After a meeting that stretched through the afternoon and over dinner, the bloc said Britain could postpone its March 29 departure to May 22 — if the U.K. Parliament approves Prime Minister Theresa May's divorce deal with the bloc next week.

The Netherlands woke up Thursday to a new star of right-wing populism, as the party of a Latin-quoting, philosophy-reading lawmaker surged past anti-Islam firebrand Geert Wilders — and all other politicians — in important local elections.

EU leaders, who are exasperated by Britain's Brexit melodrama, will only grant the extension if Prime Minister Theresa May can win the U.K. Parliament's approval next week for her twice-rejected Brexit deal.

Counter-terrorism officers in central England are investigating attacks on five mosques in which windows were apparently shattered by a sledgehammer.

Researchers say they have finally unmasked Jack the Ripper, the infamous serial killer who terrorized London in the late 1800s.

A 41-year-old with acute myeloid leukemia is facing an uphill battle in finding a genetic match. Their plea comes in an area where Defense Department personnel can easily register on base to become bone marrow donors.

A bus driver in northern Italy abducted 51 children and their chaperones Wednesday, threatening them over a 40-minute ordeal before setting the vehicle on fire when he was stopped by a Carabinieri blockade.

A passion for music is the norm among the nearly 140 students from 18 Department of Defense Education Activity schools from across Europe partaking in the festival — the military school system’s equivalent of all-state choir and band.

The six B-52 Stratofortresses deployed to RAF Fairford will spend an undetermined amount of time at the base for training with U.S. forces and NATO allies, Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian said Tuesday.

Naval Air Station Sigonella is the European hub for P-8A Poseidon aircraft, vital in anti-submarine warfare because they can detect enemy boats and provide aerial defense of allied ships. Russian maneuvers in European waters have increased in recent years after a two-decade lull following the Cold War.

German federal prosecutors have filed charges against three suspected Islamic State group members, including one man accused of killing U.S. soldiers in Iraq years ago.

The fourth suspect, apprehended in the city of Darmstadt, is a 33-year-old French citizen. Two other suspects — both brothers of the man who died of stab wounds following the break-in — already are in custody.

The German government must ensure that any drone strikes coordinated through U.S. military bases in Germany comply with international law, a German high court ruled Tuesday.

The first of the Barksdale Air Force Base, La.-based long-range strategic bombers were expected to arrive Thursday, with more coming throughout the weekend, U.S. Air Forces in Europe said in a statement.

The U.S. military’s buildup along NATO’s eastern flank, stretching from the Baltics and Poland down to Romania and Bulgaria, could be curtailed if the Trump administration elects to delay or cancel scores of planned construction projects to fund a border wall.

The White House on Friday tapped an Air Force general with experience overseeing all U.S. and NATO air forces throughout Europe to lead U.S. European Command and serve as Supreme Allied Commander.

More than a century on from the carnage that saw around 44,000 Allied soldiers killed and an estimated 250,000 Turkish casualties, memories of the Gallipoli campaign have resurfaced in the wake of the Christchurch mosque shootings that saw 50 people killed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a set of bills that will make it illegal to spread "fake news."

Discussions about a permanent U.S. military base in Poland are moving forward, with a top Pentagon official arriving in Warsaw this week to hammer out details on expanding the American military presence in the country, officials said.

Turkey's president has sparked an acute diplomatic spat with far-off New Zealand and Australia, referring to a key World War I campaign and the more recent Christchurch mosque shooting as targeting Islam.

Finland has topped an index of the happiest nations for the second consecutive year, with researchers saying the small Nordic country of 5.5 million has succeeded in generating a happiness recipe for a balanced life not simply dependent on economic and material wealth.

Officials in North Macedonia say seven of the country's nationals have pleaded guilty to joining the Islamic State group and fighting with it in Syria and Iraq.

French President Emmanuel Macron has announced that soldiers will be deployed across the country to help maintain security during yellow vest protests planned this weekend.

Europe's antitrust regulators slapped Google with a big fine Wednesday for the third time in less than two years, ordering the tech giant to pay $1.7 billion for freezing out rivals in the online advertising business. The ruling brings to nearly $10 billion the fines imposed against Google by the European Union.

In March 2016, European governments breathed a sigh of relief as the European Union reached a deal with Turkey designed to stop hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants heading into the heart of Europe.

Dutch police and prosecutors on Wednesday were pursuing "every lead there is" and questioning two suspects to establish whether the deadly shooting on a tram in the central city of Utrecht was an act of terror.

The white supremacist suspected in the mosque shootings that left at least 49 people dead in New Zealand had traveled to the Balkans in the past three years, where he toured historic sites and apparently studied battles between Christians and the Ottoman empire.

United Nations appeals judges on Wednesday upheld the convictions of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, and increased his sentence from 40 years to life imprisonment.

Premier Giuseppe Conte pledged Tuesday to make Italy the first Group of Seven nation to join China's ambitious Belt and Road initiative, despite objections from the United States and concerns within his governing coalition.

Last week, reports emerged that President Donald Trump was interested in charging allies such as Japan, South Korea and Germany the full cost of basing troops in their respective countries.

