UKRAINE
DONETSK, Ukraine — Fighting rages in eastern Ukraine, killing five people at a bus station in the rebel stronghold of Donetsk, as Western leaders confirmed that they would take part in peace talks being held later in the day.
GREECE-BAILOUT
BRUSSELS — Greece's new government is set to clash with its eurozone creditors at an emergency meeting in Brussels over its request to ease the terms of its bailout program. Wednesday's gathering of finance ministers from the 19 eurozone countries was called to find common ground on Greece's demand to reduce the burden of its bailout loans and ease back on budget austerity measures.
EUROPE-RECOVERING ECONOMY
BRUSSELS — With all the noise and uncertainty surrounding Greece over the past couple of weeks, it's been easy to overlook the growing signs of economic recovery in Europe. A raft of indicators have pointed to a pick-up in activity that puts the 19-country eurozone economy in a position to outperform expectations this year — provided it doesn't stumble into a messy Greek exit from the euro or relations deteriorate between the West and Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.
ITALY-MIGRANT DEATHS
ROME — The U.N. refugee agency says as many as 300 people are now unaccounted-for in the latest tragedy among migrants crossing the frigid Mediterranean. The spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Carlotta Sami, says survivors have confirmed the existence of a fourth rubber boat that left Libya on Sunday.
BELGIUM-TERROR TRIAL
ANTWERP, Belgium — A radical Islamic group that recruited youngsters to fight in Syria was a terrorist organization that wanted to violently overthrow democracy and replace it with strict sharia law, a Belgian court ruled Wednesday in a case that played out against a backdrop of soaring terror fears. The court in Antwerp sentenced the Sharia4Belgium group's "charismatic leader," Fouad Belkacem, to 12 years' imprisonment and gave dozens of other members lower sentences.
SERBIA-MIGRANTS
SUBOTICA, Serbia — Serbian security forces have stepped up patrols and deployed an elite unit on the border with Hungary, trying to prevent an illegal flow of migrants that has triggered alarm in many European Union countries.
SPAIN-KING'S SALARY
MADRID — Spain's King Felipe VI has slashed his salary as head of state by 20 percent for 2015, a move in line with his pledges for a more moderate, fewer-frills monarchy. A palace statement Tuesday detailing the royal household's 2015 budget said Felipe, 47, would receive 234,204 euros ($264,580), a fifth less than his father and predecessor, Juan Carlos, received as monarch before abdicating last June.