Almost 5.9 million doses of vaccine had been administered by Saturday. Health officials aim to give 15 million people, including everyone over 70, a first vaccine shot by Feb. 15, and cover the entire adult population by September.

EUROPE QUICK TRIPS

A tripoint is the geographic spot where the borders of three countries meet. Europe has 48 of them.

Turkey began its vaccination program on Jan. 14, initially focusing on health workers and the elderly. More than 1.2 million people had been given a first dose of the Chinese CoronaVac vaccine as of Saturday night.

Protests erupted in over 60 Russian cities on Saturday to demand the release of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the Kremlin's most prominent foe.

The Kremlin on Friday welcomed U.S. President Joe Biden’s proposal to extend the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty between the two countries, which is set to expire in less than two weeks.

The U.K., which has Europe's deadliest coronavirus outbreak, adopted the policy in order to give as many people as possible a first dose of vaccine quickly.

The death toll from the coronavirus in Germany has passed 50,000, a number that has risen swiftly over recent weeks even as infection figures are finally declining.

There is some evidence that a new coronavirus variant first identified in southeast England carries a higher risk of death than the original strain, the British government's chief scientific adviser said Friday – though he stressed that the data is uncertain.

The first comprehensive internal inquiry on sex abuse allegations by a religious order in Spain has identified 81 children and 37 adult victims of 96 Jesuits since the late 1920s.

Libya's coast guard intercepted on Friday more than 80 Europe-bound migrants in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of the North African country, the U.N. migration agency said.

Belgium is banning all leisure travel abroad for its citizens as of next week and until March, in an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19 and its virulent variants.

Police in London said Friday that they have broken up a wedding attended by 150 people — despite a nationwide lockdown that bars households from mixing.

A U.S. Air Force base in Germany has slashed the time and cost of a common chore after thousands of M4 rifles failed an inspection — but the Army says the cleaning method they used may do “too good a job.”

The new face mask requirement is part of a package agreed to by Chancellor Angela Merkel and state leaders Tuesday during an hourslong meeting to hash out ways to bring down high numbers of coronavirus infections.

Middle school students returned to classrooms at Aviano Air Base for the first time in two months.

Tech. Sgt. Michael Morris, an airman based in Italy, died Tuesday.

European Union leaders assessed more measures to counter the spread of coronavirus variants during a video summit Thursday as the bloc's top disease control official said urgent action was needed to stave off a new wave of hospitalizations and deaths.

Britain's foreign secretary announced Thursday that the U.K. would offer more than $50 million to help poor Sudanese families, as their government embarks upon major austerity measures to revive its battered economy

The Biden administration is proposing to Russia a five-year extension of the New START treaty limiting the number of U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear weapons, U.S. officials said Thursday.

Members of the armed forces and federal employees have 12 months instead of four to pay back Social Security taxes that haven't been collected since September, officials said this week.

More than 1,000 Marines and sailors have arrived in Setermoen, Norway for Arctic warfare training, Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa said Friday.

Europe's top human rights court on Thursday found Russia responsible for a swath of violations in Georgia's breakaway regions after the 2008 Russia-Georgia war.

Albania's Defense Ministry on Wednesday reported the death of a soldier in Afghanistan, the second from the tiny Western Balkan country to die during the international peacekeeping mission.

Bavaria will require people entering shops or using public transportation beginning Monday to wear FFP2 or similar masks, which provide better coronavirus protection than cloth masks but aren’t common among the 40,000-strong U.S. military community in the state.

A key German lawmaker says it is “legally problematic” for local authorities to levy tax bills on U.S. forces and that Berlin must end double income taxation, which has financially devastated some military families.

Popeyes’ crispy chicken sandwich, which started a food fight when it was launched in the U.S. around 18 months ago, is finally expected to be available in Europe, a spokesman for base exchanges said.

Germany, which has been accused by President Donald Trump of not spending enough on defense, spent only 1.57% of gross domestic product on its military, a NATO report said.

Air Force medical officials said they expected to vaccinate several hundred people during the three-hour shot clinic, which was open on a walk-in basis to select personnel.

The bilateral exercise with Sweden is the latest push by U.S. Special Operations Command Europe into the Baltic Sea region, where coastal nations are concerned about a more aggressive Russia.

The record daily toll takes the total number of people who have died within 28 days of a positive test in the U.K. to 93,290. Almost 40,000 patients are now receiving treatment in U.K. hospitals.

U.S. military commands, which impose their own coronavirus restrictions, have said that service members and civilians working for the military in Germany must follow whichever rules are stricter — the German authorities’ or the military's.

