Europe

Fifteen people were killed and 24 wounded during a school shooting in Russia on Monday despite that country’s “restrictive” gun control policies. The attack occurred in “School No. 88 in Izhevsk,” which is approximately 600 miles east of Moscow, and “educates children between grades one and 11,” the Associated Press reported . The gunman was identified as a 34-year-old who was a past graduate of School No. 88. Among the 15 killed, 11 were children. Among the 24 wounded, 22 were children. A woman hugs a boy surrounded by other people near the scene of a shooting in school No88 in Izhevsk on September 26, 2022. (MARIA BAKLANOVA/Kommersant Photo/AFP via Getty Images) The governor of Udmurtia, Alexander Brechalov, said in a video statement that the gunman shot himself after carrying out the heinous attack, Breitbart News noted . The University of Sydney’s GunPolicy.org lists Russia’s gun control as “restrictive.”  There is no right to gun ownership in Russia and … [Read more...] about 15 Dead in Russia School Shooting Despite ‘Restrictive’ Gun Control

PARIS (AP) — Russia's war in Ukraine and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are dragging down global economic growth more than expected and driving up inflation that will stay high into next year, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Monday in a darkening outlook. The Paris-based organization projects worldwide growth to be a modest 3% this year before slowing further to just 2.2% next year, representing around $2.8 trillion in lost global output in 2023. The war in Ukraine has driven up food and energy prices worldwide, with Russia a key global energy and fertilizer supplier and both countries major exporters of grain for millions of people worldwide already facing hunger. Meanwhile, China's COVID-19 lockdowns have shuttered large parts of its economy. “The war, the burden of high energy and food prices, as well as zero COVID-19 policies from China, mean that growth will be lower, and inflation will be higher and more persistent,” OECD … [Read more...] about OECD: War in Ukraine to drag on global economy into 2023

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 ATHENS (AP) — Greece on Monday urged the European Union to lift movement restrictions for refugees recognized by individual nations, accusing the bloc of applying a double standard when dealing with Ukrainians fleeing the war compared with the victims of other conflicts. Notis Mitarachi, Greece's migration affairs minister, said a “lack of solidarity” was holding up efforts to comprehensively reform migration rules across the 27-nation bloc. Refugees granted international protection by EU nations currently cannot take full advantage of the bloc’s provisions for free movement. But Ukrainians escaping the Russian invasion of their country face fewer restrictions. “That is not fair, and Greece will insist on that point ... the Ukrainian arrangement should apply to all refugees as long as they are officially recognized,” Mitarachi said. “Unfortunately, the EU at some point decided … [Read more...] about Greece: EU using Med countries like a refugee ‘parking lot’

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has tested positive for the coronavirus, his spokesman told the news agency dpa on Monday. Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said Scholz has mild symptoms and immediately entered isolation. He has canceled all public appearances this week but plans to take part virtually in internal government meetings, Hebestreit said. Scholz returned from a two-day official trip to the Gulf States on Sunday and before that was at the U.N. General Assembly in New York. Scholz was not the only government official to contract the virus this week: Interior Minister Nancy Faeser announced on Twitter Monday morning that she had also tested positive. … [Read more...] about German chancellor Scholz tests positive for coronavirus

Click here to read the full article. Hosting 80 pitch projects, welcoming 537 companies, and seeing a 13% increase in first-time attendees, this year’s Cartoon Forum saw the European animation scene in boom. With 292 buyers on site, the Toulouse-set event held three days of well-attended TV pitches that ran from Sept. 19 -22. Here are five key takeaways from the event. Buzz and Attendance More from Variety Zen Animation Title 'Tiger And Bear' Lures Buyers at Cartoon Forum (EXCLUSIVE) Arte, Miam! Board Adolescent Doc Series 'Boys Boys Boys' (EXCLUSIVE) France's Folimages Sets Madcap Tone For Comic-Book Adaptation 'Anuki' Cheeky French short-form “The Hall of Fail” came up time and again as Cartoon Forum attendees buzzed about the 2D project that gives a loving raspberry to history’s also-rans. Dystopian Y.A. adventure “The Tern” was another major attention grabber, cited as much for its narrative ambition as for its elaborate sci-fi design. Still, if … [Read more...] about Preschool Fare and Ecological Themes Mark Booming Edition of Cartoon Forum

