Belgium has a new prime minister whose political purpose was long to break up the nation, gut the state structures and give ever more autonomy to his northern Flanders at the cost of everyone else.

European Union leaders have agreed on the officials who will be the face of the world’s biggest trading bloc in coming years for issues ranging from anti-trust investigations to foreign policy.

A senior Ukrainian military officer says that the country's air force may keep some of the F-16 fighter jets it’s set to receive from its Western allies at foreign bases to protect them from Russian strikes.

Belgian voters return to the polls on Sunday while both the far-right and the far-left are rising in the country.

Belgium’s federal prosecutor’s office says police have searched the residence of an employee of the European Parliament and his office in the Parliament’s building in Brussels over suspected Russian interference.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has received a second $1 billion promise of military aid in as many days during a whirlwind tour of three European Union countries.

The leaders of Belgium and the Czech Republic are warning their European Union partners to take urgent action to prevent Russian interference in June’s Europe-wide elections.

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo has announced an investigation into suspected Russian interference in June's Europe-wide elections.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has welcomed Western leaders to Kyiv to mark the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion, as Ukrainian forces run low on ammunition and foreign aid hangs in the balance.

A number of European Union leaders are trying to use mounting concern about civilian deaths in Israel’s military offensive against Hamas to rally their partners around a united call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The suspected attacker who killed two Swedish soccer fans in Brussels this week before he was shot dead by police resided in Belgium illegally and had been ordered to leave Belgium years ago.

Belgium authorities are getting worried by a series of school arsons believed to be connected to newly mandatory school sessions in some parts of the country.

Belgium has acknowledged that its primary rail gateway has become a festering sore of drug abuse, poverty and violence.

Belgium is investigating whether weapons it sent to help Ukraine defend its territory were used just over the border in Russia.

The European Union has been at the forefront of the fight against climate change and the protection of nature for years.

A group of Western European nations led by Germany and France are committing to massively ramp up the production of clean energy from wind turbines in the North Sea.

European Union leaders are gauging the risk of a banking crisis developing from recent global financial turmoil and hitting an already weak economy.

Ireland's prime minister says the U.K. and the European Union are “inching” closer to agreeing on a deal to resolve a thorny post-Brexit dispute in Northern Ireland.

Judicial officials have told The Associated Press that a Greek European lawmaker charged with corruption in an alleged plot tarnishing EU institutions will remain in detention until at least Dec. 22 after her hearing by a judge was postponed.

Fleeing shelling, hundreds of civilians on Saturday streamed out of the southern Ukrainian city whose recapture they had celebrated just weeks earlier.

One Beligan police officer is dead and another wounded in a stabbing attack in Brusse;s that two judicial officials say is suspected to be terrorism-linked.

Belgium’s justice minister remains under police protection after four people suspected of taking part in an alleged plot to kidnap him were arrested in the Netherlands over the weekend.

Belgian authorities have returned a gold-capped tooth of the slain Congolese independence hero Patrice Lumumba.

The European Union has preserved a sense of rarely seen unity through four rounds of unprecedented sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

Belgium has decided to further tighten restrictions in anticipation of the surging omicron variant.

Heading into the Christmas week, nuclear energy has become a big thorn in the side of the European Union.

Nations across Europe are taking new measures in an attempt to keep a COVID-19 spike from spiraling out of control, hoping that action now will safeguard the joys of Christmas next month.

Belgium has extended the use of facemasks and mandatory remote work in an attempt to contain a new surge of COVID-19 cases.

European Union founding member Belgium warned Poland on Wednesday not to treat the EU like “a cash machine” to boost its economic fortunes while disregarding its democratic and rule of law principles at will.

Coronavirus infections and hospitalizations have shot up in Belgium, pushing the government to reimpose some pandemic restrictions that it only relaxed a few weeks ago and expand a nationwide use of the COVID-19 pass.

European Union leaders are meeting to discuss ways to ease the pain of soaring energy bills for consumers.

Belgian forces are keeping up their manhunt for an armed soldier who is on a Belgian terror watch list because of his extreme right sympathies while the government remained nonplussed how a known threat to society could have had access to an array of heavy arms.