The U.S. military in Europe has finished administering its first batch of coronavirus vaccinations to select health care workers and first responders, health officials said Tuesday.

At a summit early next year, NATO allies are expected to decide whether to continue their nearly 20-year-old mission in Afghanistan.

A team at the 48th Fighter Wing picked five finalists for the name for its new squadron of F-35As.

French President Emmanuel Macron wants to take further steps to reckon with France's colonial-era wrongs in Algeria but is not considering an official apology, his office said.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday that Germany is extending its pandemic restrictions, including the closure of schools and stores, until mid-February amid concerns that new mutations of the coronavirus could trigger a fresh surge in cases.

A boat carrying migrants bound for Europe capsized in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya, drowning at least 43 people, the U.N. migration agency said Wednesday.

Leaders across the globe welcomed the arrival of U.S. President Joe Biden and the end of the often confrontational presidency of Donald Trump, noting the world's most pressing problems, including the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, require multilateral cooperation, an approach Trump ridiculed.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron were among those welcoming Biden's decision to rejoin the the Paris climate accord.

A panel of experts commissioned by the World Health Organization has criticized China and other countries for not moving to stem the initial outbreak of the coronavirus earlier and questioned whether the U.N. health agency should have labeled it a pandemic sooner.

The Dutch government wants to impose a curfew as part of beefed-up restrictions to rein in the spread of a new more contagious virus variant that already accounts for at least one in 10 Dutch infections.

The U.N. special envoy for Syria announced Wednesday that the next round of talks toward revising the war-battered country's constitution will start in Geneva on Jan. 25 and urged the parties to move to actual drafting.

Under newly released plans, the first day back in the classroom for DODEA students in Germany will be Monday, Feb. 1.

A powerful explosion apparently caused by a gas leak ripped the facade off a residential building in central Madrid on Wednesday, killing two people and injuring at least two more, according to the mayor.

The 2nd Battalion is part of the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division rotation in Europe, which is expected to last through the summer.

Unaccompanied, junior enlisted soldiers spend the first two weeks in Germany bunking inside large supply warehouses, eating chow hall food in a tent and fighting off boredom.

Winston Churchill described it as the “worst journey in the world,” and two local Merchant Marine veterans in their 90s are among the last left in the U.S. to have endured it.

Two German lawmakers are calling for changes in an international treaty that leaves most criminal cases involving U.S. troops in the hands of the military justice system, saying local authorities should have more say in such matters.

Gen. Christopher G. Cavoli and Command Sgt. Maj. Robert V. Abernethy, the command team of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, received the Moderna vaccine Thursday at the Wiesbaden Army Health Clinic in Germany.

The DOD mandate requires service members, civilian employees, contractors and family members to have proof of a negative test result for COVID-19 within 72 hours of departing for their destination.

Analysis

A growing groundswell of youth unrest, tapping into a well of economic frustration, is sweeping Tunisia and worrying its leadership all the way to the top. It is, after all, the country that triggered the 2011 Arab Spring revolutions.

A coalition of at least 50 countries have committed to protect 30% of the planet, including land and sea, over the decade in efforts to halt species extinction and address climate change issues, during a global summit aimed at protecting the world's biodiversity.

NATO touted the Turkish military’s ability to carry out the crisis response mission despite Ankara being at odds with members of the alliance, including the U.S., over its close ties to Russia.

The U.S. military could begin administering the coronavirus vaccine to health care workers and emergency responders in Europe within days, while German authorities are readying vaccination centers that could be open to military-affiliated Americans in some locations.

New rules for one of the biggest Army commands in Europe take effect Jan. 4.

A 43-year-old U.S. soldier with the coronavirus died on the way to a U.S. military hospital despite a roadside rescue attempt by emergency personnel, German police said Thursday.

Air Force 1st Lt. Kenneth Allen, 27, with the RAF Lakenheath-based 48th Fighter Wing, was killed after his plane plunged into the North Sea about 140 miles northeast of the base on June 15.

Mexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said his government would reach out to other G-20 nations to seek a joint proposal on such bans. Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki likened the power of the social media companies to state control in the country during the Communist era. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called the bans "problematic."

Shopping malls and other facilities at U.S. military bases in Germany will remain open in the coming weeks, even as many host nation retailers are forced to shut their doors starting Wednesday when tougher coronavirus rules take effect, officials said.

A Russian judge on Monday ordered opposition leader Alexei Navalny jailed for 30 days, after the leading Kremlin critic returned to Russia from Germany where he was recovering from nerve agent poisoning that he blames on President Vladimir Putin's government.

