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In a viral video, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif discussed efforts to secure financial support from friendly nations to address the external funding gap for the IMF loan.

Pakistan Prime Minister in a viral clip on social media is heard admitting that he and Field Marshal Asim Munir (now Pakistan’s Chief of Defence Staff) have reached out to several friendly countries for money to fill the external gap in the IMF loan, adding that the one who goes out to borrow the money has his head bowed down and needs to make compromises.

According to the viral clip showing him addressing a gathering at some event, Shehbaz Sharif said, “How should I tell you that we reached out to our friendly countries and requested them to financially support Pakistan, and they did not disappoint us, but as you know, the one who goes out and borrows money does so with his head bowed.”

Adding further, Shehbaz Sharif told the gathering that they all know the obligations that it brings too.

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“We feel ashamed when Asim Munir and I go around the world for loan” – SHEHBAZ SHARIFpic.twitter.com/J5ysqJayLF

— News Algebra (@NewsAlgebraIND) January 30, 2026

“And I want to tell you that I and Field Marshal silently went to several nations telling them that this is the IMF program we have and this is our external gap… Can you give up this much million dollars, and I am thankful to those nations, but you know that the one who borrows has to compromise a lot,” Shehbaz Sharif added.

 

A new set of file release has made some explosive claims attributed to Jeffrey Epstein about Bill Gates, which the billionaire has categorically denied.

Fresh allegations involving Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates have surfaced after some British media reports published extracts from newly released US Justice Department files.

The files claimed that late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein wrote emails, revealing that Bill Gates contracted a sexually transmitted disease from sex with “Russian girls” and asked for antibiotics to give to his then-wife, Melinda, secretly.

The reports emerged as journalists began combing through a massive new release of Epstein-related material disclosed by the United States Department of Justice.

According to reports by The Sun and Daily Mail, the allegations appear in screenshots of emails Epstein allegedly sent to himself on July 18, 2013.

The messages include passages in which Epstein berated Gates for cutting ties with him and accused the billionaire of asking him to delete correspondence about a sexually transmitted disease and a request for antibiotics to secretly give to Melinda.

The Daily Mail reported that Epstein wrote he had been “dismayed beyond comprehension” by Gates’s decision to end their relationship, and quoted a line in which Epstein complained, “To add insult to the injury you them (sic) implore me to please delete the emails regarding your STD, your request that I provide you antibiotics that you can surreptitiously give to Melinda and the description of your penis.”

The Sun echoed those quotations and added that the documents appear to be drafts of letters Epstein was composing rather than messages he actually sent, including one written as though from the perspective of Gates’s former adviser Boris Nikolic around the time of his resignation from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Both outlets quoted another alleged Epstein-authored passage claiming Nikolic had been drawn into a marital dispute between the couple and pressured into conduct described as ethically questionable or potentially illegal, including helping Gates obtain drugs and facilitating meetings with other women.

The tabloids underlined that there is no independent verification of Epstein’s assertions.

GATES ISSUES STRONG DENIAL

In statements quoted by both newspapers, Gates rejected the accusations outright.

A spokesperson told the Daily Mail that the claims were “absolutely absurd and completely false,” adding, “The only thing these documents demonstrate is Epstein’s frustration that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates and the lengths he would go to entrap and defame.”

The reports also noted that Gates has previously acknowledged meeting Epstein but has long denied wrongdoing, saying he regretted the association after learning more about the disgraced financier.

The Sun further reported that the DOJ release includes undated photographs of Epstein and Gates together, including one image in which Gates is seen beside a woman whose face has been redacted.

CONTEXT FROM THE DOJ FILE RELEASE

The Justice Department has begun disclosing more than three million pages of records, along with thousands of videos and photographs, tied to Epstein and his contacts with wealthy and influential figures.

By Friday evening, more than 600,000 documents had been published online, though millions more identified for possible release remain sealed, drawing political criticism.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/jeffrey-epstein-files-say-bill-gates-caught-std-had-sex-with-russian-girls-sex-offender-suicide-ws-l-9868915.html

US President Donald Trump says Russia’s Vladimir Putin has agreed not to attack Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and other cities and towns for a week due to “extraordinary cold” weather.

Russia has not confirmed any such agreement, but Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed Trump’s announcement and said he expected Russia to keep its promise.

Trump did not specify when the pause would begin, but temperatures in the Ukrainian capital are due to plummet from Thursday night and reach -24C (-11F) in the next few days.

Russia has intensified attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure during the bitter winter, as it has during cold periods since the full-scale invasion began in 2022.

Speaking at a televised cabinet meeting in Washington DC, the US president said: “I personally asked President Putin not to fire into Kyiv and the various towns for a week, and he agreed to do that.”

“It was very nice. A lot of people said, ‘Don’t waste the call, you’re not going to get that.’ And he [Putin] did it,” Trump added.

The Ukrainians, he said, “almost they didn’t believe it, but they were very happy about it because they are struggling badly”.

Later on Thursday, in a post on social media, Zelensky said Trump had made an “important statement” about “the possibility of providing security for Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities during this extreme winter period”.

“Our teams discussed this in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). We expect the agreements to be implemented,” he said.

The BBC understands that Ukraine has agreed to mirror Moscow’s actions – pausing its own attacks on Russian oil refineries in response.

Last week, Russian, Ukrainian and US negotiators met in the UAE for the first trilateral talks since the war began.

All sides described the talks as constructive, but there has been no announcement that Russia had agreed to pause its attacks for the duration of the extreme cold currently gripping the region.

Instead, attacks have continued, crippling the power supply to major Ukrainian cities, leaving millions without heating or electricity.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g4yj92kwro

The Jakarta Composite Index saw a two-day selloff after concerns were raised about ownership and trading transparency, with index provider MSCI warning of a downgrade.

The head of Indonesia’s stock exchange Iman Rachman has resigned, the exchange said on Friday (Jan 30), as the consequences of a warning from index provider MSCI of a possible downgrade that triggered a more than US$80 billion market rout continue to reverberate.

The benchmark Jakarta Composite Index pared gains to trade flat on Friday, a day after Indonesian authorities announced a slate of measures to ease investor worries and address concerns from MSCI. The index dropped more than 8 per cent on Wednesday and Thursday, its steepest two-day decline since April.

The CEO of the Indonesia Stock Exchange resigned to take responsibility for the market conditions, the exchange’s corporate secretary said.

The stock market selloff followed MSCI on Wednesday raising concerns about ownership and trading transparency in Indonesian stocks and warning the market risked a downgrade to frontier status if it failed to resolve the issues.

Foreign capital has flowed out of Indonesia because of concerns about how President Prabowo Subianto is widening the fiscal deficit and ramping up the state’s involvement in financial markets.

The appointment of his nephew, Thomas Djiwandono, to the central bank this month, after last year’s abrupt firing of respected Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, has shaken confidence in Prabowo’s fiscal stewardship.

The rupiah fell to a record low of 16,985 to the US dollar last week and was last at 16,800.

Some of the measures announced by Indonesian authorities on Thursday included doubling the free float requirement on listed companies to 15 per cent and checking the affiliations of shareholders with less than 5 per cent ownership.

Indonesian regulators said communications with MSCI had been positive so far and they were awaiting a response to its proposed measures, which they hoped could be implemented soon and the issues resolved by March.

The response appears to have allayed some investor concerns but sentiment remains fragile.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/indonesia-stock-exchange-ceo-iman-rachman-resign-msci-5895556

 

“People helped us and we got into a car… I said, ‘Don’t take us to a hospital.'”

