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FILE -Passengers walk through a quiet Brussels Midi Station during a train strike on Wednesday, April 22, 2015. Belgium acknowledges that its major rail gateway has become a festering sore of drug abuse, poverty and violence. The Brussels Midi Station is a major stain on a nation preparing to take on the presidency of the European Union next year. (AP Photo/Thierry Monasse, File)

Brussels Midi Station, once a stately gateway to Belgium, has turned into festering sore of nation

By Raf Casert and Sylvain Plazy - Associated Press

Men organize their belongings at a makeshift tent camp outside the Petit Chateau reception center in Brussels, on Jan. 17, 2023. The Belgian government said Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023, it is imposing a ban on providing shelter for single men seeking asylum, arguing its insufficient reception capacity should be freed for families, women and children first. Aid organizations condemned the move as reneging on international commitments. (AP Photo/Olivier Matthys, File)

Belgium imposes a ban on shelter for single men seeking asylum to make place for families

By Raf Casert - Associated Press

Europe’s sweeping rules for tech giants are about to kick in. Here’s how they work

By Kelvin Chan - Associated Press

A demonstrator wears a T-shirt reading "Justice for Nahel" during a march Thursday, June 29, 2023, in Nanterre, outside Paris. The killing of Nahel during a traffic check Tuesday, captured on video, shocked the country and stirred up long-simmering tensions between young people and police in housing projects and other disadvantaged neighborhoods around France. A French police officer who shot and killed a 17-year-old driver will be investigated for voluntary homicide, following two days of fires and violent protests officials said. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

600 arrested and 200 police officers hurt on France’s 3rd night of protests over teen’s killing

By Sylvie Corbet, John Leicester and Alex Turnbull - Associated Press

Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, right, arrives for a meeting with European Council President Charles Michel at the European Council building in Brussels, Wednesday, June 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

EU leaders to assess Putin’s position in talks with NATO and Ukraine chiefs at summit

By Raf Casert - Associated Press

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a media conference after a meeting of the College of Commissioners at EU headquarters in Brussels, Tuesday, June 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

EU unveils plan to protect economies from rivals. China is a focus, but is not named in the proposal

By Lorne Cook - Associated Press

European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction Director Alexis Goosdeel addresses the media on the EU Drug Markets Report at EU Commission headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday, April 5, 2016. New harmful illicit drugs are inundating a flourishing market for traffickers amid violence and corruption hurting local communities across Europe, the EU's agency monitoring drugs and addiction said Friday, June 16, 2023, in a grim annual report. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)

Menace to society: Galore of illicit drugs available in the EU as powerful new substances emerge

By Samuel Petrequin - Associated Press

Participants pose for a group photo during the meeting 'Supporting the future of Syria and the region' at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, June 15, 2023. Aid agencies will struggle to draw the world's attention back to Syria at an annual donor conference hosted by the European Union in Brussels for humanitarian aid to Syrians. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Donor nations scramble to find billions of dollars of funding for Syrian aid

By Raf Casert and Kareem Chehayeb - Associated Press

A Google sign is shown at the company's office in San Francisco, on April 12, 2023. European Union antitrust regulators on Wednesday, June 14, 2023, took aim at Google's lucrative digital advertising business, ordering the tech giant to sell off some of its ad services to address competition concerns. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Google should break up digital ad business over competition concerns, European regulators say

By Kelvin Chan and Samuel Petrequin - Associated Press

The ChatGPT app is seen on an iPhone in New York, Thursday, May 18, 2023. Authorities worldwide are racing to rein in artificial intelligence, including in the European Union, where groundbreaking legislation is set to pass a key hurdle. European Parliament lawmakers are due to vote Wednesday, June 14 on the proposal, along with controversial facial recognition amendments. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, file)

How Europe is leading the world in the push to regulate AI

By Kelvin Chan - Associated Press

FILE - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a panel discussion at the Global Citizen NOW Summit, on April 27, 2023, in New York. The European Union's executive arm proposed Thursday June 8, 2023 to create an ethics body that would set up common rules of conduct for institutions after the 27-nation bloc was rocked last year by a cash-for-influence scandal. Von der Leyen supported its creation when she took office back in 2019, and her services stepped up action after the so-called Qatargate scandal shattered the EU Parliament. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

EU Commission proposes common ethics body for all EU officials in wake of corruption scandal