Pvt. Peter Cimino, 19, was a mortarman assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment.

Aviation experts say the angle-of-attack sensor on Boeing jets will get fresh scrutiny after two Boeing 737 Max airplanes crashed, in Ethiopia last week and in Indonesia in October.

The students are part of what their teachers say is a unique pilot program in the military school system. Ramstein Middle School is believed to be the only Department of Defense Education Activity school certifying eighth graders in adult and pediatric CPR and first aid.

Ignoring widespread criticism, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday again showed excerpts of a video taken by the attacker who killed 50 people in mosques in New Zealand, to denounce what he called rising hatred and prejudice against Islam.

A few hours after the shooting, Utrecht police released a photo of a man they identified as Gokmen Tanis, 37, who was born in Turkey, and said he was “associated with the incident.” The photo showed a bearded man aboard a tram in a blue, hooded top.

The discussions come as U.S. defense officials increasingly turn their eyes north, noting how the receding polar sea ice is opening new paths for sea vessels.

The Defense Department’s 2020 budget calls for $5.9 billion to fund the European Deterrent Initiative, down from $6.5 billion a year earlier. The funds support the rotation of U.S.-based troops into Europe to beef up NATO’s eastern flank, the prepositioning of weapons stockpiles and improvements in infrastructure.

Called “Cost Plus 50,” the plan demands allies pick up the full cost of hosting U.S. troops in their countries, plus a 50 percent premium for the privilege of American protection, Bloomberg reported.

The top U.S. officer in Europe told lawmakers Tuesday he has insufficient military firepower on the Continent and wants two more Navy warships under his command along with more ground forces to counter Russia.

Poland is seeking to prosecute seven communist-era judges and prosecutors who imprisoned pro-democracy fighters in the 1980s, justice officials said Tuesday.

Pope Francis has declined to accept the resignation of French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin as archbishop of Lyon after he was convicted of failing to report a known predator priest to police, the Vatican said Tuesday.

Dutch authorities on Monday arrested a man suspected of killing three people and injuring five in a shooting Monday on a tram in the Dutch city of Utrecht, authorities said, an attack they said earlier could be connected to terrorism.

Investigators probing the deadly tram shooting in the Dutch city of Utrecht sharpened their focus Tuesday on a possible extremist motive, as judicial authorities revealed that the main suspect was released from jail this month and faces a rape trial in July.

The three maritime forces have trained together in multilateral exercises such as Rim of the Pacific, but this is only the second time for this kind of trilateral exercise in the region.

The 28-year-old is accused of 13 bomb attacks in the city from 2006-2008, causing death and injuries to "U.S. forces, the Iraqi army, local police and civilians."

Turkey’s president used the video to comment on attacks on Islam and rising Islamophobia. He accused the Western world for not calling the attack on the two Christchurch mosques “Christian terror,” when acts committed by Muslims are called “Islamic terror.”

Italy prosecutors have opened an investigation into the possible poisoning death of a Moroccan model who was a key witness in the trial against ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi over his infamous "bunga bunga" parties.

House of Commons Speaker John Bercow scuttled Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan, saying centuries-old parliamentary rules prevent “the same proposition or substantially the same proposition” from being brought back repeatedly for votes in the same session of Parliament.

NATO and the European Union reaffirmed their strong condemnation of the land grab.

One of the security officials meeting Monday, junior Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, acknowledged that the French police response to Saturday's rioting was "a failure."

The local bonfire group in Lustenau, near the Swiss border, took three months to build the 198.97-foot structure.

The EU has allocated Hungary 25 billion euros in the 2014-2020 budget period, but critics say funds are often spent on overpriced or unnecessary projects padding the pockets of the allies of Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The officers' complex in the Wuensdorf neighborhood of Zossen, near Berlin, has housed the military of German Kaiser Wilhelm II, served as the Nazis' military command center during World War II — and then headquartered the Soviets' military high command for East Germany during the Cold War.

More than 3,200 soldiers from 27 countries are testing out NATO’s new counter artillery-fire doctrine, which it previously lacked, during Exercise Dynamic Front 19.

An Italian appeals court – a panel of three female jurists – acquitted two men of rape in 2017, in part because the judges agreed with the defendants argument that the victim looked like a man, and therefore they could not have been attracted to her. Now that ruling has been overturned and a retrial has been ordered.

With Britain's departure from the European Union likely to be put on hold, some Brexit supporters fear their dream is dying.

France has repatriated five young children of French-born Islamist who had left to join the Islamic State. The announcement, made late Friday by the Foreign Ministry, followed weeks of controversy over the prospect of allowing French-born fighters to return to France to stand trial.

Choir students at Arlington High School are preparing for a performance unlike any they've given before. Next year they'll have a chance to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II with performances in Normandy, France.

Albanian opposition supporters clashed with police while trying to storm the parliament building Saturday to protest the government, which they accuse of being corrupt and linked to organized crime.

A Turkish court on Friday convicted an Australian-born Islamic State militant of belonging to a terror group and sentenced him to more than seven years in prison.