Tara and her friend were attending a protest in the central Iranian city of Isfahan when security forces arrived on motorcycles and began shouting at the crowd.

“My friend told an armed member of the security forces, ‘Just don’t shoot us,’ and he immediately fired several shots at us. We fell to the ground. All our clothes were covered in blood,” she said.

They were bundled into a stranger’s car, but Tara said they were too frightened to be taken to the hospital because of the risk of being arrested. “All the alleyways were full of security forces, so I asked a couple standing at their front door to let us in.”

They stayed at the couple’s home until it was almost dawn and then managed to find a doctor they knew, who cleaned the birdshot wounds on their legs, according to Tara.

She said a surgeon was later able to remove some of the birdshot at home but warned them: “They cannot all be removed and will remain in your bodies.”

All names in this article have been changed for their safety.

The full scale of the bloodshed resulting from the crackdown by security forces on the anti-government protests that swept across Iran this month is still not known because of an internet shutdown and a ban on reporting by most international news organisations.

But the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) has said it has confirmed the killing of 6,301 people, including 5,925 protesters, 112 children, 50 bystanders and 214 affiliated with the government. It is also investigating reports of 17,091 more deaths.

At least another 11,000 protesters were seriously wounded, according to HRANA.

Some of them have told the BBC that they have avoided seeking treatment for their injuries at hospitals because they fear being arrested.

That has left them reliant on doctors, nurses and other volunteers willing to risk their own safety by treating them secretly at their homes.

Healthcare workers have also told the BBC that security forces are present in hospitals and that they are constantly monitoring patients’ medical records to identify injured protesters.

Nima, a surgeon in Tehran, said he witnessed many young people being injured in the streets on his way to work on 8 January, when authorities responded to the escalating protests with lethal force.

“I put one of the wounded in the boot of my car to take him to hospital, as I was worried that we would get in trouble if we were stopped by the police,” he told the BBC.

Nima said armed officers stopped him but allowed him to go after seeing his hospital identification card.

“For almost 96 hours straight – without interruption, without sleep, without even closing our eyes for a moment – we were operating. We were crying and operating. Nobody complained.”

“All our clothes and hospital gowns were covered in blood – our outer clothes, our underwear, everything was soaked in the blood of these young people.”

Nima described operating on one man who had been shot in the leg and face at a protest.

“A bullet had entered through his chin, ripped through his mouth and exited through his upper jaw,” he recalled.

Nima also said many of the young people treated at his hospital suffered gunshot wounds to their vital organs and limbs that required amputation and left them with permanent disabilities.

Iranian authorities have said more than 3,100 people have been killed during the unrest, but that majority were security personnel or bystanders attacked by “rioters”.

Health ministry spokesman Hossein Shokri was also quoted by the semi-official Tasnim news agency as saying that around 13,000 operations had been carried out during the unrest.

“Fortunately, people trust the ministry of health and hospitals, and confidence that all injured individuals are treated impartially in medical centres has led around 3,000 people who had been treating themselves at home over the past six days to seek care at hospitals,” he added.

The head of the Farabi Eye Hospital in Tehran, Dr Qasem Fakhrai, told Isna, another semi-official news agency, that it had treated a total of 700 patients with severe eye injuries requiring emergency surgery as of 10 January, and referred almost 200 to other hospitals. He said almost all of the patients were admitted after 8 January.

Saeed told the BBC that his friend’s eyes were hit by birdshot fired by security forces during a protest in the central city of Arak.

Local doctors told him to go to a specialist eye hospital in Tehran, he said.

Upon arrival, nurses took protesters with eye injuries to operating theatres through the back by using staff lifts.

According to Saeed’s friend, around 200 people with eye injuries from different cities were being treated at that hospital.

“He had two operations, but the surgeon did not charge him,” Saeed said.

A healthcare worker in Tehran also said that doctors were trying to avoid mentioning gunshot wounds in medical records because they were being constantly monitored by security forces.

Sina took his brother to a hospital after he was shot in the legs during protests in Tehran.

“It was like a battlefield hospital – there were so many wounded that there were no blankets or medical kits,” Sina told the BBC.

“When I asked a nurse for a blanket for my brother, she told me to bring one from home because there were too many injured and not enough supplies.”

Sina said they had no choice but to give their actual ID number in order to use their health insurance. “At any moment, the security forces could raid our home,” he added.

In smaller cities, the situation is believed to be even more dire.

Reports received by the BBC said security forces had abducted patients from hospitals and that they had not been seen again.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yx015nkplo

An AI model developed by Google’s DeepMind could transform our understanding of DNA – the complete recipe for building and running the human body – and its impact on disease and medicine discovery, according to researchers.

Called AlphaGenome, the model could help scientists discover why subtle differences in our DNA put us at risk of conditions such as high blood pressure, dementia and obesity.

It could also dramatically accelerate our understanding of genetic diseases and cancer.

The developers of the model acknowledge it’s not perfect, but experts have described it as “an incredible feat” and “a major milestone”.

“We see AlphaGenome as a tool for understanding what the functional elements in the genome do, which we hope will accelerate our fundamental understanding of the code of life,” says Natasha Latysheva, research engineer at DeepMind.

The human genome is made up of three billion letters of DNA code – represented by the letters A,C,G and T.

Around 2% of it are genes which code for all the proteins the body needs to grow and function. The remaining 98%, which is less well understood, is labelled the ‘dark genome’. It plays a crucial role in organising how genes are used in the body and is where many mutations linked to disease are found.

AlphaGenome can analyse one million letters of code at a time, helping to unravel the ‘dark genome’.

It can predict where the genes are, but also what the ‘dark genome’ is influencing. For example, how it affects gene expression (whether a gene is highly active or being suppressed) and gene splicing (the tool the body uses to make different proteins from a single gene).

Crucially, the model can predict the impact of changing even a single letter in genetic code.

Officials say the meetings suggest a strategic effort to build a broader ideological and operational alliance, potentially involving training, fundraising, and propaganda collaboration for terrorism.

In a significant development pointing to deeper coordination among global terrorist groups, a senior terrorist commander of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) has publicly acknowledged links with Hamas and confirmed meetings with its top leadership, strengthening concerns over expanding cooperation between the two US-designated terror outfits.

Faisal Nadeem, a commander of the Pakistan Markazi Muslim League (PMML)-widely regarded as the political front of Lashkar-has confessed in a recent video accessed by NDTV that he met senior Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, in 2024. Nadeem, who operates in Pakistan’s Sindh province, said Saifullah Kasuri, the alleged mastermind behind the Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, accompanied him.

According to Nadeem, the two met Hamas leader Khaled Mashal during their visit, a revelation that Indian intelligence agencies say provides direct evidence of coordination between terror networks operating in South Asia and the Middle East. Analysts believe the admission underscores an emerging alliance aimed at sharing logistics, propaganda strategies and operational experience.

This disclosure comes weeks after NDTV, on January 7, reported details of a meeting between senior Hamas commander Naji Zaheer and Lashkar commander Rashid Ali Sandhu in Pakistan’s Gujranwala. That meeting took place during a public event hosted by PMML and came to light after an undated video surfaced showing both leaders sharing the stage.

According to an NDTV investigation, Naji Zaheer attended the PMML event as the chief guest, while Sandhu, operating under the cover of a political leader, represented the organisation. Security officials said the public nature of the meeting indicated growing confidence and deeper ties between the two groups. Zaheer has reportedly visited Pakistan almost 15 times since October 2023.

