hormones, for transgender minors from taking effect later this month. Judge Michael Holbrook of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas said that the two transgender children and their families who are suing to challenge the law, which would also prevent transgender girls from competing on girls’ sports teams, would be permanently harmed if the law...

COPENHAGEN — A fire hit Copenhagen’s Old Stock Exchange on Tuesday, one of the Danish capital’s best-known buildings, engulfing its spire which collapsed onto the roof in a scene reminiscent of the 2019 blaze at Paris’ Notre-Dame cathedral. There were no immediate reports of injuries, police said. Video from the scene showed people carrying large paintings away from the building to save the historic artefacts from the flames. “Horrible pictures from the Bourse. So sad....

AMSTERDAM — Dutch airspace was almost completely closed for nearly three hours late on Monday and early on Tuesday due to a technical outage of air traffic control systems, local authorities said. The outage occurred at 11 p.m. local time (2100 GMT) on Monday and was resolved almost three hours later, Air Traffic Control Netherlands said. During that time very limited air traffic was handled in Dutch airspace, while flights were diverted to other airports...

THE WORLD Health Organization (WHO) issued an alert on Monday warning drugmakers of five contaminated batches of propylene glycol, an ingredient used in medicinal syrups, that appear to have been falsely labelled as manufactured by Dow Chemical units in Asia and Europe. The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) issued three alerts between January and March over high levels of ethylene glycol (EG), an industrial solvent known to be toxic, found in drums purportedly made...

NEW YORK — The judge in Donald Trump’s trial dismissed dozens of potential New York City jurors on Monday who said they could not fairly decide whether the 2024 Republican presidential candidate illegally covered up a hush money payment to a porn star. On the first day of the historic criminal trial, the first to involve a former US president, Justice Juan Merchan told nearly 100 prospective jurors they must set aside any biases or...

WASHINGTON — Iran’s unprecedented missile and drone strike on Israel is unlikely to prompt dramatic sanctions action on Iran’s oil exports from the Biden administration due to worries about boosting oil prices and angering top buyer China, said analysts. Shortly after Tehran launched its weekend attack — retaliation for Israel’s suspected April 1 strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus — House Republican leaders accused President Joseph R. Biden of failing to enforce existing measures...

ALONG COASTLINES from Australia to Kenya to Mexico, many of the world’s colorful coral reefs have turned a ghostly white in what scientists said on Monday amounted to the fourth global bleaching event in the last three decades. At least 54 countries and territories have experienced mass bleaching among their reefs since February 2023 as climate change warms the ocean’s surface waters, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Coral Reef Watch,...

JERUSALEM – Israelis awaited word on how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would respond to Iran’s first-ever direct attack as international pressure for restraint grew amid fears of an escalation of the conflict in the Middle East. Netanyahu on Monday summoned his war cabinet for the second time in less than 24 hours to weigh a response to Iran’s weekend missile and drone attack, a government source said. Military Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said Israel would respond. He...