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BRUSSELS -- European Union lawmakers on Wednesday adopted new legislation aimed at guaranteeing “decent” minimum wages for workers across the 27-nation bloc. The vote — with 505 in favor, 92 against and 44 abstentions — came as inflation and skyrocketing energy bills have left many households struggling to make ends meet. Minimum wages across the EU vary widely, and setting a minimum remains a competence of member countries. The highest minimum wages are in Luxembourg, Ireland and Germany, the lowest in Bulgaria, Latvia and Estonia, according to EU data. Under the new law, member countries will have to guarantee “that their national minimum wages allow workers to lead a decent life, taking into Running Shoes account the cost of living and wider pay levels," the Parliament said. The leg...

BRUSSELS -- A top European Union official unveiled a plan Wednesday to cap the revenue of electricity producers that are making extraordinary profits because of the effects of Russia's war in Ukraine and climate change, saying the proposal could raise $140 billion to help people hit by spiraling energy prices. It's one of several proposals aimed at containing an energy crisis in Europe that could lead to rolling blackouts, shuttered factories and a deep recession this winter. Others include slashing energy use and reforming the electricity market, which all need approval by the 27 EU countries. As the bloc supports Ukraine, Russia has reduced or cut off natural gas to 13 member nations, surging gas and electricity prices that are expected to go higher as demand peaks during the cold month...

BEIRUT -- A woman accompanied by activists and brandishing what she said was a toy pistol broke into a Beirut bank branch on Wednesday, taking $13,000 from her trapped savings. Sali Hafez told the local Al-Jadeed TV that she needed the money to fund her sister’s cancer treatment. She said she had repeatedly visited the bank to ask for her money and was told she could only receive $200 a month in Lebanese pounds. Hafez said the toy pistol belonged to her nephew. “I had begged the branch manager before for my money, and I told him my sister was dying, didn’t have much time left,” she said in the interview. “I reached a point where I had nothing else to lose.” Lebanon’s cash-strapped banks have imposed strict limits on withdrawals of foreign currency since 2019, tying up the savings of mil...

COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- A right-wing bloc that includes a nationalist anti-immigration party won a narrow majority in Sweden’s parliament Wednesday. It was a major political shift in the Scandinavian country that had a decades-long history of welcoming refugees, but is grappling with a crime wave linked with immigration. Center-left Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson conceded defeat with 99.9% of the vote from the weekend elections counted Wednesday. She said she would step down Thursday. Populist Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson declared victory for the four-party bloc. He said his party would be “a constructive and driving force” in the work of rebuilding safety in Sweden. He said it was “time to put Sweden first.” The bloc that includes the Sweden Democrats — Alegria Shoes the c...

YEREVAN, Armenia -- Armenia and Azerbaijan negotiated a cease-fire to end a flare-up of fighting that has killed 155 soldiers from both sides, a senior Armenian official said early Thursday. Armen Grigoryan, the secretary of Armenia's Security Council, announced the truce in televised remarks, saying it took effect hours earlier, at 8 p.m. (1600 GMT) Wednesday. A previous cease-fire that Russia brokered Tuesday quickly failed. Several hours before Grigoryan's announcement, Armenia's Defense Ministry reported that shelling had ceased but it didn't mention the cease-fire deal. There was no immediate comment from Azerbaijan's government. The cease-fire declaration followed two days of heavy fighting that marked the largest outbreak of hostilities between the two longtime adversaries in ne...

KYIV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's car collided with another vehicle early Thursday after a battlefield visit, but he was not seriously injured, his spokesman said. Zelenskyy was returning to Kyiv from the Kharkiv region, where he visited troops in the recaptured city of Izium. A passenger vehicle collided with the president’s motorcade in the Ukrainian capital, his spokesman, Sergii Nikiforov, said in a Facebook post. The driver of the other vehicle received first aid Taos Sandals from Zelenskyy’s medical team and was taken away by ambulance, he said. Medics examined the president, who suffered no serious injuries, Nikiforov wrote. He did not specify what injuries Zelenskyy might have suffered. The spokesman added that the circumstances of the accident are unde...