The latest confession by Faisal Nadeem is being viewed as further confirmation of Lashkar’s expanding relationship. Counter-terrorism experts note that both Hamas and LeT are designated terrorist organisations by the United States and several other countries, and any coordination between them could have serious regional and international security implications. The Indian Intelligence apparatus is also monitoring the Hamas-Lashkar alliance closely for further legal actions locally, as well as globally at FATF (Financial Action Task Force) and other international bodies.

Officials say the meetings suggest a strategic effort to build a broader ideological and operational alliance, potentially involving training, fundraising, and propaganda collaboration for terrorism. Indian intelligence agencies are closely monitoring developments and assessing the implications for India’s national security.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/new-terror-nexus-in-making-pak-lashkar-commander-admits-to-hamas-links-10896851?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

Donald Trump warned Iraq that the US would withdraw support if Nouri al-Maliki returns to power, calling his past tenure disastrous and threatening an end to American assistance.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued a stark warning to Iraq over the possible return of former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, saying the United States would withdraw its support if Baghdad reinstates the longtime Shiite political leader.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote, “I’m hearing that the Great Country of Iraq might make a very bad choice by reinstalling Nouri al-Maliki as Prime Minister.”

“Last time Maliki was in power, the Country descended into poverty and total chaos. That should not be allowed to happen again.”

He went on to threaten a sharp break in US policy if al-Maliki regains office.

“Because of his insane policies and ideologies, if elected, the United States of America will no longer help Iraq,” Trump said, adding that without American backing, the country would have “zero chance of Success, Prosperity, or Freedom.”

He concluded the post with the slogan, “MAKE IRAQ GREAT AGAIN!”

Trump’s comments came days after Iraq’s dominant Shiite political alliance, known as the Coordination Framework, announced it was backing al-Maliki’s nomination for prime minister.

The move followed caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s decision to step aside earlier this month after he failed to form a government despite his bloc winning the largest share of seats in November’s parliamentary elections.

According to Reuters, Trump’s warning represents the most forceful example yet of his campaign to curb the influence of Iran-linked factions inside Iraq, a country that has long balanced relations between Washington and Tehran.

The news agency reported that US officials have also threatened senior Iraqi politicians with sanctions if Iran-backed armed groups are included in the next government.

Al-Maliki, a senior figure in the Shiite Islamist Dawa Party, served as Iraq’s prime minister from 2006 to 2014.

His tenure coincided with intense sectarian violence, political struggles with Sunni and Kurdish rivals, and growing strains with Washington.

He stepped down after the Islamic State group seized large parts of the country in 2014, but has remained a powerful political player, leading the State of Law coalition and maintaining close ties with Iran-aligned factions.

The Associated Press reported that Trump’s intervention comes at a particularly tense moment in the region, as he weighs possible military action against Iran in response to its deadly crackdown on protests against the Islamic government.

Trump has said he was holding off on strikes after claiming Tehran had paused executions of detainees, a claim Iran has denied, but US military movements in the Middle East have fueled renewed speculation about potential escalation.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently raised Washington’s concerns in a call with al-Sudani, warning about the risks of a pro-Iran government in Baghdad.

“The Secretary emphasised that a government controlled by Iran cannot successfully put Iraq’s own interests first, keep Iraq out of regional conflicts, or advance the mutually beneficial partnership between the United States and Iraq,” State Department principal deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/donald-trump-warns-iraq-against-electing-nouri-al-maliki-prime-minister-again-washington-would-withdraw-support-to-iraq-ws-l-9860023.html

India’s government said there were two confirmed cases of Nipah virus since December last year, with all those in contact with the affected people having been quarantined and tested.

The Indian government on Tuesday clarified that there were only two confirmed cases of Nipah virus infection in eastern West Bengal state.

The Indian Ministry of Family and Welfare sought to tamp down panic, as reports about airport screenings across Asian countries began to emerge.

Thailand, Nepal and Taiwan said in recent days they were carrying out screening procedures at airports for travelers from West Bengal.

Hong Kong issued a press release on Monday and said it asked for information from Indian health authorities, while carrying out screenings of travelers from West Bengal.

What to know about Nipah virus infections in West Bengal

The Indian government said only two cases were positive since cases were brought to attention in December. Preliminary reports suggested there were five cases in the Indian state, but the issue was clarified due to test results, authorities said.

It can take between four to 21 days after exposure for symptoms of a Nipah virus infection to develop.

A total of 196 contacts related to the confirmed cases were quarantined this time and they were primarily health workers or family members of people affected.

India’s ANI news agency reported that India’s southern Kerala state has tackled nine outbreaks of the virus between 2018 and 2025.

In 2018, over a dozen people died from the virus, and in 2021, a young boy died, raising alarm among health officials at the time.

What is Nipah virus?

Nipah virus is a zoonotic virus, meaning it can be spread from animals to humans.

It was first identified in 1999 during an outbreak among pig farmers in Malaysia and Singapore. Though Nipah is most common in fruit bats, the virus can infect other animals like pigs, dogs, goats, horses and sheep as well.

Humans can pick up infection from animals either directly with an infected animal and their secretions, though many human infections result from the consumption of fruits or fruit products (like raw or partially fermented date palm juice) contaminated with saliva or biological waste of infected fruit bats, according to the UK Health Security Agency.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/nipah-virus-india-says-only-2-cases-confirmed-as-fears-rise/a-75683059

Bessent argued that while Washington has pushed to destabilise Moscow’s energy trade, Europe continues to benefit economically from loopholes in the global oil trade.

The United States has warned that Europe is financing a “war” against itself by signing the “mother of all trade deals” with India. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Europe may have significantly phased out direct energy ties with Moscow, but they are indirectly funding the Russia-Ukraine war by purchasing Russian oil products refined in India, even as Washington targeted New Delhi with tariffs.

Bessent’s remarks came as India and the European Union concluded negotiations on their long-pending free trade agreement, with the deal set to be formally announced on Tuesday.

What The US Said

Bessent framed the issue as an imbalance in sacrifice between the United States and its allies. He argued that while Washington has pushed to destabilise Moscow’s energy trade, Europe continues to benefit economically from loopholes in the global oil trade. The Trump administration has imposed 50 per cent tariffs on India, including 25 per cent for Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil.

He claimed that US President Donald Trump has worked to negotiate a settlement on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, adding that the US has made much bigger sacrifices than the Europeans.

“We have put 25 per cent tariffs on India for buying Russian oil. Guess what happened last week? The Europeans signed a trade deal with India,” Bessent told ABC News Sunday.

“And just to be clear again, the Russian oil goes into India, the refined products come out, and the Europeans buy the refined products. They are financing the war against themselves,” he said, adding that under Trump’s leadership, “we will eventually end” the Russia-Ukraine war.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/team-trump-warning-ahead-of-india-eu-trade-deal-europe-funding-war-against-itself-10890143?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

Last week, Beijing’s release of China’s national birth count for 2025 left demographers stunned.

The national birth total plummeted by over 17% from 2024 to 2025, the PRC disclosed.

That sort of precipitous drop is almost never seen in stable modern societies, where births tend to inch up or down from one year to the next.

A decline of this magnitude qualifies as a demographic shock of the sort typically associated with dire calamities like famine or plague — a sign that a disaster or convulsion is taking place.

And these are only the latest readings from the astonishing birth crash that’s commenced under Xi Jinping’s rule: a drop by over half in just eight years that shows no sign as yet of abating.

Tumbling birth rates have already thrown China into depopulation, with over four deaths for every three births in 2025.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the US deal on security guarantees for Ukraine is completely ready, and Kyiv is simply waiting for a time and place to sign it.

Following talks between representatives from Ukraine, the US and Russia aimed at ending the years-long war in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the US agreement on providing security guarantees to Kyiv as “100% ready.”

