AP National News

BERLIN (AP) — Austria’s chancellor has stepped up threats of lockdown measures for unvaccinated people as new coronavirus cases in the Alpine country are soaring. The country’s worst-affected province said Thursday that it plans to take that step next week. Austria has taken a series of measures in recent weeks in an effort to curb

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarians will soon have some relief at the pumps after the government announced it will limit the price of gasoline and diesel amid soaring fuel prices. A government minister told reporters Thursday that a cap of 480 Hungarian forints, or $1.50, per liter of fuel would go into effect nationwide Monday.

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis is renewing his call for Europe to welcome and show solidarity with migrants. He says the diversity they’re bringing to the continent is renewing European cities as a “beautiful mosaic, which should not be scarred or corrupted with prejudices or hatred.” Francis didn’t mention the latest migration crisis at Poland’s

BERLIN (AP) — Carnival revelers in the western Germany city of Cologne were lining up to show  proof of their COVID-19 vaccinations before they could begin the start of the outdoors celebrations _ after a hiatus due to the pandemic last year. Despite strict pandemic rules, the start of the carnival season on Thursday was

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — An investigation has concluded that between 1970 and 2010 a culture of sexual misconduct, occasions of heavy drinking and incidents of bullying were common at the Danish Radio Girls’ Choir, made up of teenagers and young women. The report, whose findings were published Wednesday, were based on interviews with 129 former

PRAGUE (AP) — Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and his government have resigned in a formal step required by the Constitution following last month’s parliamentary election. Babis says he has sent the resignation letter to President Milos Zeman. Zeman is expected to ask Babis to stay in office until a new government is appointed. A

By RAF CASERT and VIRGINIA MAYO Associated Press YPRES, Belgium (AP) — Armistice Day remembrances have been observed around the world after the coronavirus pandemic wiped out ceremonies last year to mark the end 1918 end of World War I. Dignitaries and government leaders across the Western Front in Europe stood still and pondered the

MADRID (AP) — More than 400 migrants have arrived by sea to Spain’s Canary Islands over a 24-hour period. The latest arrivals came talks between Spain and Algeria on ways of fighting illegal migration from North Africa to Europe. The migrants were aboard seven boats approaching the Spanish archipelago off northwest Africa. Spain’s government says

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Naval forces from the United States, Israel and two Gulf Arab states are taking part in a joint security drill in the Red Sea, a vital shipping route that feeds into the Suez Canal. The U.S. 5th Fleet said on Thursday that the five-day multilateral maritime exercise with Israel,

By DAVID McHUGH AP Business Writer FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Commission has raised its growth forecast for the year for the 19 countries using the euro, saying the economy was bouncing back from the worst of the coronavirus pandemic as people went back to work in consumer-facing jobs. But the EU’s executive branch

By CARA ANNA Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — American and British citizens have been swept up in Ethiopia’s mass detentions of ethnic Tigrayans under a new state of emergency in the country’s escalating war, The Associated Press has found. Thousands of Tigrayans have already been detained and fears of more such detentions soared on

By COLLEEN LONG Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is using his first Veterans Day in office to announce an effort to better understand, treat and identify medical conditions suffered by troops deployed to toxic environments. Biden has hypothesized about a potential link between his son Beau’s death from brain cancer after his

BERLIN (AP) — The U.N. refugee agency says the number of people worldwide forced to abandon their homes likely increased to more than 84 million in the first half of this year. It says the rise was driven in particular by conflicts in Africa. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said Thursday the number of

By JAN M. OLSEN Associated Press COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Sweden has charged two executives of a Swedish oil exploration and production company for complicity in war crimes with the former government in Sudan. Prosecutors say the executives are suspected of having “a decisive influence” on the business of Stockholm-based Lundin Oil AB in Sudan

By JOSEPH KRAUSS Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — The Palestinian Foreign Ministry says it has detected spyware developed by the Israeli hacker-for-hire company NSO Group on the phones of three senior officials. It accused Israel of using the military-grade Pegasus software to eavesdrop on them. The accusation on Thursday comes after the software was detected

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The Turkish lira again has slid to a record low against the U.S. dollar after a surge in U.S. consumer prices inflamed concerns over President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s push to cut interest rates. The lira dropped to an all-time low of 9.97 against the dollar early Thursday before settling at around

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Senior U.S. and South Korean diplomats have discussed how to restart stalled talks with North Korea, days after the North conducted artillery firing drills in its latest weapons tests. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink was in Seoul on Thursday for talks on

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The outgoing Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández is on his way to Taiwan at the invitation of the island’s leader just weeks before a presidential election in the Central American nation that could see self-ruled Taiwan even more diplomatically isolated. Hernández was in Washington when he announced his trip to Taiwan.

By ZEN SOO Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — China’s Singles’ Day, the world’s largest online shopping festival which falls on Nov. 11 every year, is losing its shine with less marketing hype and a crackdown on the technology industry. Singles’ Day has been viewed as the largest online marketing event of the year. It is