The cicadas were flying. The reporters hoping to join the president in Europe were not. Reporters traveling to the United Kingdom for President Joe Biden's first overseas trip were delayed seven hours after their chartered plane was overrun by cicadas.

More than 50 migrants have drowned or disappeared off the coast of Tunisia, while 33 others were rescued by workers from an oil platform, the Tunisian Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

Air travel in the U.S. hit its highest mark since COVID-19 took hold more than 13 months ago, while European Union officials are proposing to ease restrictions on visitors to the continent as the vaccine rollout sends new cases and deaths tumbling in more affluent countries.

BRUSSELS — The European Union has reached a tentative climate deal to put the 27-nation bloc on a path to being “climate neutral” by 2050, with member states and parliament agreeing on binding targets for carbon emissions on the eve of a virtual summit hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden.

 European nations' immunization campaigns against COVID-19 are “unacceptably slow” and risk prolonging the pandemic, a senior World Health Organization official said Thursday.

The United States and countries around Europe are closing ranks to respond to “aggressive and coercive” behavior by China, days after the U.S. and its allies launched coordinated sanctions against Chinese officials accused of rights abuses in the far-western Xinjiang region.

WASHINGTON — America's top diplomat is heading to Europe next week as the Biden administration moves to restore closer U.S. ties with European and NATO allies after four years of snubs and tension under former President Donald Trump.

Optimism is spreading in the U.S. as COVID-19 deaths plummet and states ease restrictions and open vaccinations to younger adults. But across Europe, dread is setting in with another wave of infections that is closing schools and cafes and bringing new lockdowns.

Germany, France, Italy and Spain became the latest countries Monday to suspend use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine over reports of dangerous blood clots in some recipients, though the company and European regulators have said there is no evidence the shot is to blame.

France on Wednesday dissolved an identity group that for years staged spectacular actions to get out its anti-migrant message in what it claimed was a mission to preserve French and European civilization.

 Europe's top human rights court has ordered Russia to release jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, a ruling quickly rejected Wednesday by Russian authorities who are bent on isolating the Kremlin's most prominent foe.

Europe's top human rights court on Thursday found Russia responsible for a swath of violations in Georgia's breakaway regions after the 2008 Russia-Georgia war.

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has canceled what would have been his final official trip abroad as concerns grow over potential violence at next week’s presidential inauguration, the State Department said Tuesday.

The World Health Organization director-general says the U.N. agency is “extremely concerned” by a surge of coronavirus cases particularly in Europe and North America, saying health workers and systems are “being pushed to the breaking point.”

The surge of new coronavirus cases appears to be slowing in Germany and France, generating hopes that the two European heavyweights are beginning to regain control over the pandemic. But authorities said Thursday that hospitals are crowded and are likely to face further strain in the coming weeks.

With a surge in coronavirus cases straining health systems in many European countries, Greece announced a nationwide lockdown Thursday in the hopes of stemming a rising tide of patients before its hospitals come under “unbearable” pressure.

Coronavirus cases hit new daily highs this week in Russia, and Germany and the U.K. announced plans Tuesday to expand virus testing as European countries battled rapidly increasing COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations.

Italy braced Tuesday for more nationwide protests against virus-fighting measures like regional curfews, evening shutdowns for restaurants and bars and the closures of gyms, swimming pools and theaters — a sign of growing discontent across Europe with renewed coronavirus restrictions.

 Italy's three largest cities and dozens of regions of France face curfews as authorities try to slow the spread of the coronavirus in Europe, where most countries are now imposing or mulling new restrictions on activity in response to rapidly rising caseloads.