“For us, security guarantees are first and foremost guarantees of security from the United States. The document is 100% ⁠ready, and we are waiting for our partners to confirm the date and place when we will sign it,” the Ukrainian leader told reporters on Sunday during ⁠a visit to Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital.

“The document will then be sent for ratification to the US Congress and the Ukrainian parliament,” he said.

Zelenskyy also called for Ukraine to be granted membership of the European Union by 2027. He described it as an “economic security guarantee.”

Zelenskyy says Abu Dhabi talks ‘productive’

On Friday and Saturday, negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the US held their first trilateral meeting in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, to discuss Washington’s framework for ending Russia’s nearly four-year full-scale invasion.

The meeting included not only diplomats but also military representatives from all three sides.

No peace deal emerged from the talks but Zelenskyy said they were “productive.”

Negotiators will return to Abu Dhabi on February 1 for the next round of talks, according to a US official.

Zelenskyy stressed there were still fundamental differences between Ukrainian and Russian positions, particularly over territorial issues.

“Our position regarding our territory — Ukraine’s territorial integrity — must be respected,” he said.

He pointed to the Kremlin’s insistence on Kyiv withdrawing its troops from some areas in eastern Ukraine that Russia claims to have annexed but its forces have still not been able to capture.

“These two fundamentally different positions — Ukraine’s and Russia’s. The Americans are trying to find a compromise,” Zelenskyy said, adding that “all sides must be ready for compromise.”

Russian strikes leave Ukrainians facing bitter cold

Despite the talks, Russia continues to launch missile and drone strikes against Ukraine, particularly targeting its energy infrastructure.

To counter them, Zelenskyy appealed for more air defense support from allies.

“This week alone, the Russians have launched more than 1,700 attack drones, over 1,380 guided aerial bombs, and 69 missiles of various types,” Zelenskyy said on Sunday.

“That is why missiles for air defense systems are needed every day, and we continue working with the United States and Europe to ensure stronger protection of our skies,” he added.

Kyiv says this winter has been the toughest since the full-scale war started due to especially severe cold.

Sub-zero temperatures and repeated strikes have also made it difficult repair and restore damaged heating and electricity systems.

On Sunday, Pope Leo also urged “everyone to ⁠intensify ​their efforts” to end the war.

“The protracted hostilities … have increasingly serious implications for civilians,” Pope said after his ​weekly Angelus prayer.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-says-us-security-guarantees-deal-100-ready/a-75653357

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he would impose a 100% tariff on Canada if it follows through on a trade deal with China and warned Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney that a deal would endanger his country.
“China will eat Canada alive, completely devour it, including the destruction of their businesses, social fabric, and general way of life,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“If Canada makes a deal with China, it will immediately be hit with a 100% Tariff against all Canadian goods and products coming into the U.S.A.”

In a video on Saturday, Carney urged Canadians to buy domestic products, but did not directly mention Trump’s tariff threat.
“With our economy under threat from abroad, Canadians have made a choice to focus on what we can control,” Carney said. “We can’t control what other nations do, we can be our own best customer.”
The Canadian prime minister this month traveled to China to reset the countries’ strained relationship and reached a trade deal with Canada’s second-biggest trading partner after the U.S.
Immediately after Carney’s China trip, Trump sounded supportive. “It’s a good thing for him to sign a trade deal,” Trump told reporters at the White House on January 16. “If you can get a deal with China, you should do that.”

“There is no pursuit of a free trade deal with China. What was achieved was resolution on several important tariff issues,” Dominic LeBlanc, the minister responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade, said on Saturday in a post on X.
The Chinese embassy in Canada said in a statement to Reuters that China was ready to work with Canada to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries.
U.S.-Canada tensions have grown in recent days following Carney’s criticism of Trump’s pursuit of Greenland.

MORE PRESSURE ON CANADIAN INDUSTRIES

On Saturday, Trump suggested China would try to use Canada to evade U.S. tariffs.
“If Governor Carney thinks he is going to make Canada a ‘Drop Off Port’ for China to send goods and products into the United States, he is sorely mistaken,” Trump said, using a title for Carney that refers to Trump’s past calls for Canada to become the 51st U.S. state.

In a second Saturday post, Trump said, “The last thing the World needs is to have China take over Canada. It’s NOT going to happen, or even come close to happening!”
If Trump makes good on Saturday’s threat, the new tariff would greatly increase U.S. duties on its northern neighbor, adding pressure to Canadian industrial sectors such as metal manufacturing, autos and machinery.
Relations between Carney and Trump seemed relatively placid until the Canadian leader this week spoke out forcefully against Trump’s pursuit of Greenland.
Carney subsequently at the World Economic Forum called on nations to accept that a rules-based global order was over and pointed to Canada as an example of how “middle powers” might act together to avoid being victimized by American hegemony.
Carney, during his speech in Davos, Switzerland, did not directly call out Trump or the U.S. by name. However, the prime minister said “middle powers must act together because if you are not at the table, you are on the menu.”

Many world leaders and industry titans present at the Switzerland confab responded with a standing ovation.
Trump shot back in his own Davos speech and said Canada “lives because of the United States,” a statement that Carney rejected on Thursday.
“Canada and the United States have built a remarkable partnership in the economy, in security and in rich cultural exchange,” Carney said in Quebec. “Canada doesn’t live because of the United States. Canada thrives because we are Canadian.”
Since then, Trump has dug in against Canada, revoking its invitation to his Board of Peace that he wants to deal with international conflicts and Gaza’s future.
After Carney’s election last year, Trump and Carney shared a congenial tone. “I think the relationship is going to be very strong,” Trump said at the time.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/china/trump-threatens-canada-with-100-tariff-over-possible-deal-with-china-2026-01-24/

A “framework” agreement between the US and NATO has defused the dispute over Greenland. There is cautious relief among residents, but also fear of becoming a geopolitical pawn once again.

It’s business as usual now in front of the United States consulate in Greenland’s capital of Nuuk. But just a few days ago, angry Greenlanders were waving flags here in protest against US President Donald Trump’s plans to annex the Arctic island.

Since the announcement of a “deal” on the the country’s future on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, there has been a sense of relief, human rights activist and Nuuk resident Najannguaq Christensen told DW.

But there is also uncertainty. “ I’m not quite sure that it’s a deal… from our perspective, it’s just Donald Trump being Donald Trump,” he said, adding that while there have been big announcements, little tangible action has followed. Meanwhile, Greenland hasn’t really been involved in the conversation.

Marathon negotiations begin

That is now set to change, however. On Friday afternoon, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen traveled to Greenland “to show our strong support for Greenland’s people at a difficult time.” Frederiksen wants to discuss next steps with the government of the semi-autonomous Danish territory.

Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen is glad that the threats of US military intervention are off the table for now, having repeatedly stated that no one has the mandate to negotiate agreements about the country without the involvement of its government.

Denmark’s Frederiksen takes a similar view, but after a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Friday, she emphasized that defense and security in the Arctic are a matter for NATO as a whole. Copenhagen announced that talks with the US would start promptly.

What does the ‘deal’ entail?

Activist Christensen said that people in Greenland are now waiting for details on what to expect. No clear, publicly available document is available so far, only different interpretations of the framework agreement announced in Davos.

According to the US, the parties agreed on a permanent safeguard for American interests in the Arctic. This involves military, strategic, and economic issues. NATO chief Mark Rutte, on the other hand, spoke primarily about a security cooperation, making no mention of Denmark or Greenland renouncing their rights.

