The Latest: China reports a few new cases of COVID-19

BEIJING — China on Sunday reported 109 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, two-thirds of them in a northern province that abuts Beijing, and no deaths. There were 72 new cases in Hebei province, where the government is building isolation hospitals with a total of 9,500 rooms to combat an upsurge in infections,...

Germany: Merkel's party elects pragmatic Laschet as leader

BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right party chose Armin Laschet, the pragmatic governor of Germany’s most populous state, as its new leader Saturday. The choice sent a signal of continuity months before an election in which voters will decide who becomes the new chancellor....

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party has chosen Armin Laschet as its new leader

The Latest: Mexico hits another record for COVID-19 cases

Mexico posted a record spike in coronavirus cases on Friday, with 21,366 newly confirmed infections, about double the daily rate of increase just a week ago. The country also recorded 1,106 more deaths. It was unclear if the spike was due to the presence of the U.K. virus variant, of which only one case has so...

Merkel's party opens convention to choose new leader

BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Angela Merkel opened a party convention Friday that will see members choose a new leader of her center-right Christian Democrats, a decision that will help shape German voters' choice of her successor after 16 years in office. Merkel, 66, has been looked on by many as a bedrock of...

Mexican president mounts campaign against social media bans

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president vowed Thursday to lead an international effort to combat what he considers censorship by social media companies that have blocked or suspended the accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s administration...

Merkel's party to choose new leader ahead of German election

BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right party is choosing a new leader this weekend, a decision that will help shape German voters' choice of her successor at the helm of the European Union's biggest economy after her 16-year tenure. Merkel, now 66, has steered Germany, and Europe, through a...

Tech giants banished Trump. Now things get complicated

As the world adjusts to a Twitter without @realdonaldtrump, the next big question is: “Now what?" Major tech platforms, long accused of giving President Donald Trump special treatment not allotted to regular users, have shown him the door in the wake of his incitement of violence by supporters at the U.S....

Poland's PM: Social media need anti-censorship regulations

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Tuesday that social media corporations should not censor views that they don’t share and called for new regulations that would govern the use of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in the European Union. “Algorithms or the...

Bodies pile up at crematorium in Germany's virus hot spot

MEISSEN, Germany (AP) — The caskets are stacked three high in the Meissen crematorium's somber memorial hall, piled up in empty offices and stored in hallways. Many are sealed with plastic wrapping, others are labeled “infection risk,” “urgent” or simply “COVID.” A...