BERLIN—Frank Vogel, a 64-year-old local politician from the eastern German Erzgebirge region, has been scrambling to find ways to keep nursing homes open when a vaccine mandate for health care workers takes effect next month. His region near the Czech border has one of the lowest vaccination rates in Germany. With only 57 percent of…

BRUSSELS—The European Union is seeing its economic emergence from the unprecedented COVID-19 slowdown hampered by coronavirus-induced staff shortages, supply bottlenecks, runaway energy prices, and subsequent inflation surges. In its winter 2022 forecast, the European Commission said Thursday that even though the economy has rebounded from stunning losses at the height of the pandemic crisis, key…

OTTAWA—Veterans Affairs Canada says the Liberal government has agreed to extend the contracts of only about one-third of the temporary staff hired to deal with a backlog of disability claims from ill and injured ex-soldiers. That is despite the fact the department still has nearly 34,000 unprocessed applications on its desk—a number that officials warn…

Students and staff in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) must show proof of a negative COVID-19 test before returning to campus Jan. 11 regardless of vaccination or booster status, the district announced. “In preparation for schools reopening on January 11, and in light of the rise in COVID-19 cases due to the Omicron…

BANGKOK—The humanitarian group Save the Children said Tuesday it has confirmed that two of its staff were among at least 35 people, including children, who were killed in eastern Myanmar on Christmas Eve in an attack it blamed on the country’s military. It said the two staff members were caught up in the attack in…

MILAN—Workers at BNL, the Italian arm of French banking group BNP Paribas, went on strike for the first time since the 1990s on Monday in protest at back office and IT staff cuts. Italian banking unions said the strike was “a great success,” adding that take-up had been solid. “The bank’s internal offices were completely…

WASHINGTON—Seven U.S. Department of Defense staff who traveled last week to multiple American bases, including Indo-Pacific Command on Hawaii, have tested positive for COVID-19, the Pentagon said on Thursday. The staff, which consisted of civilian and military personnel, traveled to bases in Michigan, Colorado, Hawaii, California, and Nebraska as part of Deputy Secretary of Defense…

Burger King and Tim Hortons are struggling with a staffing crunch and the Delta variant keeping coffee-loving office workers at home, causing parent Restaurant Brands International Inc. to miss estimates for quarterly revenue on Monday. Restaurant Brands also faced stiff competition from McDonald’s Corp. and Wendy’s Co. doubling down on marketing and launching new menu…

ZURICH—Credit Suisse will extend time off for childcare and holidays and will let senior managers take sabbaticals under new rules for Swiss staff to take effect next year, Switzerland’s second-biggest bank said on Monday. “Helping parents with childcare and encouraging staff to regularly take time off to rest are a priority for Credit Suisse,” it…

TAIPEI—Taiwanese staff working at the island’s representative office in Hong Kong will begin leaving the Chinese-run city starting Sunday, a senior official said, after the government there demanded its officials sign a document supporting Beijing’s claim to Taiwan. Chinese-ruled Hong Kong has become another bone of contention between Taipei and Beijing, especially after Taiwan lambasted…