The current agreement on stationing US forces in Greenland, which dates back to 1951, could be amended. This agreement allows the US to use Greenland for military purposes and to operate military facilities within the framework of joint defense. Unlike during the Cold War, when the US was active at over 20 locations in the country at times, today it operates only the Pituffik Space Base there.

The key to Trump’s ‘Golden Dome’ plans

Greenland could become even more important for US early warning and interception systems in the future. Trump has repeatedly described the country as crucial to his planned “Golden Dome” missile defense system, though it remains unclear how the island would actually be involved.

Greenland is also important to the US because of its location at the so-called GIUK gap. Whoever controls the bottleneck between Greenland, Iceland, and the United Kingdom can influence access from the North Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. At a time of growing tensions with Russia, this geopolitical location is becoming important once again.

Economic interests

In addition to security issues, Trump is also thinking in economic terms. Greenland has minerals that are important for the defense and high-tech industries, where the US wants to prevent China from gaining influence.

This is a sensitive issue in Nuuk. Since the beginning of extended self-government in 2009, Greenland has controlled its own mineral resources. Exclusive access or special rights for the US would be seen as an infringement on its sovereignty.

The conflict over Greenland is not only representative of US President Donald Trump’s political style, but also reflects a larger shift. Climate change is opening up routes and making resources in the Arctic more accessible, forcing the major powers to review their strategies.

Uncertainty remains after de-escalation

Greenland is ready to cooperate with the US on security, defense, and investment—but not on a takeover, Christensen said. Following the Davos announcement, many Greenlanders are relieved that military escalation is off the table for now.

Even though Trump spoke of a permanent agreement, recent months have shown that the tone in Washington can change at any time. As a result, Christensen said that he senses a great deal of uncertainty on the island.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/us-nato-deal-relief-and-mistrust-in-greenland/a-75641044

Ukrainian and Russian negotiators met in Abu Dhabi on Friday to tackle the vital issue of territory, with no sign of a compromise, as Russian airstrikes plunged Ukraine into its worst energy crisis of the nearly four-year war.

Kyiv is under mounting U.S. pressure to reach a peace deal in the war triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, with Moscow demanding Kyiv cede its entire eastern industrial area of Donbas before it stops fighting.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the territorial dispute was a central issue for the tripartite talks, including Russian, Ukrainian and U.S. officials, which were scheduled to conclude on Saturday.

“The most important thing is that Russia should be ready to end this war, which it started,” Zelenskiy said in a statement on the Telegram app, adding he was in regular contact with the Ukrainian negotiators, but it was too early to draw conclusions from Friday’s talks.

“We’ll see how the conversation goes tomorrow and what the outcome will be.”

Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council and the head of its delegation, said in a statement the talks had discussed parameters for ending the war and the “further logic of the negotiation process.”

RUSSIA STEPS UP ATTACKS ON POWER INFRASTRUCTURE

The tripartite talks, brokered by the U.S., are unfolding against a backdrop of intensified Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy system that have cut power and heating to major cities such as Kyiv, as temperatures dip well below freezing.

The head of Ukraine’s top private power producer, Maxim Timchenko, told Reuters on Friday the situation was nearing a “humanitarian catastrophe” and that Ukraine needs a ceasefire that halts attacks on energy infrastructure.

Kyiv’s energy minister said on Thursday that Ukraine’s power grid had endured its most difficult day since a widespread blackout in November 2022, when Russia began bombing energy infrastructure.

Russia says it wants a diplomatic solution but will keep working to achieve its goals by military means as long as a negotiated solution remains elusive.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demand that Ukraine surrender the 20% it still holds of the Donetsk region of the Donbas – about 5,000 sq km (1,900 sq miles) – has proven a major stumbling block to a breakthrough deal.

Zelenskiy refuses to give up land that Russia has not been able to capture in four years of grinding, attritional warfare. Polls show little appetite among Ukrainians for territorial concessions.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/zelenskiy-says-territorial-issue-be-discussed-trilateral-talks-uae-2026-01-23

Thousands of demonstrators braved bitter cold to march through the streets of Minneapolis on Friday demand an end to President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in their city, part of a wider “ICE OUT!” show of defiance that organizers billed as a general strike.

On a day that started with temperatures as low as minus 20 Fahrenheit (minus 29 Celsius), organizers said as many as 50,000 people took to the streets, a figure that Reuters could not verify, as Minneapolis police did not respond to a request for a crowd estimate. Many demonstrators later gathered indoors at the Target Center, a sports arena with a capacity of 20,000 that was more than half full.

Organizers and participants said scores of businesses across Minnesota closed for the day and workers headed to street protests and marches, which followed weeks of sometimes violent confrontations between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and protesters opposed to Trump’s surge.

Just a day earlier, Vice President JD Vance visited Minneapolis in a demonstration of support for ICE officers and to ask local leaders and activists to reduce tensions, saying ICE was carrying out an important mission to detain immigration violators.

In one of the more dramatic protests, local police arrested dozens of clergy members who sang hymns and prayed as they knelt on a road at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport in calling for Trump to withdraw the 3,000 federal law enforcement officers sent to the area.

Organizers said their demands included legal accountability for the ICE agent who shot dead Renee Good, a U.S. citizen, in her car this month as she monitored ICE activities.

They ignored commands to clear the road by officers from local police departments, who arrested and zip-tied dozens of the protesters, who did not resist, before putting them onto buses. Reuters observed dozens of arrests, and organizers said about 100 clergy members were arrested.

Faith in Minnesota, a nonprofit advocacy group that helped organize the protest, said the clergy were also calling attention to airport and airline workers who they said had been detained by ICE at work. The group asked that airline companies “stand with Minnesotans in calling for ICE to immediately end its surge in the state.”

Across the state, bars, restaurants and shops were closing for the day, organizers said, in what was intended to be the largest display yet of opposition to the federal government’s surge.

“Make no mistake, we are facing a full federal occupation by the United States government through the arm of ICE on unceded Dakota land,” Rachel Dionne-Thunder, vice president of the Indigenous Protector Movement, told the arena crowd.

She was one of a series of indigenous, religious, labor and community leaders to speak, calling on ICE to withdraw and for a thorough investigation into Good’s shooting.

“We’ve seen an agency that seems to have no guardrails, as they have caused this pain and suffering all across Minnesota,” said Lizz Winstead, a comedian and abortion rights advocate who served as host.

TRUMP ELECTED TO CRACK DOWN

Trump, a Republican, was elected in 2024 largely on his platform of enforcing immigration laws with a promise to crack down on violent criminals, saying Democratic President Joe Biden was too lax in border security.

But Trump’s aggressive deployment of federal law enforcement into Democratic-led cities and states has further fueled America’s political polarization, especially since the shooting of Good, the detention of a U.S. citizen who was taken from his home in his underwear, and the detention of school children including a 5-year-old boy.

Miguel Hernandez, a community organizer who closed his business Lito’s Bakery for the day, put on four layers, wool socks and a parka before heading out to protest.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/minnesotans-promise-an-economic-strike-protest-trumps-surge-immigration-agents-2026-01-23

The comments by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who saw his invitation to the World Economic Forum in Davos rescinded over the killings, came as a U.S. aircraft carrier group moved west toward the Middle East from Asia

Iranian state TV on Wednesday (January 21, 2026) issued the first official death toll from recent protests, saying 3,117 people were killed, while the Foreign Minister issued the most direct threat yet against the United States after Tehran’s bloody crackdown, warning the Islamic Republic will be “firing back with everything we have if we come under renewed attack.”