By Samuel Petrequin - Associated Press

Men with Poland and European Union flags take part in a protest outside Poland's parliament building as lawmakers voted to approve the much-criticized legislation that allows politicians to fire judges who criticize their decisions, in Warsaw, Poland, on Jan. 23, 2020. The European Union stepped up its rule-of-law fight with member state Poland on Monday, June 5, 2023, when the bloc's highest court confirmed that Warsaw had refused to comply with EU rules on judicial independence for which it has already lost over half a billion euros in fines. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

EU top court says that Poland’s justice reform infringes EU law

By Raf Casert - Associated Press

Poland's opposition leader and former prime minister, Donald Tusk, talks to reporters in Warsaw, Poland, Friday, May 26, 2023. Poland's lawmakers have approved a contentious law targeting the opposition. Critics say the law approved Friday violates a number of provisions in the Polish Constitution and is a clear example of how the right-wing ruling party is using the law to its own ends. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

U.S., EU criticize Polish plans for law that could keep opposition from holding office

By Raf Casert - Associated Press

In this photo released by the Belgian Government, Belgium's Olivier Vandecasteele looks out of the window of a Belgian military plane in Oman, that is taking him back to Belgium, Friday, May 26, 2023. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said in a statement Friday that the aid worker, Olivier Vandecasteele, had been freed after being detained in Iran for 15 months. (Belgium Government via AP)

Belgium, Iran conduct prisoner swap in Oman, freeing aid worker and diplomat convicted in bomb plot

By Jon Gambrell and Raf Casert - Associated Press

Thousands of cyclists take part in the annual bicycle rally on the closed A100 highway, calling for more space for cyclists in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, June 12, 2022. Back in 1998, 10% of trips in Berlin were by bicycle — a share many cities can only dream about even now. By 2018, that had grown to 18%. That's in part because of Berlin’s configuration as a city of many neighborhood centers, with more people living close to where they work and shop. Cycling jumped 22% in 2020, then declined in 2021 but was still 14% higher than in 2019. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn) **FILE**

Millions ditched cars for bikes during the pandemic. These cities want the habit to stick

By Calvin Woodward - Associated Press

Sweden's Minister for Social Affairs and Public Health Jacob Forssmed speaks during his arrival for a meeting of EU sports ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, May 15, 2023. A boycott of the Paris Olympics by European Union countries is not on the table, the country currently in charge of the 27-nation bloc's presidency said on Monday, urging the International Olympic Committee to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes from the 2024 Games. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

EU official: IOC puts trust at risk by seeking ways to allow Russia to compete at Olympics

By Samuel Petrequin - Associated Press

Text from the ChatGPT page of the OpenAI website is shown in this photo, in New York, Feb. 2, 2023. European lawmakers have rushed to add language on general artificial intelligence systems like ChatGPT as they put the finishing touches on the Western world's first AI rules. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

How Europe is leading the world in building guardrails around AI

By Kelvin Chan - Associated Press

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, left, and Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti, right, meet with European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, second left, in Brussels, on Feb. 27, 2023. The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo meet in Brussels on Tuesday May 2, 2023 to continue talks on the implementation of a European Union-backed 11-point plan to normalize ties between the two, but tensions continue to simmer. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)

Serbia, Kosovo leaders in EU-backed talks to normalize ties

By Florent Bajrami and Llazar Semini - Associated Press

A dump track unloads grain in a granary in the village of Zghurivka, Ukraine, Aug. 9, 2022. Poland’s new agriculture minister vowed Wednesday to introduce detailed quality controls on the massive inflow of grain from Ukraine transiting through the country, and to ensure its efficient transport abroad. The move follows protests by angry Polish farmers, who say they face bankruptcy because of a glut of cheap Ukrainian grain (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)

EU investigates after 3 countries ban Ukraine grain imports

By Vanessa Gera - Associated Press

Airmen with the 436th Aerial Port Squadron use a forklift to move 155 mm shells ultimately bound for Ukraine, April 29, 2022, at Dover Air Force Base, Del. Officials say the U.S. will send Ukraine about $500 million in ammunition and equipment and will spend more than $2 billion to buy an array of munitions, radar and other weapons in the future. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

U.S. providing Ukraine $2.6 billion in military aid, say officials

By Lolita C. Baldor and Matthew Lee - Associated Press