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The Russian pipe-laying ship "Akademik Tscherski," which is on deployment for the further construction of the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline, is moored at the port of Mukran on the island of Ruegen, Germany, on Sept. 8, 2020. Russia's natural gas pipeline to Europe is built and ready to flow. But not so fast. The Nord Stream 2 pipeline faces a rocky road ahead. First there's statement by the U.S. secretary of state that gas won't flow if Russia launches military aggression against Ukraine. (Jens Buettner/dpa via AP, File)

Russian pipeline faces big hurdles amid Ukraine tensions

By David McHugh and Vladimir Isachenkov - Associated Press

European Council President Charles Michel, center, speaks with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, during a group photo of EU leaders and Eastern Partnership countries at an Eastern Partnership Summit in Brussels, Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021. European Union leaders meet with partner nations on its eastern borders on Wednesday, with the Russian military buildup on Ukraine's border as the main point of focus. (AP Photo/Olivier Matthys)

EU hopes to avoid Ukraine war with talks, sanctions threat

By Raf Casert - Associated Press

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrives for a meeting of the College of Commissioners, in Strasbourg, France, Tuesday, Dec. 14 2021. The College will discuss on a comprehensive package on energy and climate action and will also adopt a proposal for a revision of the Schengen Borders Code. (Julien Warnand, Pool Photo via AP)

Omicron to be dominant variant in EU by mid-January

By Samuel Petrequin - Associated Press

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks with European Way of Life Commissioner Margaritis Chinas, right, prior to the meeting of College of Commissioners, in Strasbourg, France, Tuesday, Dec. 14 2021. The College will discuss on a comprehensive package on energy and climate action and will also adopt a proposal for a revision of the Schengen Borders Code. (Julien Warnand, Pool Photo via AP)

Virus and migrant worries spur EU to toughen border rules

By Lorne Cook - Associated Press

European Commissioner for Europe fit for the Digital Age Margrethe Vestager delivers her speech during a debate on the Digital Markets act at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France, Tuesday, Dec.14, 2021. The European Union’s ambitious plan to update its pioneering internet rules gained momentum Tuesday, after a key committee passed measures requiring technology companies to better police content and lawmakers prepared to vote on regulations to rein in Big Tech. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias, Pool)

EU plan for sweeping update of Big Tech rules gains momentum

By Kelvin Chan - Associated Press

$FILE - Angela Merkel arrives for a television debate with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder at a television studio in Berlin, Sept. 4, 2005. As chancellor, Merkel has been credited with raising Germany’s profile and influence, helping hold a fractious European Union together, managing a string of crises and being a role model for women in a near-record tenure that ends with her leaving office amid praise from abroad and enduring popularity at home. Her designated successor Olaf Scholz is expected to take office Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021. (AP Photo/Jockel Finck, File)$

End of an era: Germany’s Angela Merkel bows out after 16 years

By Geir Moulson - Associated Press

Migrants settle in the logistics center of the checkpoint &quot;Bruzgi&quot; at the Belarus-Poland border near Grodno, Belarus, Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2021. The West has accused Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of luring thousands of migrants to Belarus with the promise of help to get to Western Europe to use them as pawns to destabilize the 27-nation European Union in retaliation for its sanctions on his authoritarian government. Belarus denies engineering the crisis. (Oksana Manchuk/BelTA via AP)

U.S., EU and allies hit Belarus with coordinated sanctions

By Lorne Cook - Associated Press

People line up to get on the Air France flight to Paris at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa, Friday Nov. 26, 2021. A slew of nations moved to stop air travel from southern Africa on Friday in reaction to news of a new, potentially more transmissible COVID-19 variant that has been detected in South Africa. Scientists say it is a concern because of its high number of mutations and rapid spread among young people in Gauteng, the country's most populous province. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

EU orders travel ban on South Africa to halt variant spread

Associated Press

Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya addresses the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France, Wednesday, Nov.24, 2021. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)

EU urged not to forget Belarus as bloc prepares sanctions

By Lorne Cook - Associated Press

FILE -Slovak President Zuzana Caputova wears a face mask to protect from Coronavirus at the President palace in Bratislava, on Nov. 9, 2021. Slovakia’s leaders have been proposing a national lockdown as hospitals across the European Union country are hitting their limits amid a record surge of coronavirus infections and the government is set to discuss a lockdown plan for all, the vaccinated and unvaccinated, on its session on Wednesday. “It’s an unpopular measure, but absolutely unavoidable,” President Zuzana Caputova said after visiting a major clinic in the capital on Tuesday. Caputova said what she could see in Bratislava University Hospital “was tragic, was horrible.” “Experts are clear,” she said. “It’s necessary to restrict people’s mobility, we need a lockdown.” (Martin Baumann/TASR via AP)