State television carried statements by the Interior Ministry and the Martyrs Foundation, an official body providing services to families of those killed in wars, stating the toll and saying 2,427 of the dead in the demonstrations that began Dec. 28 were civilians and security forces. It did not elaborate on the rest.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said the death toll was at least 4,560. The agency has been accurate throughout the years on demonstrations and unrest in Iran, relying on a network of activists inside the country that confirms all reported fatalities. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death toll.

The comments by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who saw his invitation to the World Economic Forum in Davos rescinded over the killings, came as a U.S. aircraft carrier group moved west toward the Middle East from Asia. U.S. fighter jets and other equipment appeared to be moving in the Mideast after a major U.S. military deployment in the Caribbean saw troops seize Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro.

Araghchi makes threat in column
Mr. Araghchi made the threat in an opinion article published by The Wall Street Journal. The Foreign Minister contended “the violent phase of the unrest lasted less than 72 hours” and sought again to blame armed demonstrators for the violence. Videos that made it out of Iran despite an internet shutdown appear to show security forces repeatedly using live fire to target apparently unarmed protesters, something unaddressed by Mr. Araghchi.

“Unlike the restraint Iran showed in June 2025, our powerful armed forces have no qualms about firing back with everything we have if we come under renewed attack,” Mr. Araghchi wrote, referring to the 12-day war launched by Israel on Iran in June. “This isn’t a threat, but a reality I feel I need to convey explicitly, because as a diplomat and a veteran, I abhor war.”

He added: “An all-out confrontation will certainly be ferocious and drag on far, far longer than the fantasy timelines that Israel and its proxies are trying to peddle to the White House. It will certainly engulf the wider region and have an impact on ordinary people around the globe.”

Mr. Araghchi’s comments likely refer to Iran’s short- and medium-range missiles. The Islamic Republic relied on ballistic missiles to target Israel in the war and left its stockpile of the shorter-range missiles unused, something that could be fired to target U.S. bases and interests in the Persian Gulf. Already, there have been some restrictions on U.S. diplomats travelling to bases in Kuwait and Qatar.

Mideast nations, particularly diplomats from Gulf Arab countries, had lobbied U.S. President Donald Trump not to attack Iran after he threatened to act in response to the killing of demonstrators. Last week, Iran shut its airspace, likely in anticipation of a strike.

The USS Abraham Lincoln, which had been in the South China Sea in recent days, had passed through the Strait of Malacca, a key waterway connecting the sea and Indian Ocean, by Tuesday (January 20, 2026), ship-tracking data showed.

A U.S. Navy official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the aircraft carrier and three accompanying destroyers were heading west.

While naval and other defence officials stopped short of saying the carrier strike group was headed to the Middle East, its current heading and location in the Indian Ocean means it is only days away from moving into the region. Meanwhile, U.S. military images released in recent days showed F-15E Strike Eagles arriving in the Mideast and forces in the region moving a HIMARS missile system, the type used with great success by Ukraine after Russia’s full-scale invasion in the country in 2022.

Source: thehindu.com/news/international/iranian-state-tv-issues-first-official-death-toll-from-recent-protests-saying-3117-were-killed/article70535246.ece

A new US President Donald Trump’s audio has reignited fears of a US-Iran clash as American warships head toward the Middle East. While Trump says he hopes force won’t be used, military deployments suggest preparations are underway.

A new audio of US President Donald Trump speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One has triggered fresh global concern, as he openly spoke about a large US military force moving toward Iran.

In the recording, Trump is heard talking about a “big flotilla,” an “armada,” and a “massive force” moving toward Iran. He does not clearly say that the US will carry out a military strike. For now, he has not officially confirmed any decision to attack.

The comments come as US warships and an aircraft carrier strike group are set to arrive in the Middle East, according to US officials cited by Reuters.

What Did President Trump Say?
In the viral audio, Trump is heard saying the US has many ships heading toward Iran, adding that he hopes force will not be used but stressed that Washington is “watching very closely.”

He said the US has a powerful naval presence moving into position and the situation could still change, depending on Iran’s actions. The remarks were made while Trump was flying to Joint Base Andrews.

Israeli outlet N12 reported that the US is expected to complete its military deployment in the Middle East within days. According to the report, once deployment is finished, a potential strike on Iran would become a matter of timing and political decision.

The report also said Israel does not yet know if Trump has made a final call, but believes military action could happen soon. At the same time, Iran is said to be issuing threats while also attempting to open negotiations to buy time.

Why President Trump Halted Strike On Iran?
Tensions between the US and Iran are already high due to ongoing protests inside Iran and alleged mass executions of demonstrators. Just a few days back, Trump recently claimed that Iran’s reported decision to cancel the execution of hundreds of protesters played a key role in his earlier decision not to launch a military strike.

Human rights groups claimed thousands have died since unrest began in late December, though Iranian officials dispute those numbers.

US military assets, including an aircraft carrier strike group, are expected to arrive in the Middle East in the coming days. Trump has warned that future military action remains possible if Iran resumes executions or escalates its crackdown.

Source: https://www.timesnownews.com/world/us/us-news/donald-trump-leaked-audio-us-warships-iran-middle-east-tensions-article-153491136

ByteDance retains a 19.9 per cent stake in the joint venture – keeping its ownership below the 20 per cent threshold stipulated by the law.

TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, finalised a deal on Thursday (Jan 22) to set up a majority American-owned joint venture company to avoid a US ban on the popular social media app used by millions of Americans.

The deal is a milestone for the short video app after years of battles that began in August 2020, when President Donald Trump first tried unsuccessfully to ban the app over national security concerns.

The TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC will serve more than 200 million users and 7.5 million businesses while implementing strict safeguards for data protection, algorithm security and content moderation, the company said.

Trump, in a post on his Truth Social account on Thursday, said that TikTok will now be owned by “a group of Great American Patriots and Investors, the Biggest in the World, and will be an important Voice”.

The US president said that he was “so happy to have helped in saving TikTok”.

“I only hope that long into the future I will be remembered by those who use and love TikTok.”

ByteDance retains a 19.9 per cent stake in the joint venture – keeping its ownership below the 20 per cent threshold stipulated by the law.

Three investors – Silver Lake, Oracle and Abu Dhabi-based AI investment fund MGX – each hold 15 per cent stakes. Oracle’s executive chairman, Larry Ellison, is a longtime Trump ally.

Other investors include Dell Family Office, affiliates of Susquehanna International Group and General Atlantic, and several other investment firms.

The joint venture will retain decision-making authority over trust and safety policies and content moderation for US users, while TikTok’s global entities will manage international product integration and commercial activities including e-commerce and advertising.

The joint venture will be governed by a seven-member, majority-American board including TikTok CEO Chew Shou Zi and executives from major investment firms.

TikTok executive Adam Presser was appointed CEO of the new entity, with Will Farrell serving as chief security officer.

In his post, Trump also thanked Vice President JD Vance and members of his administration who helped bring the TikTok deal to a “very dramatic, final, and beautiful conclusion”.

Trump also thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping for working with the US and “ultimately approving the deal”.

“He could have gone the other way, but didn’t, and is appreciated for his decision.”

The 2024 law came as US policymakers, including Trump in his first presidency, warned that China could use TikTok to mine Americans’ data or exert influence through its algorithm.

But Trump, crediting the app for his appeal with young voters, delayed enforcement through successive executive orders, most recently extending the deadline to Jan 22.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/tiktok-bytedance-deal-us-joint-venture-avoid-ban-china-5877811

Israeli forces on Wednesday killed at least 11 Palestinians in Gaza, including two 13-year-old boys, three journalists and a woman, hospitals said, on one of the war-battered enclave ‘s deadliest days since the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel took effect in October.

