Europe

BRUSSELS, Sept 14 (Reuters) - The European Commission proposed on Wednesday an EU ban on products made using forced labour with legislation that will add to existing U.S. pressure on China, but will likely change before it enters force.

The EU executive does not name any country in its proposal, but it follows a European Parliament call for such a law in June that highlighted concerns over human rights in China's Xinjiang region.

BRUSSELS, Sept 14 (Reuters) - The European Union executive will recommend suspending billions of euros earmarked for Hungary over corruption woes, two officials told Reuters on Wednesday, in what would be the first such move against Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The head of the executive, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in her annual policy speech to the European Parliament on Wednesday she would freeze funding for members damaging democracy, and singled out corruption.

MOSCOW, Sept 14 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Ukraine's ongoing ambitions to join the Western NATO military alliance presented a threat to Russia's security and highlighted the necessity for Russia to conduct what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine.

Moscow was responding to the publication of a draft set of security guarantees by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office on Tuesday that outlined Ukraine's "aspiration to join NATO and benefit from its mutual defence arrangements".

STOCKHOLM, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Sweden's Social Democrat prime minister, Magdalena Andersson, accepted defeat on Wednesday after a close-fought election, handing the four-party right-wing opposition bloc victory and first go at forming a new government.

A handful of votes remain to be counted, but Andersson, who became Sweden's first woman prime minister last year, said the results showed the right bloc had won.

"In parliament, they have a one or two seat advantage," Andersson told a news conference. "It's a thin majority, but it is a majority."

STOCKHOLM, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Sweden's right-wing opposition on Wednesday held on to a narrow lead over the ruling centre-left bloc as counting neared the end after Sunday's close-fought vote for parliament, election authority data showed.

The Moderates, Sweden Democrats, Christian Democrats and Liberals held a one-seat lead after Sunday's election but the results were too close to call before the final postal and overseas votes had been counted. 

BRUSSELS, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission's new "emergency intervention" plan aims to tackle the soaring energy costs for both households and businesses across the European Union (EU) through exceptional electricity demand reduction measures, EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson said here on Wednesday.

The plan also seeks to redistribute the energy sector's surplus revenues to final customers.

LONDON, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- The United Kingdom (UK)'s consumer price index (CPI) rose by 9.9 percent in the 12 months to August 2022, a slight easing of the inflation rate and the first decline in nearly a year, official statistics showed Wednesday.

The inflation rate fell from the 40-year high of 10.1 percent in July, the first drop since September last year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

HOVERING INFLATION

PARIS (AP) — A French court on Wednesday ordered a Yemeni airline that operated a passenger plane that crashed into the Indian Ocean in 2009 to pay damages to the flight’s lone survivor and the families of 65 French citizens who died.

The Yemenia flight departed from Paris, picked up more passengers in the southern French city of Marseille and made a stopover in Sanaa, Yemen, where 142 passengers and 11 crew members boarded another plane to continue to the capital of Comoros, an island nation off Africa’s east coast.

GENEVA (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday that the number of coronavirus deaths worldwide last week was the lowest reported in the pandemic since March 2020, marking what could be a turning point in the years-long global outbreak.

At a press briefing in Geneva, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the world has never been in a better position to stop COVID-19.

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other of instigating new rounds of shelling across their borders Wednesday and reported that 155 troops from the two countries have died since hostilities reignited between the two longtime adversaries this week.

Armenia’s Defense Ministry accused Azerbaijani forces of launching combat drones in the direction of the Armenian resort town of Jermuk overnight and renewing shelling with artillery and mortars in the morning in the direction of Jermuk and the village of Verin Shorzha.