Canada eyes transgender bill:

TORONTO — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has put forward a bill to extend human rights protections to transgender Canadians. Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould said Tuesday the law is necessary to make it unequivocal that transgender people have the right to live free from discrimination, hate propaganda and hate crimes.

Russian opposition attacked:

MOSCOW — A group of Cossacks attacked Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his associates and beat some of them outside an airport in southern Russia on Tuesday, an assault highlighting an increasingly harsh environment for Kremlin critics.

Germany grants Erdogan ban:

BERLIN — A German court has granted Turkey’s president an injunction against a TV comedian, ordering him not to repeat most of a crude poem he wrote about the Turkish leader. The Hamburg state court ruled Tuesday that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “doesn’t have to accept” comedian Jan Boehermann repeating large parts of the ditty in view of its “abusive and libelous content.”

Wildfires back near oil camps:

Wildfires raging across northern Alberta shifted back toward oil-sands installations north of Fort McMurray, forcing the evacuation of thousands of workers who have been trying to get production restarted after fires curbed output by more than 1 million barrels a day. About 4,000 workers were evacuated..

Amtrak engineer blamed:

WASHINGTON — The Amtrak engineer whose speeding train ran off the rails in Philadelphia last year was apparently distracted by word that a train nearby had been hit by a rock, federal investigators concluded Tuesday, pinning most of the blame on him for the wreck that killed eight people.

Company charged in oil spill:

LOS ANGELES — A Texas pipeline company responsible for spilling more than 140,000 gallons of crude oil on the California coast last year was indicted on dozens of criminal charges in the disaster that closed popular beaches and killed sea lions and birds, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Plains All American Pipeline and one of its employees face 46 counts of state law violations in the May 19, 2015, spill.

Mom killed kids, gets 8 years:

NEW YORK — Lisette Bamenga, a former teacher who laced her two young children’s grape juice with windshield wiper fluid, then drowned them in a bathtub, promised on Tuesday to raise awareness of postpartum depression before a judge sentenced her to eight years in prison.

D.C. gun law has problems:

WASHINGTON — A federal judge has ruled that a key provision of the District of Columbia’s new gun law is likely unconstitutional, ordering Washington police to stop requiring individuals to show “good reason” to obtain a permit to carry a firearm on the streets of the nation's capital.

Bad season for wildfires?

U.S. wildfires have consumed five times more acreage this year than they did at this point in last year’s record season, as changing climate and trees dried from years of drought create more intense blazes, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said. The 2016 fire season is off to a “worrisome” start, Vilsack said.

Cold snap damages grapes:

MADISON, Wis. — Vintners in southern Wisconsin and southeastern Minnesota are reeling from a weekend cold snap that ruined huge swathes of their grapes. Temperatures on Saturday and Sunday dropped below freezing in much of those areas, killing grape buds that had emerged early due to a warm spring.

GOP blocks draft provision:

WASHINGTON — Buckling under conservative pressure, House Republicans pulled a legislative sleight of hand Tuesday and stripped a provision from the annual defense policy bill that would have required young women to sign up for a military draft. GOP lawmakers argued much more study is required before reversing the long-standing prohibition on including women in the Selective Service. They also questioned whether the Selective Service, which needs $23 million annually to operate, should be abolished altogether with an all-volunteer force. The Senate defense bill does include a version of the provision, so the congressional discussion isn’t over. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., weighed in Tuesday, saying it would be appropriate for women to register for the draft “just like men do.”