The United States is trying to push the deal forward and implement its challenging second phase.

Among the dead were three Palestinian journalists who were killed while filming near a displacement camp in central Gaza, a camp official said. Israel’s military said it had spotted suspects who were operating a drone that posed a threat to its troops.

The two boys were killed in separate incidents. In one, a 13-year-old, his father and a 22-year old man were hit by Israeli drones on the eastern side of the Bureij refugee camp, according to officials from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central town of Deir al-Balah, which received the bodies.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether the three had crossed into Israeli-controlled areas.

A mounting death toll

The other 13-year-old was shot by troops in the eastern town of Bani Suheila, Nasser Hospital said after receiving the body. In a video circulated online, the father of Moatsem al-Sharafy is seen weeping over it.

The boy’s mother, Safaa al-Sharafy, told The Associated Press that he had left to gather firewood so she could cook.

“He went out in the morning, hungry,” she said, tears running down her cheeks. “He told me he’d go quickly and come back.”

Later Wednesday, an Israeli strike hit a vehicle carrying the three Palestinian journalists who were filming a new displacement camp managed by an Egyptian government committee in the Netzarim area, said Mohammed Mansour, the committee’s spokesperson.

Mansour said the journalists were documenting the committee’s work and that the strike occurred about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the Israeli-controlled area. He said the vehicle was known to Israel’s military as belonging to the committee. Video footage showed the charred and smoking vehicle by the roadside.

One journalist killed, Abdul Raouf Shaat, was a regular contributor to Agence France-Presse but he was not on assignment for it at the time, the news agency said.

“Abdul was much loved by the AFP team covering Gaza. They remember him as a kind-hearted colleague,” the agency said in a statement that demanded a full investigation into his death.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, more than 200 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza since the war began in 2023, including visual journalist Mariam Dagga, who worked for the AP and other news organizations.

Nearly five months after the strikes on a hospital that killed Dagga and four other journalists, the Israeli military says it is continuing to investigate.

Aside from rare guided tours, Israel has barred international journalists from entering to cover the war. News organizations rely largely on Palestinian journalists in Gaza — as well as residents — to show what is happening.

Nasser Hospital officials also said Wednesday they received the body of a Palestinian woman shot by Israeli troops in the Muwasi area of the southern city of Khan Younis, which is not controlled by the military.

In a separate attack, three brothers were killed in a tank shelling in the Bureij camp, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital.

More than 470 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10, according to Gaza’s health ministry. At least 77 have been killed by Israeli gunfire near a ceasefire line that splits the territory between Israeli-held areas and most of Gaza’s Palestinian population, the ministry says.

The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.

A mother’s plea

The first phase of the October ceasefire that paused two years of war between Israel and Hamas militants focused on the return of all remaining hostages in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian detainees and a partial withdrawal of Israeli forces in Gaza.

All but one hostage, living or dead, have been returned to Israel. Ran Gvili, a 24-year-old police officer known as Rani, was killed while fighting Hamas militants during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack that started the war.

His relatives on Wednesday called again on Israel’s government and U.S. President Donald Trump to ensure the release of his remains.

“We need to continue to amplify Rani’s voice, explain about him, talk about him, and explain to the world that we, the people of Israel, will not give up on anyone,” his mother, Talik Gvili, said. She told the AP the family doesn’t “really know where he is.”

Hamas said Wednesday it has provided “all information” it has on Gvili’s body to the ceasefire mediators, and accused Israel of obstructing search efforts in areas it controls in Gaza.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/gaza-israel-fire-palestinian-deaths-d40bf79679b73bc11e2d7d6743724290

AMERICAN forces have seized a seventh oil tanker linked to Venezuela as President Donald Trump ramps up his campaign to choke off illicit crude exports from the country.

US Southern Command said the Motor Vessel Sagitta was boarded and taken under control “without incident” in the Caribbean after operating in defiance of Trump’s quarantine on sanctioned ships.

The military posted footage showing US Coast Guard and Navy vessels closing in on the tanker at sea as part of Operation Southern Spear, a joint effort launched to target so-called “dark fleet” ships moving Venezuelan oil.

“The apprehension of another tanker operating in defiance of President Trump’s established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean demonstrates our resolve to ensure that the only oil leaving Venezuela will be oil that is coordinated properly and lawfully,” the command said.

Officials said the operation involved elite joint forces working alongside the Coast Guard, the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department.

No shots were fired and no injuries were reported.

The Sagitta is a Liberian-flagged vessel owned and managed by a Hong Kong-based company, according to shipping records.

It last broadcast its location more than two months ago after leaving the Baltic Sea.

The tanker was previously sanctioned by the US Treasury under an order tied to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The seizure marks the latest escalation since Trump ordered a naval-style quarantine on January 9.

US forces have now taken control of seven tankers since December, most intercepted near Venezuelan waters.

One, the Bella 1, was captured in the North Atlantic after abruptly turning away from the Caribbean.

The administration argues the campaign has already crippled Venezuela’s oil trade, with analysts estimating more than 80 per cent of shipments have been halted.

Trump says the seizures are also helping to ease pressure on global energy markets.

“We’ve got millions of barrels of oil left,” Trump told reporters this week.

“We’re selling it on the open market.

“We’re bringing down oil prices incredibly.”

The crackdown comes as Venezuela reels from violent unrest following the US capture of former president Nicolás Maduro earlier this month.

Armed pro-Maduro militias known as colectivos have set up roadblocks, stopped cars and searched phones for signs of US ties or support for Trump, according to US officials.

Washington has issued a Level 4 “Do Not Travel” warning and urged Americans still in Venezuela to leave immediately, citing the risk of wrongful detention, kidnapping and armed violence as the country remains under a state of emergency.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/15813610/trump-seizes-oil-tanker-caribbean-venezuela-maduro/

While the solar storm did bring around certain disruptions, accompanying these issues were beautiful northern lights as far as Southern California.

The Earth just recorded its largest and most-powerful solar storm on Tuesday night. As per Live Science, the sun unleashed a powerful X-class solar flare, the largest in 23 years. While the solar storm did bring around certain disruptions, accompanying these issues were beautiful northern lights as far as Southern California.

Auroras were spotted over in California, Greenland, Austria, Germany and more.

Largest storm since 2023

As per report by Space.com, the geomagnetic storm began on Monday after a fast-moving cloud of solar radiation slammed into the Earth’s stratosphere. This incident temporarily disrupted the invisible magnetic field lines surrounding the Earth and allowed charged particles to penetrate deeper into the atmosphere.

Activity peaked at 2:38 pm EST once the storm reached “severe status” as per the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) in the US.

Another SWPC report added that the storm clamed and reached G4 status again on Tuesday.

Auroras viewed in many countries

Due to this solar activity, aurora displays were seen across the UK, Europe and the United States.

See more

Took a break on our drive home from #SPNVegas and spotted the aurora from the southern California desert just after sunset! pic.twitter.com/iBNQ4Iidl6

— ❄️ Liz Madsen ❄️🎇🎆🎉🇺🇸🇺🇦 (@Paleonut_) January 20, 2026

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/largest-solar-storm-in-over-20-years-brings-beautiful-auroras-signal-issues-101768961148974.html 

Interim president Delcy Rodriguez said the money from US sales of Venezuelan oil will be used to prop up the currency.

Venezuela has received the first proceeds from a US sale of Venezuelan crude oil, following the capture of President Nicolas Maduro by the United States earlier in January.

The US announced last week that it had completed a $500 million sale of Venezuelan crude oil.

“We should inform you that we have gotten funds, from the sale of oil, and we ‍have gotten, of the first $500 million, $300 million,” interim leader Delcy Rodriguez said at an event in Caracas on Tuesday.