Slovakia proposes lockdown amid record infection surge

Associated Press

FILE - This undated file image provided by Merck &amp; Co. shows their new antiviral medication. The European Medicines Agency said it has received a request from Merck to authorize its coronavirus antiviral, the first pill shown to treat COVID-19. In a statement on Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2021, the EU drug regulator said it had started evaluating molnupiravir, made by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics and that a decision could be made within weeks on whether it might be cleared. (Merck &amp; Co. via AP, File)

Merck asks EU regulator to authorize its COVID-19 pill

Associated Press

Migrants sleep a logistics center at the checkpoint "Kuznitsa" at the Belarus-Poland border near Grodno, Belarus, Monday, Nov. 22, 2021. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on Monday chafed at the European Union for its refusal to hold talks on the influx of migrants on the country's border with Poland and urged Germany to accommodate about 2,000 migrants who had remained on the border with Poland. (Maxim Guchek/BelTA via AP)

U.S. envoy rips Russian disinformation for inflaming tensions as Belarus clash deepens

By Guy Taylor - The Washington Times

Belarusian Red Cross employees hand over humanitarian aid to migrants in the logistics center in the checkpoint &quot;Kuznitsa&quot; at the Belarus-Poland border near Grodno, Belarus, on Friday, Nov. 19, 2021. Hundreds of Iraqis returned home Thursday from Belarus after abandoning their hopes of reaching the European Union — a repatriation that came after tensions at Poland's eastern border, where thousands of migrants became stuck in a cold and soggy forest. (Leonid Shcheglov/BelTA via AP)

Poland: Migrant camps along Belarus border have emptied

Associated Press

A man runs away from a water cannon during clashes between migrants and Polish border guards at the Belarus-Poland border near Grodno, Belarus, on Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2021. Polish border forces say they were attacked with stones by migrants at the border with Belarus and responded with a water cannon. The Border Guard agency posted video on Twitter showing the water cannon being directed across the border at a group of migrants in a makeshift camp. (Leonid Shcheglov/BelTA via AP)

Poland uses water cannon against migrants at Belarus border

By Vanessa Gera and Daria Litvinova - Associated Press

Migrants from the Middle East and elsewhere gather at the checkpoint "Kuznitsa" at the Belarus-Poland border near Grodno, Belarus, on Monday, Nov. 15, 2021. European Union foreign ministers are expected Monday to decide to expand sanctions against Belarus to include airlines, travel agents and individuals alleged to be helping to lure migrants to Europe as part of a "hybrid attack" against the bloc by President Alexander Lukashenko. (Leonid Shcheglov/BelTA photo via AP)

A manufactured border crisis puts Belarus back in the spotlight

By Guy Taylor - The Washington Times

Migrants warm themselves at a fire as they gather at the Belarus-Poland border near Grodno, Belarus, Saturday, Nov. 13, 2021. A large number of migrants are in a makeshift camp on the Belarusian side of the border in frigid conditions. Belarusian state news agency Belta reported that Lukashenko on Saturday ordered the military to set up tents at the border where food and other humanitarian aid can be gathered and distributed to the migrants. (Leonid Shcheglov/BelTA pool photo via AP)

EU to add airlines to Belarus sanctions as tensions mount

By Lorne Cook - Associated Press

FILE - Migrants from the Middle East and elsewhere rest on the ground as they gather at the Belarus-Poland border near Grodno, Belarus, Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. Thousands of migrants flocked to Belarus' border with Poland hoping to get to Western Europe, an influx that prompted Polish authorities to introduce a state of emergency and deploy thousands of troops and police. (Leonid Shcheglov/BelTA via AP, File)

What’s behind the crisis at Belarus-Poland border

By Yuras Karmanau - Associated Press

Migrants from the Middle East and elsewhere break down the fence as they gather at the Belarus-Poland border near Grodno, Belarus, Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. Poland increased security at its border with Belarus, on the European Union's eastern border, after a large group of migrants in Belarus appeared to be congregating at a crossing point, officials said Monday. The development appeared to signal an escalation of a crisis that has being going on for months in which the autocratic regime of Belarus has encouraged migrants from the Middle East and elsewhere to illegally enter the European Union, at first through Lithuania and Latvia and now primarily through Poland. (Leonid Shcheglov/BelTA via AP)

Migrants aided by Belarus try to storm across Poland border

By Monika Scislowska and Vanessa Gera - Associated Press

The British trawler kept by French authorities docks at the port in Le Havre, western France, Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021. French authorities fined two British fishing vessels and kept one in port overnight Thursday, Oct.28, 2021, amid a worsening dispute over fishing licenses that has stoked tensions following the U.K.'s departure from the European Union. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

‘We will not roll over:’ U.K. stands firm over French threats

By Pan Pylas and Angela Charlton - Associated Press

President Joe Biden and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen shake hands after talking to reporters about pausing the trade war over steel and aluminum tariffs during the G20 leaders summit, Sunday, Oct. 31, 2021, in Rome. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Biden, European Union agree to roll back Trump tariffs on aluminum, steel

By Jeff Mordock - The Washington Times