Ministers met on Wednesday to discuss a possible tightening of COVID-19 measures as infections are once again on the rise. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said the virus variant first identified in Britain is taking a heavy toll on the nation's health. Confirmed new cases in Belgium increased 40% over the last week and hospital admissions rose 28% following a long stable period. According to the government, COVID-19 infections are doubling every two weeks in Belgium now, with most clusters detected in schools and workplaces. Belgium's ban on nonessential travel outside the country will also remain in place over the Easter holidays with stepped up policing at borders.

New coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in Utah have been on a downward trend since January. Ad___SAO PAULO, Brazil — Brazil has reached 300,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths and become the second nation to top that figure. ___BOISE, Idaho — The governor of Idaho has said COVID-19 vaccine eligibility will be open to all Idaho residents 16 and up starting April 5. ___WAILUKU, Hawaii — A hospital on Maui had to throw out nearly 1,400 vaccine doses after a refrigerator thawing the vials did not properly seal. Also, COVID-19 deaths have dipped below 1,000 a day on average for the first time since November.

Belgian health authorities are urging residents to limit their social contacts to a bare minimum and to massively opt for remote working to avoid another wave of COVID-19 infections. Obligatory mask-wearing outdoors, night-time curfews and restaurant and bar closures have been in place since the start of November. AdDe Croo said that most new cases were being found in schools and in the work place. The number of elderly people catching or dying from the virus is dropping as Belgium’s vaccination program kicks in. Van Laethem said earlier that Belgium is “standing at the foot of a third wave of infections,” but that people can help turn that into a “mini-wave” by respecting the rules.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Saturday that holiday gatherings cant go ahead and non-essential shops must close in London and much of southern England. Germany said all flights coming from Britain, except cargo flights, were no longer allowed to land starting midnight Sunday. The Netherlands banned flights from the U.K. for at least the rest of the year. The World Health Organization tweeted late Saturday that it was "in close contact with U.K. officials on the new #COVID19 virus variant" and promised to update governments and the public as more is learned. “The alarms bells have been ringing for weeks, but the prime minister chose to ignore them,” said Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition Labour Party.

All Australian states have imposed restrictions on travelers from Sydney and parts of New South Wales because the coronavirus risk. The state on Sunday reported 1,536 new COVID-19 cases and 46 more deaths. ___TOPEKA, Kan. — A FedEx executive says a higher-than-normal volume of Christmas-season package deliveries won’t interfere with the company’s effort to ship coronavirus vaccine doses. The first wave of coronavirus infections in New York “came from Europe and we did nothing,” the Democratic governor said. ___WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s surgeon general is defending Trump’s not getting a coronavirus vaccine, saying there are medical reasons for it.

“If there are countries ... which maintain their ski resorts open, we will have to take control measures" to dissuade people to go to these areas and to be fair toward French ski resorts, Macron said. Macron was answering a question about Switzerland in a news conference, following a meeting with Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo. “Yes, we will take restrictive and dissuasive measures,” Macron said. The measure aims to dissuade people from traveling and mixing in ski resorts to prevent further virus infections. Ski resorts are already open in Switzerland, which has allowed skiing.

With less than two months to go before the U.K. exits the EU's economic orbit, trade deal talks resume in London. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)LONDON – The British government told businesses on Tuesday to make sure they are ready for big changes when the U.K. makes its final Brexit break from the European Union in exactly a month. Talks are continuing, and U.K. officials have said this is the last week to strike a deal. That will hurt both sides, but the burden will fall most heavily on Britain, which does almost half its trade with the EU. But firms that trade with the EU say they still don’t know what conditions they will face in a month’s time.

(AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)BRUSSELS – Please leave a chair empty at this year's family Christmas dinner as a precaution, or face the possibility of having that chair empty forever. That's the stark dilemma Belgium's prime minister has set to urge smaller festive family gatherings, as Europeans battle with containing the surging COVID-19 pandemic over the holiday season. Britain, with the continent's highest death rate at 57,031 yet a Christmas tradition unlike few others, could not resist the temptation of relaxation. Like Belgium, Italy, where the pandemic initially struck hard in Europe, is taking a hard line at Christmas. In Oberndorf, home of the world's most famous Christmas carol, they hope its lyrics will not be taken too literally.

