By PAN PYLAS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Official figures show that consumer prices across the 19 countries that use the euro currency are rising at a record rate. The European Union’s statistics agency said Tuesday that the eurozone’s annual inflation rate hit 4.9% in November, largely as a result of a huge spike in
Continue ReadingRIGA, Latvia (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says there’s little chance the military organization would ever introduce a system for expelling anyone among its ranks. That’s despite the fact that tensions are quietly simmering between a number of the 30 member countries. Stoltenberg says he doesn’t plan to recommend such a system and that
Continue ReadingBy GEIR MOULSON and FRANK JORDANS Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s next chancellor says he will back a proposal to mandate coronavirus vaccinations for everybody next year. But he said Tuesday that lawmakers should be free to vote according to their conscience on the issue. Center-left leader Olaf Scholz is expected to take office
Continue ReadingMUNICH (AP) — Bayern Munich will likely host Barcelona without spectators in the Champions League next week as the state governor says he will demand sports events in empty stadiums. The announcement comes against a backdrop of high coronavirus infection rates. Bavaria governor Markus Söder says his state will block fans from attending games even
Continue ReadingBy Mark Thompson, CNN Business Regulators have long threatened to break up Facebook (now called Meta) because of its huge market power. Now one group of officials has followed through and ordered the company to unwind its acquisition of Giphy because the deal could hurt competitors. The UK Competition and Markets Authority said on Tuesday
Continue ReadingLISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portugal’s president has refused to sign for the second time a parliament-sanctioned bill allowing euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, arguing the wording is imprecise and effectively shelving the piece of legislation until a new parliament and government are chosen early next year. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, a staunch Catholic, already showed reservations
Continue ReadingBy Ariane de Vogue, CNN Supreme Court Reporter In a biting dissent two years ago, when the Supreme Court overturned a ruling from 1979, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote that the decision “can only cause one to wonder which cases the court will overrule next.” Breyer is about to find out. The justices are gathering Wednesday
Continue ReadingCNN By Amanda Davies and George Ramsay, CNN With less than a year to go before the start of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, questions surrounding host nation Qatar’s handling of humanitarian issues show few signs of abating — specifically concerning the state’s anti-homosexuality laws. Nasser Al Khater, the chief executive of the tournament’s organizing
Continue ReadingCNN By Amy Woodyatt, CNN It’s a football uniform with a difference — it has a QR code which, when scanned, will direct users to a web page to learn more about the issues of sportswashing and alleged human rights abuses that surround the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The kit, which incorporates the QR
Continue ReadingBy Amanda Davies and George Ramsay, CNN With less than a year to go before the start of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, questions surrounding host nation Qatar’s handling of humanitarian issues show few signs of abating — specifically concerning the state’s anti-homosexuality laws. Nasser Al Khater, the chief executive of the tournament’s organizing committee,
Continue ReadingBy JOHN LEICESTER Associated Press PARIS (AP) — A far-right former TV pundit with multiple hate-speech convictions has officially entered the race for France’s presidency. The launch of Eric Zemmour’s candidacy made official a campaign that had been gathering steam for months before it stumbled of late. Zemmour warned supporters in a video on Tuesday
Continue ReadingBy Laura He, CNN Business China’s economy is finally getting some good news: Its big factories are staging a recovery as a power crunch that held back production starts to ease because of a big jump in coal supply. A government survey of manufacturing activity increased to 50.1 in November from 49.2 in October, according
Continue ReadingKUWAIT CITY (AP) — Several prominent Kuwaiti opposition figures have returned home from a decade of self-exile after getting amnesty from the ruling emir. The long-awaited move celebrated Tuesday is aimed at ending a political paralysis that has burned a hole in public finances. Faisal al-Muslim was the latest to be greeted by screams of
Continue ReadingBy GEIR MOULSON and FRANK JORDANS Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s next chancellor says he will back a proposal to mandate coronavirus vaccinations for everybody next year. But he said Tuesday that lawmakers should be free to vote according to their conscience on the issue. Center-left leader Olaf Scholz is expected to take office
Continue ReadingPHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia has barred entry to travelers from 10 African countries, citing the threat from the new omicron coronavirus variant. The move, announced in a Health Ministry statement issued late Monday, came just two weeks after Cambodia reopened its borders to fully vaccinated travelers. The Health Ministry said the entry ban
Continue ReadingANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s state-run news agency says authorities have arrested a prominent member of an opposition party over accusations that he engaged in “political and military espionage.” Anadolu Agency said late Monday that a court in Ankara ordered Metin Gurcan, a retired army officer and founding member of the opposition Democracy and Progress
Continue ReadingBy FRANK JORDANS Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — A former member of the Islamic State group has been convicted by a German court of genocide and committing a war crime over the death of a 5-year-old Yazidi girl he had purchased as a slave and then chained up in the hot sun to die. The
Continue ReadingBy LEE KEATH Associated Press KABUL (AP) — Human Rights Watch says that Afghanistan’s Taliban fighters have killed or forcibly “disappeared” more than 100 former police and intelligence officers since taking power in mid-August. A new report from the group points to continuing retaliation against members of the former armed forces, despite an announced amnesty.
Continue ReadingBy RAF CASERT and CARLA K. JOHNSON Associated Press Brazil and Japan joined the rapidly widening circle of countries to report cases of the omicron variant, while new findings indicate the mutant coronavirus was already in Europe close to a week before South Africa sounded the alarm. It highlights the difficulty in containing the virus
Continue ReadingBy Holly Yan and Travis Caldwell, CNN Health experts are doubling down on pleas for all eligible American to get vaccinated — and boosted — against Covid-19 as the Omicron and Delta variants spread. Less than two weeks after Omicron was first identified by South African scientists, it’s already become the dominant variant in that
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