Germany to scrap mask mandate in long-distance transport

BERLIN (AP) — Germany will soon drop a mask mandate on long-distance trains and buses, one of the country's last remaining COVID-19 restrictions, the health minister said Friday.

The mandate will be dropped on Feb. 2, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach announced in Berlin.

Other European countries already have scrapped mask mandates in public transport, and Lauterbach faced increasing pressure to follow suit in recent weeks. Masks remain mandatory in doctors’ practices, while masks and negative tests are still required to enter hospitals and nursing homes.

Rules for local transportation are a matter for Germany’s 16 state governments, and an increasing number have dropped or are dropping their mask mandates. Some also have scrapped rules requiring infected people to isolate at home.

Sunak pledges to work constructively with Scotland’s leader

LONDON (AP) — U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged Friday to work constructively with Scotland’s leader despite tensions over her administration’s wish for a new independence referendum.

Sunak held private talks with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon during his first visit to Scotland since taking power, saying that while they are “not going to agree on everything,” he believes there is scope for cooperation. Sturgeon’s relationship with Sunak’s two predecessors, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, had been frosty in light of Sturgeon’s demand for Scottish independence.

“What I want to do as prime minister of the United Kingdom is work constructively with the Scottish government to make a difference to people in Scotland,” Sunak told the BBC. “We’ve got lots of challenges that we all face collectively around the U.K., and where we can work together and make a difference, we should.”

Sturgeon described their meeting as having been “perfectly constructive and cordial.”

German economy seen stagnating in Q4, grew 1.9% in 2022

BERLIN (AP) — The German economy appears to have stagnated in the fourth quarter, the national statistics office said Friday, while Europe's biggest economy managed full-year growth of 1.9% — slowing somewhat from 2021 as the impact of Russia's war in Ukraine weighed on its performance.

Germany releases a preliminary full-year gross domestic product figure before full December economic data is available, and an official fourth-quarter number isn't due for a few weeks yet.

The head of the Federal Statistical Office, Ruth Brand, said that “according to what we know so far, gross domestic product stagnated in the fourth quarter of 2022” compared with the previous three-month period. She cautioned that there was still “a great deal of uncertainty” about that estimate.

If the estimate holds up, stagnation in the October-December period would be a better showing than expected. The economy was long expected to shrink in last year’s fourth quarter and in the current first quarter. In last year's third quarter, the economy grew 0.4%.

Liberal minister says Canada needs more immigration as targets get mixed reviews

OTTAWA - As Canada plans to significantly ramp up its immigration levels in the coming years, some policy experts are worried about potential effects on health care, housing and the labour market.

But Immigration Minister Sean Fraser insists that Canada needs more newcomers to address labour shortages and demographic changes that threaten the country's future.

"If we don't continue to increase our immigration ambition and bring more working-age population and young families into this country, our questions will not be about labour shortages, generations from now," Fraser said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

"They're going to be about whether we can afford schools and hospitals."

Today’s horoscope

MOON ALERT: There are no restrictions to shopping or important decisions today. The moon is in Libra.

Trump Organization to be sentenced for tax fraud, faces fine

NEW YORK (AP) — The stiffest penalty Donald Trump’s company could receive when it is sentenced Friday by a New York judge for helping its executives dodge taxes is a $1.6 million fine — not even enough to buy a Trump Tower apartment.

Neither the former president nor his children, who helped run and promote the Trump Organization, are expected to be in the courtroom for the sentencing hearing. The company will be represented by its lawyers.

Because the Trump Organization is a corporation and not a person, a fine is the only way a judge can punish the company after its conviction last month for 17 tax crimes, including charges of conspiracy and falsifying business records.

By law, the maximum penalty that can be imposed by Judge Juan Manuel Merchan is around $1.6 million, an amount equal to double the taxes a small group of executives avoided on benefits including rent-free apartments in Trump buildings, luxury cars and private school tuition.