World News

PARIS (AP) — A Paris court on Wednesday ruled that the French state failed to take sufficient action to fight climate change in a case brought by four nongovernmental organizations.

TOKYO (AP) — A coalition of 180 rights groups on Wednesday called for a boycott of next year’s Beijing Winter Olympics tied to reported human rights abuses against ethnic minorities in China.

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — A Croatian man who was detained for opening his gym in defiance of anti-virus rules has become a symbol of resistance for thousands of small business owners who rallied on Wednesday against government lockdown measures.

ROME (AP) — Former European bank chief Mario Draghi agreed Wednesday to try to form a non-political government to steer Italy through the coronavirus pandemic after last-ditch negotiations among political parties failed to produce a viable governing coalition.

MOSCOW (AP) — A prison sentence for Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and a sweeping crackdown on protesters demanding his release reflect the Kremlin's steely determination to fend off threats to its political monopoly at any cost.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The United Nations' highest court ruled Wednesday that it can hear a case brought by Iran against the United States in a bid to end sanctions the Trump administration re-imposed in 2018 after pulling out of an international deal aimed at curtailing Tehran's nuclear program.

PRAGUE (AP) — The Czech Republic has reached 1 million confirmed coronavirus cases, health authorities said Wednesday.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia’s leader expressed his gratitude to Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday for 1 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, saying he is proud Serbia became the first European country to give its population the shots made in China.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean officials are taking steps to limit travel and gatherings during next week’s Lunar New Year’s holidays, allowing train operators to sell only window seats and passenger vessels to operate at half capacity, as they fight a steady rise in coronavirus transmissions.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union on Wednesday proposed a four-billion-euro ($4.8 billion) plan aimed at improving the fight against cancer as the coronavirus pandemic tends to delay diagnoses and access to treatment across the 27-nation bloc.

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s health chief has hailed a new study suggesting that a single dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine provides a high level of protection for 12 weeks, saying it supports the government’s contentious strategy of delaying the second shot so it can protect more people quickly with a first dose.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has denounced student protesters as “terrorists" and vowed to crackdown on demonstrations opposing the appointment of a government loyalist to head Istanbul’s most prestigious university.

MARSEILLE, France (AP) — Nurses wheeled a 16-year-old boy suffering shortness of breath into one of the few available intensive care rooms at southern France's biggest hospital — its youngest COVID patient to date.

TOKYO (AP) — It will be an Olympics like no other, the world’s largest mega-sports event being staged in the middle of a pandemic.

WUHAN, China (AP) — World Health Organization investigators on Wednesday visited a research center in the Chinese city of Wuhan that has been the subject of speculation about the origins of the coronavirus, with one member saying they'd intended to meet key staff and press them on critical issues.

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Police in Myanmar have charged deposed national leader Aung San Suu Kyi with having several illegally imported walkie-talkies in her home, members of her party said Wednesday.