In Germany, Apple raises iPhone prices

In Germany, Apple raises iPhone prices

berlin

Apple raised the prices for hand-held devices in Germany at the start of the year, following a deal between the tech industry and content producers that will benefit a range of creative professionals including musicians, actors and pornographic filmmakers.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company confirmed in a statement Sunday to The Associated Press that the price increase affecting iPhones and iPads is linked to the new copyright levy.

Apple Inc., Samsung and others agreed last month to pay about $5.50-$7.70 for each smartphone or tablet imported to Germany. A basic version of iPhone 6s now retails for 744.95 euros ($811.03), compared with 739 euros last year.

Mexico mayor slain

MEXICO CITY

Three people, including a minor, were being held Sunday in the slaying of a newly inaugurated mayor in a gang-troubled central Mexican city.

Morelos Gov. Graco Ramirez ordered flags on state buildings flown at half-mast and called for three days of mourning after the murder of Temixco Mayor Gisela Mota.

He blamed organized crime for killing the 33-year-old Mota, a former federal congresswoman who had been sworn in as mayor less than a day before she was gunned down in her home Saturday morning.

Workers return to site of shootings

san bernardino, calif.

In the offices of the Inland Regional Center, Christmas did not come. Tinsel still festoons cubicles. A small tree with presents sits undisturbed.

The staff was gearing up for the holidays Dec. 2, the day 14 people were massacred on the center’s gleaming campus.

Today, the 600 employees will return. Though many have continued to work, visiting the homes of autistic children and mentally disabled adults, they haven’t been together in the place where everything froze once law-enforcement officers whisked them away after county restaurant inspector targeting his co-workers was joined by his wife in killing 14 and injuring dozens.

Missing booksellers unsettle Hong Kong

HONG KONG

Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers said Sunday that they will press the government for answers after a fifth employee of a publishing company specializing in books critical of mainland China’s leadership went missing.

Lawmaker Albert Ho said the city was “shocked and appalled” by the disappearance of Lee Bo. Like the four others who have disappeared in recent months, Lee is associated with publisher Mighty Current.

While there’s been no official word on what happened to the five missing people, Ho told reporters that it appears their disappearances are linked to the publishing company’s books.

US repeals law on meat labeling

washington

It’s now harder to find out where your beef or pork was born, raised and slaughtered.

After more than a decade of wrangling, Congress repealed a labeling law last month that required retailers to include the animal’s country of origin on packages of red meat. It’s a major victory for the meat industry, which had fought the law in Congress and the courts since the early 2000s.

Lawmakers said they had no choice but to get rid of the labels after the World Trade Organization repeatedly ruled against them. The WTO recently authorized Canada and Mexico, which had challenged the law, to begin more than $1 billion in economic retaliation against the United States.

Associated Press