Beyoncé announces much anticipated 'Renaissance' world tour

Beyoncé is taking her “Renaissance” global — the superstar will start a world tour in Sweden in May with stops throughout Europe and the United States. The highly anticipated tour announcement she made on Instagram and her website Wednesday comes days before the Grammy Awards...

Bulgaria and Serbia diversify energy supplies

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — The presidents of Bulgaria and Serbia on Wednesday launched the construction of the Bulgarian part of a gas link that is designed to diversify the energy supplies of a region that until recently was almost fully dependent on natural gas deliveries from Russia. ...

EU official pushes Musk for Twitter's progress on new rules

LONDON (AP) — A top European Union official told Elon Musk that Twitter needs to make progress in preparing for a new law aimed at curbing hate speech, misinformation and other harmful content, adding pressure on the company to ensure it complies. EU Commissioner Thierry Breton...

European inflation eases for 3rd month but prices still bite

LONDON (AP) — Europe's inflation rate dipped at the start of the year, giving some relief to consumers but still leaving them facing higher prices that have driven protests and will likely press the European Central Bank into another interest rate hike Thursday. The consumer price...

Inflation drops again in the European Union countries that use the euro currency but still hits painful 8.5%

German beer sales up in 2022 after COVID pushed them down

BERLIN (AP) — German beer sales rose in 2022 after COVID-19 restrictions weighed on brewers in the previous two years, but the long-term trend remains downward and the World Cup soccer tournament in Qatar didn't get the taps flowing, according to official figures released Wednesday. ...

Austria's far-right Freedom Party regains national momentum

BERLIN (AP) — Nearly four years ago, Austria’s populist far-right Freedom Party was ousted from the national coalition government over a major corruption scandal, and voters punished it at the ballot box. But the party’s nearly double-digit gains in Sunday’s regional election...

Tech industry job cuts come rapidly and in big numbers

In just the past month there have been nearly 50,000 job cuts across the technology sector. Large and small tech companies went on a hiring spree in over the past several years due to a demand for their products, software and services surged with millions of people working remotely. However, even...

Unprecedented profit for Exxon as travel, and war, heated up

NEW YORK (AP) — Exxon Mobil posted record annual profits in 2022 as consumers globally struggled with high prices for gasoline, home heating and consumer goods. The energy giant brought in $55.7 billion in annual profits, exceeding its previous record of $45.22 billion in 2008,...

Feds drop lobbying probe of retired general, lawyer says

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has dropped its probe of retired four-star Gen. John Allen for his role in an alleged illegal foreign lobbying campaign on behalf of the wealthy Persian Gulf nation of Qatar, his lawyer told The Associated Press. Attorney David Schertler...