BERLIN (AP) — Officials in Germany are investigating why a huge wind turbine collapsed just hours before it was due to be officially inaugurated. The turbine toppled over late Wednesday in a forest near the western town of Haltern. German news agency dpa reported Thursday that police do not suspect sabotage. The wind turbine has rotor blades that reach a height of 239 meters, or 784 feet. It was connected to the grid six months ago but scheduled to be officially launched on Thursday.. Germany is trying to ramp up its use of renewable energy such as wind and solar as part of a transition away f ..read more

PARIS (AP) — French ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy has been convicted and sentenced to a year of house arrest for illegal campaign financing of his unsuccessful 2012 reelection bid. The court said Thursday it will allow him to serve the sentence at home by wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet. Sarkozy has vigorously denied wrongdoing. He has the possibility to appeal the decision which would suspend the sentence. Sarkozy wasn’t present at the Paris court for the ruling. He was accused of having spent almost twice the maximum legal amount of 22.5 million euros ($27.5 million) on the reelecti ..read more

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Police in the Netherlands and Germany say they have have arrested nine suspected members of a gang responsible for a string of robberies targeting ATMs in Germany and for setting up a training center for blowing up cash machines. European Union police agency Europol says the makeshift training facility in the central Dutch city of Utrecht helped unmask the gang. Police in Germany said Thursday they became suspicious when a 29-year-old Dutch man ordered several ATMs, saying they were for an art project in the Netherlands. Instead, they were delivered to a warehouse ..read more

PARIS (AP) — French court sentences Nicolas Sarkozy to one year in prison in campaign financing case, pending a potential appeal. The post French court sentences Nicolas Sarkozy to one year in prison in campaign financing case, pending a potential appeal appeared first on WKOW ..read more

BEIJING (AP) — Defense officials from China and the U.S. have held two days of talks in a small sign of progress amid a continuing sharp downturn in relations. The video conference held Tuesday and Wednesday was led by Maj. Gen. Huang Xueping, deputy direct of the People’s Liberation Army’s Office for International Military Cooperation, and U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for China Michael Chase. The Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson says they exchanged in-depth views on relations and issues of common concern. However, he blamed continuous provocation and containment of China by ..read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is moving to avert one crisis while putting off another. The Senate is poised to approve legislation Thursday that would keep the federal government running into early December. The House is also expected to approve the measure following the Senate vote, preventing a partial government shutdown when the new fiscal year begins Friday. Democrats were forced to remove a suspension of the federal government’s borrowing limit from the bill at the insistence of Republicans. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warns that if the debt limit isn’t raised by Oct. 18, the country w ..read more

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Girls from the Afghanistan national soccer team who were recently granted asylum in Portugal have had a surprise visit from the captain of the senior team. Farkhunda Muhtaj flew into the Portuguese capital Lisbon for an emotional reunion with the girls’ team late Wednesday. She is a professional player who from her home in Canada spent weeks helping arrange their recent rescue from Afghanistan. As the sun set over the River Tagus, the girls aged 14-16 and their families gathered on the riverbank and hugged and kissed Muhtaj amid smiles and tears. The rescue mission was ..read more

MITO, Japan (AP) — Japan’s next prime minister says he believes raising incomes is the only way to get the world’s third-largest economy growing again. Growth had stalled even before the pandemic hit, stymied by longstanding problems including a shrinking population, growing inequality and stagnant incomes. Fumio Kishida won a party vote Wednesday and is due to be named prime minister on Monday. Analysts say he is viewed as an establishment choice, not a reformer, and is unlikely to stray far from the playbook of his predecessors. First on his list is another big dose of government spending to ..read more

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Denmark seems to have failed to reach its target of 90% of people over the age of 12 having been vaccinated twice by Oct. 1 as the latest official figures show 84.9% have gotten both shots. The latest official figures by Danish Health Authorities show that 4,366,235 people have gotten both shots. Those who have gotten the first shot — 4,453,321 people — represent 86.6% of those over the age of 12. The vaccine is voluntary and free of charge in Denmark, which on Sept. 10, declared that it no longer considers COVID-19 as “a socially critical disease” because of the large nu ..read more

SINGAPORE (AP) — As the island nation of Singapore pursues a strategy of “living with COVID” and a gradual relaxation of pandemic restrictions, daily cases are skyrocketing and residents are growing increasingly anxious. But behind the headline figures, there is evidence the plan is working, with its focus more on the severity of infections and hospitalizations than numbers of daily cases, even as the highly transmissible delta variant presents challenges. A month into the plan, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung sought to allay growing concerns, saying the wave was expected and should be seen as a ..read more