GREECE BAILOUT
BRUSSELS - Greece's prime minister began talks Wednesday with one of his country's main debt supervisors, as the EU awaits a clear signal from the new government on how it intends to repay its massive bailout loans. Alexis Tsipras was welcomed at the European Commission, one of the three main institutions overseeing Greece's finances, in Brussels by President Jean-Claude Juncker.
EUROPE-ECONOMY
LONDON - Maybe all the doom and gloom surrounding the 19-country eurozone has been overdone. A couple of closely monitored indicators suggest the eurozone was performing stronger at the turn of the year than previously thought, partly because of the positive impact of lower oil prices.
UKRAINE
KIEV, Ukraine - Heavy shelling in the rebel stronghold of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine has killed at least five people and damaged a hospital, six schools and five kindergartens, local officials say.
GERMANY-TERRORISM INVESTIGATION
BERLIN - German authorities say they've filed terrorism-related charges against a 30-year-old woman who converted to Islam and took her two young daughters to Syria, where she married a man fighting against the regime. Munich prosecutors said Wednesday the Bavarian woman, whose name wasn't given, was charged with preparing an act of violence in Syria, but wasn't planning attacks inside Germany.
RUSSIA-CAR CRASH
MOSCOW - The Russian Interior Ministry says 11 people were killed and five others injured in southern Russia when a passenger van crashed into a truck. The Interior Ministry said on its website on Wednesday that the van was driving about 50 kilometers from the Ukrainian border to the east early in the morning when it jumped into the incoming lane and slammed into the truck.
NORWAY-CLIMATE-CHANGE
STOCKHOLM - Norway will cut its emissions of global warming gases by at least 40 percent by 2030, aligning itself with the target set by the European Union, the government said Wednesday. The target will be Norway's pledge to the U.N. climate agreement that's supposed to be adopted in December in Paris, government officials said.
BRITAIN-ART SALES
LONDON - A Venetian waterscape by Claude Monet has sold for more than $35 million as the high-end art market shows resilience in a bumpy global economy. "Le Grand Canal," fetched 23.67 million pounds ($35.6 million) at Sotheby's, though it didn't reach the top of its pre-sale estimate of 20 million pounds to 30 million pounds.
ROMANIA-EX-MINISTER
BUCHAREST, Romania - Romania's Parliament has voted to allow a formal criminal investigation of a former presidential candidate accused of money-laundering and making false statements. A parliamentary committee voted 20-1 Wednesday to allow prosecutors to investigate Elena Udrea, one of the most influential politicians of the past decade.
SPAIN-ENDIABLADA-PHOTO-GALLERY
ALMONACID DEL MARQUESADO, Spain - If you live in the central Spanish town of Almonacid del Marquesado, the devil you see may be the devil you know. The town has celebrated the "Endiablada" (Brotherhood of the Devils) festivals each Feb. 2-3 since at least since medieval times.