Paul Whelan, an American citizen imprisoned in Russia on spy charges, sharply criticized Russia's handling of his case on Thursday, and suggested he was being poorly treated at the Moscow prison where he has spent the past three months.

Sergei Shoigu boasted of the military's achievements during six years on the job, saying Monday in a speech to lawmakers that the armed forces have turned into a mobile force capable of projecting power abroad.

With Algerian flags on their backs, hundreds of thousands of people of all ages marched for a fourth consecutive Friday through Algeria's capital and other cities to press for an end to the 20-year-rule of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Spain is heading into an election on April 28 with the divisions created by Catalonia's 2017 breakaway bid still raw – and it's not just the rift between separatists and the state that is shaping this campaign.

From the South Pacific to the edge of the Arctic Circle, students mobilized by word of mouth and social media are skipping class to protest what they see as the failures by their governments to take tough action against global warming.

Dutch prosecutors say police have detained two men in Amsterdam on suspicion of involvement in providing weapons used in the deadly November 2015 terror attacks in Paris.

The U.S. gave notice of its intention to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty a month ago, citing Russian violations.

NATO defense spending rose for the fourth year in a row in 2018, but Germany continues to lag behind and is on track to miss an alliance deadline that calls for significant increases by 2024, according to data released Thursday.

Flight recorders from a doomed Ethiopian Airlines flight arrived in France for analysis Thursday as frustrated relatives of the 157 people killed stormed out of a meeting with airline officials in Addis Ababa.

Officials say family members left the severed hand behind rather than bring it to the hospital to ensure the disability was permanent. But doctors recovered it in time to sew it back on.

By 2021, Americans traveling to certain countries in Europe will have to preregister online as part of a security system intended to screen visa-free travelers. Various news outlets mistakenly reported this week that starting in 2021, U.S. travelers will need a visa to visit Europe.

A former British soldier will be charged in the slayings of two civil rights protesters 47 years ago on Bloody Sunday, one of the deadliest days of the decades-long conflict in Northern Ireland.

The soldier is the second in five months and the third in less than a year to be found lifeless in barracks rooms on Caserma Ederle.

After weeks of political gridlock, Parliament voted Thursday to seek to postpone the country's departure from the European Union, a move that will likely avert a chaotic withdrawal on the scheduled exit date of March 29.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that the military alliance is mulling how to respond to security concerns raised by some member countries about Chinese tech giant Huawei.

The program cut is part of a larger cost-saving measure to trim some 300 teachers in DODEA, a move that will increase middle and high school class sizes and free up funds for other priorities, officials have said.

ANALYSIS

Britain's vote to leave the European Union has already come at a cost regardless of where Brexit goes from here. Some of the damage is tangible, such as jobs, investment and capital; some of it less so, like international clout and talent.

The dismissal of a former Spangdahlem fighter pilot’s 2014 rape conviction last month marks the latest in overturned rape convictions, following the U.S. military’s top appellate court’s decision last year to impose a statute of limitations on years-old rape cases.

Analysis

The global order that underpins German prosperity is unraveling. And Angela Merkel doesn't know what to do about it.

Britain on Tuesday joined a rapidly growing number of countries grounding a new Boeing plane involved in the Ethiopian Airlines disaster as a global team of investigators began looking for parallels with a similar crash just five months ago.

Reports indicate that Bernhard Graumann, 59, a gardener who died Friday in Mehlingen, Germany, enjoyed making things blow up, and authorities are now warning people who might have had bad relations with him to be extremely cautious.

The latest quarrel between the leaders of Turkey and Israel continued for a second day Wednesday as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan labeled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a "thief" and a "tyrant."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., had held quiet talks about the idea of an invitation to Jens Stoltenberg as they eye ways to honor NATO as it celebrates its 70th anniversary in April.

A wily political survivor, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika fought in Algeria's independence war from France. He's still appreciated for reconciling his nation after a decade-long Islamic insurgency in the 1990s. Yet protests erupted last month over Bouteflika's plans to seek a fifth term.

Lisa Smyth, formerly of the Irish Defense Forces, is believed to have been radicalized and gone to Syria a few years ago. She is suspected of having ties to Islamic State. She also is believed to have a young son.

U.S. prosecutors clashed with a lawyer representing a Russian business accused of bankrolling efforts to interfere in the 2016 election over the sharing of evidence with the American side saying it could give the Kremlin access to U.S. data-gathering techniques.

A long-dormant debate over whether Europe should host more American weapons of mass destruction could be reopened if Washington were to decide to deploy missiles on the continent.

Prime Minister Theresa May's mission to secure Britain's orderly exit from the European Union appeared headed for defeat Tuesday, as lawmakers ignored her entreaties to support her divorce deal and end the political chaos and economic uncertainty that Brexit has unleashed.

Turkish Airlines Flight 1 hit the turbulence about 45 minutes before landing at JFK, said spokesman Steve Coleman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The crew declared an emergency while the Boeing 777 was still in the air, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Leaders of both parties are inviting NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg to address a joint meeting of Congress next month around the 70th anniversary of the trans-Atlantic alliance.