Four young men went on trial in Germany Thursday over the brazen theft of a 221-pound Canadian gold coin that disappeared from a Berlin museum two years ago. Two brothers and their cousin are accused of stealing the "Big Maple Leaf" coin from the Bode Museum in March 2017. The fourth suspect worked as a security guard at the museum.

A court in the Netherlands convicted 34 people Friday for blocking a highway to prevent anti-racism demonstrators from protesting at a festive parade featuring the Dutch version of Santa Claus — and his helpers, called Black Petes. Black Pete is often played by white people with their faces daubed in dark makeup.

A senior German official demanded "substantial steps" forward in Britain's Brexit standoff and insisted on Tuesday that any further delay to Britain's withdrawal must come with strict conditions, as Prime Minister Theresa May prepared to plead for more time in Berlin and Paris. Michael Roth, Germany's deputy foreign minister, said as he arrived at a European Union meeting in Luxembourg that "we are in a very, very frustrating situation here."

Master chocolatier Dominique Persoone stood forlorn on his huge workfloor, a faint smell of cocoa lingering amid the idle machinery — in a mere memory of better times. Easter Sunday is normally the most important date on the chocolate makers' calendar. But the coronavirus pandemic, with its lockdowns and social distancing, has struck a hard blow to the 5-billion-euro ($5.5-billion) industry that's one of Belgium's most emblematic.

Several high-profile leaders, including Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, will address the World Economic Forum on Wednesday amid a wider debate of the merits of populist nationalism versus global cooperation. Abe and Merkel represent internationally-minded governments keen on supporting free trade and cooperation. Their speeches to the global elite will come a day after Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo extolled their governments' renewed focus on nation self-interest. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is the only U.S. representative in attendance at the annual global conference, themed 'Trust: The World's Currency.'

Ongoing uncertainty about the effects of Brexit is pushing an increasing number of foreign companies to set up offices in the Netherlands, the Dutch government said Wednesday. Since the 2016 referendum on Britain leaving the European Union, 140 businesses have established a presence in the Netherlands, with 78 shifting operations there last year.

Import growth outpaced that of exports in October in Germany, narrowing the trade surplus of Europe's largest economy.

Marathon talks of European Union leaders dragged into a second day Monday as they sought to narrow down a list of candidates for key posts at the helm of the 28-nation bloc amid deep divisions over how to best balance political, geographic and gender considerations. With the selection process bogged down for the second EU summit meeting in a row, the leaders were still considering Dutch socialist Frans Timmermans to replace Christian Democrat Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the EU's powerful executive arm, the European Commission.

A 1944 painting by German artist George Grosz that depicts Nazi leader Adolf Hitler as the Bible's fratricidal Cain went on display at the German Historical Museum in Berlin on Tuesday as part of a new permanent exhibition.

Around 10,000 protesters marched through the central German town of Hanau on Sunday to mourn the nine people who were killed by an immigrant-hating gunman four days ago. "These days and hours are the blackest and darkest our town has ever experienced during peace times," Hanau mayor Claus Kaminsky told the somber crowds, according to the German news agency dpa. But, he said, those who want to pull apart society won't succeed, "because we are more and we will prevent that."