The Reapers will boost surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities in the Black Sea region, where the U.S. has regularly accused Russia of dangerous intercepts of aircraft, and other incidents have caused tensions to flare.

The Heritage Foundation’s annual index on global threats and U.S. military power, released Tuesday, found weaknesses in critical areas, especially for the Army and Navy.

The most deadly incident for American forces overseas last year was a helicopter crash in the Sinai Peninsula in November, in which five American troops died and one was injured.

Libyan officials from rival administrations began talks Tuesday in an Egyptian Red Sea resort on constitutional arrangements laying the legal groundwork for presidential and parliamentary elections later this year, the United Nations said.

Temperatures dropped to minus 18 Fahrenheit in some Polish areas overnight, the coldest night in 11 years.

Brig. Gen. Wanda N. Williams, one of only three Black women now serving as a general officer in the U.S. Army Reserve, will lead more than 1,000 soldiers and civilian personnel spread out across nearly 20 countries.

It's unclear how receptive Iran's leadership remains to renegotiate with world powers after President Donald Trump pulled out. But Europe sees a tight window of opportunity following the president-elect's inauguration on Wednesday.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right party is choosing a new leader this weekend, a decision that will help shape German voters' choice of her successor at the helm of the European Union's biggest economy after her 16-year tenure.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's government pleaded for patience as it pushed back against criticism that Germany bungled the rollout of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Airmen in Germany were given their first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine Monday, just over two weeks after it received emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration.

Five 101st Airborne Division soldiers flying over rural Germany were in the right place at just the right time to help a local man injured in a rollover.

Sgt. Setariki Korovakaturaga, 43, had “previously tested positive for COVID-19 and was at home on quarantine when he began experiencing increased symptoms,” U.S. Army Europe and Africa said in a statement.

The 2021 National Defense Authorization Act cuts more than $100 million from the Pentagon’s $200 million request, which was to be used for construction on a facility slated to replace the aging Landstuhl Regional Medical Center.

For some a seat in Row 13 might have seemed like a bad omen, but for a flight into the hands of a government you are sure tried to poison you, it's likely such superstitions were the least of Alexei Navalny's concerns.

President-elect Joe Biden has spoken in favor of the preservation of the New START treaty, which was negotiated during his tenure as U.S. vice president, and Russia has said it's open for its quick and unconditional extension.

In countries like the Czech Republic, Serbia, Bosnia, Romania and Bulgaria, vaccine skeptics have included former presidents and even some doctors.

Previously, permanent change of station entitlements weren’t offered to unaccompanied reservists “due to many factors, one being the traditional tour length of one year or less.”

A woman's body was found Monday evening, lying just off Stauboernchenstrasse about 600 feet south of the K-in-Lautern shopping mall.

The U.K. government plans to offer a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine to every adult by September as the nation’s health care system battles the worst crisis in its 72-year-history.

As vice president, Joe Biden ran point for the Obama administration on Ukraine, pushing to assist the beleaguered ally in ways President Barack Obama was not always comfortable with. Now, as the next president, Biden will call the shots.

Russia said Friday it will withdraw from an international treaty allowing observation flights over military facilities following the U.S. exit from the pact.

Top Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny says he plans to go home to Russia next weekend despite the authorities' threats to arrest him once again.

Much of Spain struggled Tuesday in the aftermath of a massive snowfall that hardened into ice amid a record cold snap that turned streets and roads into safety hazards in areas unaccustomed to extreme winters.

Several diplomats and high-ranking military, government and NATO officials condemned the unrest at the Capitol.

The U.S. military stepped up its campaign to vaccinate personnel in Europe against the coronavirus this week as health care workers on the front lines of fighting COVID-19 were inoculated at bases in Germany and the United Kingdom.

The Kremlin on Tuesday brushed aside calls from the West to release opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was arrested upon his return to Russia from Germany following treatment for poisoning with a nerve agent. Moscow called his case "an absolutely internal matter."

Frontline medical workers at three Army bases in Bavaria became the first in the U.S. military community in Europe to be vaccinated against the coronavirus Monday, officials said.

Alexei Navalny, who is President Vladimir Putin's most prominent and determined foe, had spent the previous five months in Germany recovering from a nerve agent attack that he blamed on the Kremlin.

The World Health Organization’s chief scientist warned that even as numerous countries start rolling out vaccination programs to stop COVID-19, herd immunity is highly unlikely this year.

Germany, France and Britain pressed Iran on Saturday to back off the latest planned violation of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, saying that Tehran has "no credible civilian use" for uranium metal.

Russia's Foreign Ministry on Monday announced the expulsion of two Dutch diplomats in a quid pro quo move.