World News

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Inside an empty Rod Laver Arena, the fluttering of a photographer's camera suddenly seemed all too distracting before a player served.

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Fans in Myanmar of soccer teams from England’s Premier League have banded together to join the popular movement protesting the country’s recent military takeover.

BEIJING (AP) — The European Union on Saturday called on China to reverse its ban on the BBC World News television channel imposed in apparent retaliation for Britain’s pulling of the license of state-owned Chinese broadcaster CGTN.

MARSEILLE, France (AP) — It’s been a tough year for the performing arts in most countries, with virus lockdowns canceling shows and shuttering venues.

MEXICO CITY —— Mexico is reducing its COVID-19 alert level in about half of the country’s states amid a drop in infections and hospitalizations in many places, including the capital.

BEIJING (AP) — Railway journeys in China during the usually frenetic Lunar New Year holiday travel rush are down by almost 70% amid calls for people to stay where they are to avoid a new outbreak of COVID-19.

ROME (AP) — Former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi on Friday accepted the Italian president's bid to form a new government, announcing a Cabinet of experts mixed with experienced political hands, at once seeking to reassure financial markets and tame a potentially unruly coalition of former rivals.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia is prepared for a split with the European Union if the EU imposes new crippling sanctions amid a dispute over the treatment of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the nation's top diplomat warned Friday.

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel pushed back Friday against critics of the country's slow COVID-19 vaccine rollout, saying vast vaccination centers set up last year will be full to capacity by April.

Chinese TV included dancers in blackface portraying Africans in a Lunar New Year gala for the second time in three years, sparking criticism online.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The authoritarian leader of Belarus said Friday that a referendum on changing the ex-Soviet nation's constitution would be held in less than a year, part of government efforts to stem the tide of opposition protests.

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo, one of Europe's poorest and youngest countries, is set to hold an early general election Sunday amid the coronavirus pandemic, an economic downturn and stalled negotiations with wartime foe Serbia.

PARIS (AP) — France has a “deeply rooted” societal problem with child sexual abuse, the French official responsible for children and families acknowledged Friday while discussing new government plans to address it with tougher laws and heightened vigilance in schools.

SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — As its neighbors boast of progress in their vaccination programs, North Macedonia is still waiting to deliver its first shot — adding political tension to the tiny nation's pandemic health crisis, and highlighting difficulties that some countries bordering the European Union are facing.

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary will be able to vaccinate millions more people against the coronavirus by the end of May than other European countries with similarly sized populations due to its plans to use a vaccine made in China, the Hungarian prime minister predicted in a radio interview Friday.

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Supreme Court ruled Friday that a group of Nigerian farmers and fishermen can sue Royal Dutch Shell PLC in English courts over pollution in a region where the Anglo-Dutch energy giant has a subsidiary.