FILE - In this Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020 file photo, medical staff work in the intensive care ward for COVID-19 patients at the CHR Citadelle hospital in Liege, Belgium. Small, yet so divided, Belgium is hit hard again by the pandemic, and now has some of the worst results to show in Europe during the resurgence of the Coronavirus, it is revealed Tuesday Oct. 27, 2020. The last thing we need today is division and a scattered order of battle," Alexander De Croo told Belgians. In all in Belgium, 11,038 people have died so far in the pandemic. The pandemic finds in Belgium one of the most densely populated countries in Europe, a crossroad of international trade.

Pressure is building on Belgium’s hospitals, where 467 people are being admitted on average each day, a rise of 85%. Almost 5,000 people are currently in hospitals, more than 750 of them in intensive care, according to the latest data. “What we do now, what we will do in the next two weeks, will be decisive,” said Yves Van Laethem, a spokesman for Belgium’s COVID-19 crisis center. If the figures don’t change, he said, “we are likely to reach 2,000 patients in intensive care in two weeks. The French-speaking region of Wallonia and the Brussels capital region extended a night-time curfew from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.

It is not appropriate for us to do that now.”″Victoria reported seven new coronavirus cases on Sunday, with six linked to the latest outbreak, which involves 39 people across 11 households. Eight countries now have more than 1 million confirmed cases, and three are in Latin America. Argentina hit 1 million confirmed cases on Monday. ___OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma has registered more than 1,800 newly confirmed coronavirus cases. ___ATHENS, Greece — Greece officials introduced mandatory wearing of masks everywhere Saturday, with the country reaching records for new daily coronavirus cases.

Faced with a resurgence of coronavirus cases, the Belgian government on Friday announced new restrictions to try to hold the disease in check, including a night-time curfew and the closure of cafes, bars and restaurants for a month. Belgium, which has a population of around 11.5 million, is one of the European countries hardest hit by the disease. The country’s finance and employment ministries will launch a support plan to help keep restaurants and cafes afloat. Earlier this month, bars and cafes in the capital Brussels were ordered to close early. Van Laethem urged people not to hit bars and night spots or gather in large groups for a final party.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, left, greets Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, right, with an elbow bump during a round table meeting at an EU summit at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020. European Union leaders are meeting in person for a two-day summit amid the worsening coronavirus pandemic to discuss topics ranging from Brexit to climate and relations with Africa. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen left the summit venue in Brussels shortly after the meeting began because one of her close staffers tested positive for COVID-19. Since the pandemic first surfaced in Europe in February, EU leaders have held several summits via videoconference. Parliament President David Sassoli said the virus has already infected a number of EU lawmakers, staffers and their associates.

(Danny Gys, Pool via AP, File)BRUSSELS – Belgium's first transgender politician to reach the higher echelons of government has come under stinging attack from the country's extreme right, only days after she was appointed. The new Belgian government sworn in Saturday includes Green Vice Premier Petra De Sutter, a professor specializing in gynecology and fertility who had been a member of the EU parliament since last year. Even though Homans defended the right of free speech, she added that personally she found Claes' comments "extremely reprehensible." Claes, however, would not back down, saying in another Facebook post that “I don't see the problem. I said that a transgender ... is a transgender."

Belgian Minister of Cooperation Development and Finance, Alexander De Croo speaks during a media conference at the Egmont Palace in Brussels, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2020. Despite his age, the 44-year-old De Croo is already a veteran in Belgian politics and was vice premier in the outgoing government. He would be the first Dutch-speaking prime minister in nine years. European Council President Charles Michel, a former Belgian prime minister himself, congratulated De Croo and said that “COVID-19 hit us badly, but I count on you and your government to guide us past this challenge." It made compromise politics, an essential element of Belgian politics, even harder.