International News: News and Reviews from The New York Times

Here is the latest International News from The New York Times.

Organized Crime Prosecutors Raid Panama Papers Firm Office Organized crime prosecutors raided the offices of the Mossack Fonseca law firm Tuesday looking for evidence of money laundering and financing terrorism following a leak of documents about tax havens it set up for wealthy international clients.

Protests Erupt in Macedonia as President Halts Wiretapping Inquiry A special prosecutor had been investigating allegations of widespread corruption in government, but President Gjorge Ivanov issued a blanket pardon.

British Minister Admits Dating Woman in Sex Industry John Whittingdale, who as culture minister oversees the nation’s news media, said tabloid newspapers knew about the woman’s occupation before he did.

Dispatcher, Said to Be Playing on Cellphone, Is Faulted in German Train Crash He is expected to be charged with involuntary manslaughter, as well as violation of work rules, in the deadly collision of two trains in Bavaria on Feb. 9.

Acreage for Genetically Modified Crops Declined in 2015 Efforts to expand use of biotechnology to crops other than corn, soybeans, cotton and canola have been hindered by opposition from consumer and environmental groups.

Judge Rules Against Couple in China’s 1st Same-Sex Case A judge on Wednesday ruled against a gay couple in China’s first same-sex marriage case that attracted several hundred cheering supporters to the courthouse and was seen as a landmark moment for the country’s emerging LGBT rights movement.

Judge in China Rules Gay Couple Cannot Marry The pair, Sun Wenlin and Hu Mingliang, had sued a civil affairs bureau in Changsha after the office refused to grant them the right to marry.

Facebook Bets on a Bot Resurgence, Chattier Than Ever The social giant is opening up its messaging app so that any outside company, like Applebee’s or 1-800-Flowers, can create a bot capable of interacting with real people.

Climate Change Hits Hard in Zambia, an African Success Story Because of severe drought magnified by climate change, the Kariba Dam is generating so little juice that blackouts are hurting the nation’s businesses.

Syria’s Partial Cease-Fire Shows Signs of Crumbling Ground clashes and airstrikes intensified as the government promised a new offensive and prepared to hold controversial parliamentary elections.

Donald Trump, Losing Ground, Tries to Blame the System Mr. Trump and his allies are trying to compensate for organizational deficiencies by framing the Republican primary process as rigged and corrupt.

Trump Says System Is ‘Rigged’ At a campaign event in upstate New York, Donald J. Trump sharply criticized the Republican National Committee’s methodology for choosing a nominee, saying it should “be ashamed” of itself.

Feature: Donald Trump, American Preacher Building a congregation for his prosperity gospel, one chaotic rally at a time.

The Problem With Superhero Movies “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” and other superhero movies are filled with self-serious rage and piety. They should lighten up, says Wesley Morris.

A Visionary Project Aims for Alpha Centauri, a Star 4.37 Light-Years Away Silicon Valley scientists and billionaires announce an effort to send probes to explore Alpha Centauri, an interstellar mission that could take decades.

Paul Ryan to Rule Out Run for President, Aide Says With Republicans pressing Mr. Ryan to seek the nomination, he will hold an unusually formal news conference to once again rule out his candidacy.

Is Staying in the New Going Out? Food, entertainment, romance: The traditional weekend staples are now available entirely on demand. The centripetal force of our homes has never been stronger.

Baltimore After Freddie Gray: The ‘Mind-Set Has Changed’ A year after the arrest of Freddie Gray, correspondents who have covered events in Baltimore since then took stock of the city’s mood and politics.

Puerto Rico’s Prosperous D.C. Power Couple Pedro Pierluisi, the commissioner to Congress from Puerto Rico, has introduced legislation that could benefit companies which have hired his wife.

Wildfires, Once Confined to a Season, Burn Earlier and Longer Increasingly, fire crews are making calculated decisions to let blazes consume the land, concentrating their efforts on safeguarding communities and watersheds.

Tennis, Often Seen as Leader in Equal Pay, Still Has Gap to Close Although compensation is the same at majors, the annual prize money for the top 100 earners on the WTA and ATP Tours roughly mirrors the pay gap in American workplaces.

The Film ‘Merci Patron!’ Emerges as a Rallying Cry in France François Ruffin’s documentary takes on the luxury giant LVMH and its chief executive and billionaire philanthropist, Bernard Arnault.

Taiwan Denies Role in Spy Case Involving U.S. Navy Officer The military said it had not received secrets from an American naval officer under investigation on suspicion of providing information to Taiwan or China.

Public Editor’s Journal: Perfectly Reasonable Question: Short Shrift for the Mets? A reader sees a preference for the Yankees, and the sports editor says it ain’t so.

European Union Calls for Big Companies to Disclose More Tax Data The proposed rules, in the works before the Panama Papers leak, are intended in some ways to lift the veil on similar types of corporate secrets.

Scientists Unveil New ‘Tree of Life’ Most of the diversity outlined on the new tree has been hiding in plain sight.

News Analysis: Obama’s Latest View on Secrecy Overlooks Past Prosecution of Leaks In defending Hillary Clinton’s email practices, the president offered a concession his administration has not always made with news organizations or security officials.

First Draft: Racially Charged Joke by Hillary Clinton and Bill de Blasio Leaves Some Cringing A skit by Mrs. Clinton and the mayor of New York during an annual sendup of New York politics drew criticism from several news media outlets.

Vancouver Journal: Chinese Scions’ Song: My Daddy’s Rich and My Lamborghini’s Good-Looking Many wealthy Chinese are moving their families and riches to Western cities like Vancouver, where their children show off cars and diamond-encrusted watches.

Boko Haram Using More Children as Suicide Bombers, Unicef Says One of every five bombers deployed in West Africa by Boko Haram in the past two years has been a child, usually a girl, according to a new report.

U.S. and Philippines, United by China, Ramp Up Military Alliance A new agreement will allow the United States to spread more American troops, planes and ships across the island nation than have been here in decades.

Celle Journal: A Murder Taps Into Germany’s Conflicted Relations With Migrants The killing of a man by an Afghan migrant has left residents of a small town in the German heartland concerned about their community’s future.

What the Panama Papers Reveal About the Art Market The leaked documents show the many ways offshore shell companies are used to conceal the ownership of art. Here’s a look at three cases.

‘All the King’s Men,’ Now 70, Has a Touch of 2016 This 1946 novel by Robert Penn Warren is eerily prescient about some of the dark uses to which language has been put in this year’s election.

For Indian Start-Ups, Tenacity Beats High Tech Venture capitalists looking to fund start-ups in India place more emphasis on execution than on intellectual property.

Navy May Charge Officer With Giving China and Taiwan Secrets Lt. Cmdr. Edward C. Lin has been under investigation on suspicion of providing secret information to China and Taiwan, United States officials said.

Barrage of Attack Ads Threatens to Undermine Donald Trump More than half of the record spending on negative advertising during the 2016 presidential primary has been directed at a single candidate, Mr. Trump.

John Kasich Sees Path to Nomination Despite Low Delegate Count Mr. Kasich’s rationale is that savvy Republican convention delegates will be more receptive to his electability argument than rank-and-file voters.

New Evidence on When Bible Was Written: Ancient Shopping Lists An analysis of handwriting on ancient pottery suggests that literacy may have been more widespread than previously known in the Holy Land around 600 B.C.