Belgium will mark the centenary of World War I proud of its resistance to invading German troops in August 1914 but also haunted by the bloody disasters which followed.

The "Great War", the "War to End All Wars" ravaged Belgium but rallied national sentiment in its divided Flemish and French halves around King Albert I who refused to surrender.

The United Nations Security Council has "strongly condemned" the kidnapping and slaying of two French radio journalists in Mali's troubled northeast.

The journalists -- Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon of Radio France International (RFI) -- were found dead after being kidnapped by armed men in the northern city of Kidal.

France and Germany pushed Friday for Washington to agree rules for the spy game after damaging revelations the United States tapped German Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone, the European Union said.

Leaders "took note of the intention of France and Germany to seek bilateral talks with the U.S.,” EU President Herman Van Rompuy told a press conference after a first day of summit talks wrapped up.

A plane that crashed in Belgium killing its pilot and all 10 skydivers on board including one making her maiden jump for her birthday had crashed before, a report said Sunday.

The aircraft, which crashed Saturday afternoon, was 44 years old and had clocked more than 11,000 hours of flying time, the newspaper La Libre Belgique said.

A plane carrying 10 skydivers, including one making her maiden jump for her birthday, crashed shortly after takeoff in Belgium Saturday, killing everyone on board and the pilot, authorities said.

"There were 11 killed: the pilot and 10 skydivers, including one woman," Jean-Claude Nihoul, the mayor of Fernelmont where the accident happened, told Agence France Presse.

Belgium on Saturday charged an 18-year-old for belonging to a radical Islamist group one day after he returned from an eight-month trip to Syria, the federal prosecutor said.

Jejoen Bontinck, a Belgian citizen, was charged by a judge in Antwerp following police questioning, and subsequently remanded in custody, the prosecutor said, according to the Belga local news agency.

One of Somalia's most notorious pirate leaders, known as "Big Mouth", is under arrest facing charges of kidnapping and piracy after being tricked into traveling to Belgium, the prosecution said Monday.

Federal prosecutor Johan Delmulle said Mohamed Abdi Hassan, known as "Afweyne" or "Big Mouth", was being held in Bruges after being detained at Brussels airport on Saturday on disembarking from a flight from Nairobi.

Belgium extradited a Tunisian former professional footballer turned convicted al-Qaida fighter to the United States on Thursday, the justice minister said.

Nizar Trabelsi, who was arrested just two days after the September 11 attacks in 2001, was sentenced to 10 years in jail in 2003 for plotting a suicide truck bombing against a Belgian air base where American troops are stationed.

Belgian police on Thursday arrested in a Brussels suburb a suspected a member of an al-Qaida-linked cell who is wanted by Spain.

The man identified as Ismail Abdelatif Al-Lal was arrested at his home "following a European arrest warrant" delivered by Spain, which accuses him of "participation in a criminal organization and terrorism," said Wenke Roggen, a spokesman for the Belgian federal prosecutor.

Cash-strapped Belgium is seeking to reduce its debt mountain by selling its 10-percent stake in France's biggest bank, BNP Paribas, a press report said Wednesday.

According to business daily L'Echo, the government of Elio Di Rupo wants to cut debt from the current level of about one year's total economic output, with the BNP Paribas stake coming under consideration.