Sweden's parliament on Wednesday passed a controversial law lowering the minimum age to legally change gender from 18 to 16 and making it easier to get access to surgical interventions. The law passed with 234 votes in favor and 94 against in Sweden's 349-seat parliament. While the Nordic country was the first to introduce legal gender reassignment in 1972, the proposal, aimed at allowing so-called "self-identification" and simplifying the procedure, sparked an intense debate in the country. The debate has also weakened conservative Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson's standing, after he admitte ..read more

Dubai's giant highways were clogged by flooding and its major airport was in chaos as the Middle East financial centre remained gridlocked on Wednesday, a day after the heaviest rains on record. Tailbacks snaked along waterlogged, six-lane expressways after up to 259.5 millimeters (10.2 inches) of rain, the most since records began 75 years ago, fell on the desert United Arab Emirates on Tuesday. At least one person was killed after a 70-year-old man was swept away in his car in Ras Al-Khaimah, one of the oil-rich country's seven emirates, police said. Power outages were reported around Duba ..read more

Terrified onlookers crouch behind a wall as lights streak across the night sky in what self-proclaimed digital investigators claimed was footage of Iranian drones over Israel. But the video is months old, repurposed to sow misinformation. Social media sites such as X, formerly Twitter, were swamped with misrepresented visuals after Iran launched an unprecedented wave of drones and missiles toward Israel at the weekend, exacerbating Middle East tensions during an ongoing war that has already seen a flood of misinformation. Many of the falsehoods about the Iranian strikes were amplified by wha ..read more

Dutch Crown Princess Amalia fled to Spain to escape threats to her safety, local media reported, as she prepared to make her official debut at a state occasion later Wednesday. The 20-year-old lived and studied in Madrid for more than a year, reported public broadcaster NOS, citing royal sources. In October 2022, Amalia was forced to abandon plans to live in student digs over security fears, just weeks after she started at Amsterdam University to study politics, psychology, law and economics. The heir to the Dutch throne was captured beaming by photographers when she started her studies, wit ..read more

The United Nations Security Council will vote Thursday on the Palestinians' application to become a full UN member state, several diplomatic sources have told AFP. Amid Israel's military offensive in Gaza, the Palestinians in early April revived a membership application first made to the world body in 2011, though the veto-wielding United States has repeatedly expressed opposition to the proposal. The General Assembly can admit a new member state with a two-thirds majority vote, but only after the Security Council gives its recommendation. Regional bloc the Arab Group issued a statement Tues ..read more

Russia but not President Vladimir Putin will be invited to the French ceremony in June to mark 80 years since the D-Day landings during World War II, organizers said Tuesday. In February 2022, Putin sent troops to Ukraine, shredding ties with the West. And in 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin on the war crime accusation of unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children. In June, France marks the 80th anniversary of the 1944 Normandy landings. A host of world leaders are expected to attend, including US President Joe Biden. "In view of the circumstances, Presi ..read more

A fire ripped through Copenhagen's Old Stock Exchange, one of the Danish capital's best-known buildings, on Tuesday, engulfing its spire which collapsed in a scene reminiscent of the 2019 blaze at the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. The historic building, whose spire was shaped as the tails of four dragons intertwined, had been under renovation and clad in scaffolding when the fire broke out. Parts of the roof had collapsed and the fire spread to several floors of the building, Copenhagen fire department chief Jakob Vedsted Andersen told reporters. "This is our Notre-Dame! This is a national ..read more

The sacred flame for the Paris 2024 Olympics was lit Tuesday in Olympia, Greece, the birthplace of the ancient Games, in a ceremony inspired by antiquity and marked by messages of hope amid multiple global crises. "In ancient times, the Olympic Games brought together the Greek city states, even – and in particular – during times of war and conflict," said International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach. "Today, the Olympic Games are the only event that brings the entire world together in peaceful competition. Then as now, the Olympic athletes are sending this powerful message: yes, it ..read more

The U.K. parliament will on Tuesday kick off its first debate on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's planned legislation to prevent young people from ever smoking, despite opposition from many in his own Conservative Party. The law would ban the selling of tobacco products to anyone born after January 1, 2009 –- effectively raising the smoking age by a year each year until it applies to the whole population. "This has the potential to phase out smoking in young people almost completely as early as 2040," the government said when it unveiled the plan, calling the move "historic". While the law looks ..read more

The rudiments of courtroom proceedings in former President Donald Trump's criminal trial spurred a MAGA meltdown Monday. Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump both took to social media to condemn New York City Judge Juan Merchan for reminding his father that New York law mandates he appear in court every day of the trial. "Pure evil," Trump Jr. declared, sharing a tweet from the notorious pizzagate conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec. Posobiec felt the judge should have immediately allowed Trump to skip court on May 17 to attend his youngest son Barron's high school graduation. According to MSNBC's ..read more