Court in Romania rejects Andrew Tate’s request to visit his ailing mother

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — A spokesperson for Andrew Tate says a court in Romania has rejected the divisive influencer’s request to leave the country to visit his mother in the U.K. after she had suffered a heart attack. Tate is charged in Romania with human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women. Tate’s spokesperson said after the Bucharest Court of Appeal’s decision that the ruling “has left us disheartened.” It comes nearly a year after Tate, his brother Tristan and two Romanian women were arrested near Bucharest. Romanian prosecutors formally indicted all four in June. They have denied the allegations.

Storm brings strong winds to northern Europe, killing 2 people

BERLIN (AP) — A storm has brought heavy rain and strong winds across northern Europe, bringing down trees and prompting warnings of flooding on the North Sea coast. A woman in Belgium was fatally injured by a falling Christmas tree, while another tree killed a person in the Netherlands. The 20-meter Christmas tree collapsed onto three people at a busy market late Thursday. A woman who was struck by a falling tree in the eastern Dutch town of Wilp later died of her injuries. Pre-Christmas rail travelers in parts of Germany faced disruption on Friday.

Greece says 81 people were rescued from a ship along an illegal migration route

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Authorities in southern Greece have rescued 81 people stranded on a ship south of the mainland, on a route frequently used to take migrants illegally to Italy. Municipal officials in the southern Greek port of Kalamata said the city has provided a temporary shelter for the people rescued, who identified themselves as coming from Egypt, Pakistan and Syria. The rescue operation occurred just south of Greece’s search and rescue area. That’s according to the authorities, which did not provide further details. In June, a fishing trawler traveling on the same route sank, killing hundreds of migrants.

UN health agency cites tenfold increase in reported cases of dengue

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. health agency said Friday that reported cases of dengue globally increased tenfold over the last generation, with climate change and the growing spread of virus-carrying mosquitoes partly to blame for transmission that remains mostly prevalent in the Americas. The World Health Organization said reported cases soared to a record 5.2 million in 2019, up from 500,000 in 2000, across 129 countries worldwide, figures that likely understate the actual toll. In January, WHO warned that dengue posed a pandemic threat and was the world’s fastest spreading mosquito-borne disease.