Nearly 40 people were shot, six of them fatally, during another violent weekend across Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s (D) Chicago. Breitbart News noted 11 people were shot, four of them fatally, Friday into Saturday morning alone in Lightfoot’s Chicago. On Monday morning, ABC 7 / Chicago Sun-Times reported the weekend totals for shooting victims was 38, seven of whom had succumbed to their wounds. Two men, one aged 30 and another aged 31, were found fatally wounded at 4 a.m. Sunday inside a residence “in the 1300-block of South Harding Avenue.” Both men had been shot in the head and were rushed to the hospital, where they were pronounced dead. The Sun-Times’ Chicago homicide database shows that 508 people were killed in the city January 1, 2022, through September 25, 2022. Flanked by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (L), Vice President Kamala Harris participates in a round table discussion on reproductive rights on the campus of the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) … [Read more...] about Nearly 40 Shot, 6 Killed, During Weekend in Mayor Lightfoot’s Chicago

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus is seeking help from the United Nations to stem an “avalanche” of migrants who make their way from the ethnically divided island’s breakaway north across a U.N.-controlled buffer zone to seek asylum in numbers that authorities cannot cope with, the interior minister said Monday. Minister Nikos Nouris said 94% of the 15,130 asylum-seekers who filed applications with the divided island’s internationally recognized government in the south through August this year had traversed the buffer zone. That is double the number from the same period last year. Nouris will travel to New York this week for meetings with the U.N. Secretary-General’s Cabinet Chief Courtenay Rattray and U.N. Under Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix to brief them in detail about the situation. Nouris said the U.N. has no mandate under its 58-year peacekeeping mission in Cyprus to carry out operations aimed at halting the flow of migrants across the buffer … [Read more...] about Cyprus seeks UN help to stem asylum-seeker ‘avalanche’

23 Business As gas prices fall, inflation is accelerating in services such as groceries, restaurant meals, rent and medical care. Beth Dalbey , Patch Staff Posted Replies ACROSS AMERICA — Inflation is slowing down, led largely by tumbling gasoline prices, but Americans will continue to feel pain at grocery stores and other places, according to the July Consumer Price Index report released Wednesday. Consumer prices jumped 8.5 percent in July, compared with a year earlier, but that was down from the 9.1 percent year-over-year increase in June, a four-decade high, according to the report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Supply chain snarls are also loosening, with fewer ships moored off Southern California ports and shipping costs declining. Prices for commodities like corn, wheat and copper have fallen steeply. Americans paid an average of $4.01 for a gallon of regular gas Wednesday, compared with $4.68 a month … [Read more...] about Inflation Eases With Falling Gas Prices, But Other Costs Rise

The New York Times’ weekly book review column published an interview with Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Alice Walker. Walker went on to endorse a book by notorious anti-Semite and conspiracy theorist, David Icke. Many Jewish advocacy groups and other authors questioned TheNYT’s decision to publish the response without questioning or acknowledging the book’s rampant anti-Semitism. The New York Times published in its weekly book review column an interview with acclaimed author Alice Walker who appeared to openly and unrestrictedly endorse a book by an anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist. Walker, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Color Purple, named a few books on her nightstand, one of which was And The Truth Shall Set You Free by David Icke. “In Icke’s books there is the whole of existence, on this planet and several others, to think about. A curious person’s dream come true,” Walker responded in the interview, which was originally posted Dec. 13. The … [Read more...] about New York Times Publishes Author’s Recommendation For An Anti-Semitic Book By Known Conspiracy Theorist

Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei disclosed on Monday that he attended a series of confidential meetings with European and American leaders on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly last week. “Those were meetings with Europeans and Americans. They asked us to keep our conversations confidential,” Makei said, according to Belarusian state news agency Belta. The foreign minister of Belarus , a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s even as Russia wages war in Ukraine , declined to elaborate on the substance of the meetings. Makei only alluded vaguely to the idea that the meetings would be damaging to the United States should their contents leak out into the public eye. “Belarus has probably reached such a potential that the information about the meeting… might destroy even such a superpower as the United States,” Makei said. The mysterious meetings come on the heels of a series of defeats for Russia on the battlefield in … [Read more...] about Putin Ally Teases Secret Meetings ‘That Could Destroy’ America