AP National News

GENEVA (AP) — The World Economic Forum is again delaying its much-ballyhooed annual meeting of world leaders, business executives and other elites in Davos, Switzerland, amid new uncertainties about the omicron variant of the coronavirus. The forum, which repeatedly delayed, moved and finally canceled last year’s event, says the previously planned Jan. 17-21 gathering in

BEIRUT (AP) — The U.N. chief has paid tribute to the victims of last year’s massive explosion in Beirut’s port during a visit to Lebanon this week, expressing solidarity with the families’ quest for justice. The explosion on Aug. 4, 2020 rocked the Lebanese capital, killing at least 216 people and injuring thousands. Parts of

BERLIN (AP) — A truck ran into a U.S. military vehicle on a highway in Bavaria on Monday in what German police said was an accident. The truck driver was believed to have been killed on Monday, but the military said there were no known injuries among U.S. personnel. The U.S. military vehicles were on

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Leaders of Bulgaria and Greece have discussed bilateral cooperation in the energy sector, with an emphasis on reducing their reliance on Russian gas through the speedy completion of a gas interconnector linking the neighboring countries. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met with his Bulgarian counterpart, Kiril Petkov, and the country’s president,

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO AP Retail Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Retailers expect record-breaking sales for the holiday shopping season, but low-income customers are struggling as they bear the brunt of the highest inflation in 39 years. The government’s report last week that consumer prices jumped 6.8% over the past year showed that some of the

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Britain’s main nurses’ union has warned that exhaustion and surging coronavirus cases among medical staff are pushing them to breaking point. That is adding to pressure on the government for new restrictions to bring down record-high infection numbers driven by the omicron variant. The England director for

BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgium’s health ministers have agreed to start vaccinating children aged between 5 and 11 against the coronavirus. Ministers from the country of 11.5 million said the vaccination is highly recommended to children with conditions that put them at high risk for complications from COVID-19. Those children will be invited to receive their

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has denounced domestic violence against woman as “nearly satanic” and said parents should never slap their children. Francis made the comments in a televised encounter with an abused woman who recently fled her home with her four children. Their meeting was broadcast late Sunday on the private Mediaset network’s TG5

BERLIN (AP) — German police say a truck has crashed into a U.S. military convoy on a highway in Bavaria and several people have been injured, German police said. They said that it was an accident. The crash happened Monday on the A3 highway near Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz. The U.S. military vehicles were on

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s parliament on Monday approved a record extra budget of nearly 36 trillion yen ($317 billion) for the fiscal year through March to help pandemic-hit households and businesses. The budget includes 100,000 yen ($880) payouts to families with children 18 or younger and a 2.5 million yen

By MIKE CORDER Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands, Netherlands (AP) — Prosecutors are explaining evidence and their indictment to judges in the murder trial of three Russians and a Ukrainian charged with involvement in downing Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014, killing all 298 passengers and crew. Prosecutors began Monday and are

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A suspected pirate wounded during an exchange of gunfire last month with the Danish navy off West Africa has been transferred to a hospital in Ghana. Four other suspected pirates were killed and three others are in custody after the Nov. 24 incident. The Danish frigate HDMS Esbern Snare was sailing

By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — A Sudanese medical group says a protester was shot dead in mass demonstrations against the recent military takeover and a deal that reinstated Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok but sidelined the movement. More than 120 people were wounded in clashes between protesters and security forces during Sunday’s protests.

BERLIN (AP) — The new German government has chosen an experienced central banker and former board member of Germany’s state-owned development bank to head the country’s central bank. The finance minister said Monday that Joachim Nagel was nominated to succeed Jens Weidmann, who announced in October that he would step down at the end of

By ZEN SOO Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Pro-Beijing candidates have won a landslide victory in Hong Kong’s legislative elections, beating out moderates and independents in the city’s first polls since Beijing passed a resolution to amend the city’s election laws to ensure that only “patriots” loyal to Beijing could run the city. Hong

By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nigerian security forces are searching for armed gangs who killed 47 people in attacks in recent days in rural areas of the country’s northwest, the latest killings in the troubled region. Kaduna state commissioner for security Samuel Aruwan confirmed that the attacks took place in the

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Global stock markets and Wall Street futures have tumbled amid concern about the latest coronavirus variant and tighter Federal Reserve policy. London, Frankfurt, Shanghai and Tokyo retreated at the start of a trading week that will be shortened by the Christmas holiday. Wall Street fell Friday