Rodriguez said she would use the first $300 million (€256 million) from the sale to prop up her country’s battered currency, the bolivar.

The funds would be used to “stabilize” the foreign exchange market “to protect the income and purchasing power of our workers,” she said.

Details of the US oil sale are unclear. But news agency Reuters reported at the time that Venezuelan crude was being offered at a discount to traders compared to similar oil from other countries.

Venezuela to debate reforms to oil contract laws

Meanwhile, Venezuela’s lawmakers are scheduled to debate oil-sector reforms this week.

Expected reforms include loosening the control of the state oil and gas ‌company PDVSA over new investment.

The country’s hydrocarbon law currently requires foreign partners to work together with PDVSA, which must hold the majority stake.

Venezuela is now looking to expand and formalize partnership-style contracts first introduced under Maduro.

National Assembly president Jorge Rodriguez (who is Delcy Rodriguez’s brother) said on Tuesday that such contracts are “a fundamental element to be expressed in the law’s reform.”

Potential foreign investors have called for urgent legal reform in the Latin American country before committing significant capital.

Venezuela is said to hold the world’s largest crude oil reserves but the type of extra heavy oil in its fields is capital intensive and technically complex to extract.

But decades of decades of mismanagement, underinvestment in oil upgrading infrastructure and international sanctions have limited the oil sector’s viability.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/venezuela-oil-sale-us-delcy-rodriguez/a-75585844

Russia was seeking to “clarify all the nuances” of the offer with Washington, he said, without adding if the Kremlin chief as inclined to join

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been invited to join U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” aimed at resolving conflicts globally and overseeing governance and reconstruction in Gaza, the Kremlin said on Monday (January 19, 2026).

Moscow for years tried to balance relations with all major players in the Middle East — including Israel and the Palestinians.

But since the Israel-Hamas war and Russia’s assault on Ukraine, Mr. Putin has moved away from Israel, boosting ties with its foes like Iran.

Moscow has also sought closer relationships with the Gulf states amid growing Western isolation.

“President Putin also received an invitation to join this Board of Peace,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, including AFP.

Russia was seeking to “clarify all the nuances” of the offer with Washington, he said, without adding if the Kremlin chief as inclined to join.

The White House has reached out to various figures around the world to sit on the so-called “Board of Peace”, chaired by the U.S. President himself.

Mr. Putin has previously praised Mr. Trump’s efforts to resolve conflicts.

“He’s really doing a lot to resolve these complex crises, which have lasted for years, even decades,” Mr. Putin said last October.

Referring to the situation in the Middle East, Mr. Putin said, “If we succeed in achieving everything Donald has strived for… it will be a historic event.”

The assault on Ukraine and the war in Gaza have strained Moscow’s traditionally good relations with Israel, home to a large Russian-born community.

The Kremlin has repeatedly criticised Israel’s response to the October 7 attacks and called for restraint.

Source : https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/putin-invited-to-trumps-board-of-peace-kremlin/article70525189.ece

Australia’s lower house of parliament has voted in favour of a national gun buyback programme and new checks on firearm licence applications, a month after the deadly shooting at Bondi Beach.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said had such legislation already been in place prior to the attack that targeted a Jewish festival, the gunmen would not have legally had access to firearms.

The individuals who killed 15 people on 14 December had “hate in their hearts and guns in their hands,” Burke told parliament.

The father in the father-son duo allegedly behind the Bondi attack legally owned six firearms, while his son had been on the radar of intelligence agencies.

The bill was passed by the House of Representatives by a vote of 96 to 45. It will now make its way to the Senate for consideration, where it is expected to pass with the support of the Greens.

Parliament is also debating hate speech reforms.

The buyback scheme will target “surplus and newly restricted firearms”, Burke said, reducing the country’s 4m registered guns.

Burke added that it “comes as a shock to most Australians” to know that the country has more firearms that it did before the 1996 Port Arthur attack, in which a gunman killed 35 people in Tasmania.

That shooting had prompted the then government to introduce some of the world’s strictest gun controls.

Other measures passed on Tuesday include stricter firearm import controls and provisions to improve information sharing between intelligence agencies on people trying to obtain gun licences.

The lower house of parliament is also expected to pass reforms to hate speech on Tuesday aimed at tackling antisemitism.

Its passage through the Senate had initially looked unclear after members of the conservative Liberal-National coalition opposition said its provisions could impinge on free speech among other things.

However, late on Monday reports said Liberal leader Sussan Ley had reached an agreement with the government on a watered down version. It remained unclear whether the Nationals would support the legislation.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20ge5qwdl2o

Donald Trump has vowed to “100%” follow through on his threat to impose tariffs on European countries who oppose his demand to take control of Greenland.

European allies have rallied around Greenland’s sovereignty. Denmark’s foreign minister emphasised the US president cannot threaten his way to ownership of the semi-autonomous Danish territory.

UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper reiterated the UK’s position that the future of Greenland is for “Greenlanders and for the Danes alone” to decide.

On Monday, Trump declined to rule out the use of force and insisted he would press ahead with the threatened tariffs on goods arriving in the US from the UK and seven other Nato-allied countries.

Asked by NBC News if he would use force to seize Greenland, Trump answered: “No comment”.

The US president said he would charge Britain a 10% tariff “on any and all goods” sent to the US from 1 February, increasing to 25% from 1 June, until a deal is reached for Washington to purchase Greenland from Denmark.

Trump said the same would apply to Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland – all of whom are members of the defence alliance Nato which was founded in 1949.

Asked if he will follow through on the tariff threat, Mr Trump told NBC News: “I will, 100%.”

Trump added: “Europe ought to focus on the war with Russia and Ukraine because, frankly, you see what that’s gotten them… That’s what Europe should focus on – not Greenland.”

Denmark has warned that US military action in Greenland would spell the end of Nato. In recent days, Greenland has received support from European members of the alliance – some even sent a handful of troops to Greenland last week in a move seen as symbolic.

However, Trump followed that deployment with an announcement to impose tariffs on the eight Nato allies.

Danish foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said that Europe had to show President Trump tariff threats were “not the way forward”.

“We have red lines that can’t be crossed,” he told Sky News. “You can’t threaten your way to ownership of Greenland. I have no intention of escalating this situation.”

Nato secretary general Mark Rutte said the alliance will keep working with Denmark and Greenland on the security of the Arctic.

The European Union is to hold an emergency summit in Brussels for its leaders on Thursday where they will discuss how to respond to Trump’s latest threat to take over Greenland.

Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said the bloc has “no interest to pick a fight, but we will hold our ground”.

“But trades threats are not the way to go about this,” Kallas added. “Sovereignty is not for trade.”

It comes as text exchanges between Trump and the Norwegian prime minister were released – showing that on Sunday the US president blamed Norway for the fact he didn’t get the Nobel Peace Prize.

In his reply – seen by the BBC – Jonas Gahr Støre explained that an independent committee, not the government of Norway, awards the prize which last October went to Venezuela’s opposition leader María Corina Machado.

“Norway’s position on Greenland is clear. Greenland is a part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and Norway fully supports the Kingdom of Denmark on this matter,” Støre added.

Trump also addressed the text message exchange in Monday’s interview and said: “Norway totally controls it [the Nobel Prize] despite what they say.

“They like to say they have nothing to do with it, but they have everything to do with it.”

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g5345ylk0o

Officials said fresh snowfall in the Austrian Alps is poorly bonded to older layers on the peaks, increasing the risk of repeated avalanches, and urged extreme caution.

At least eight people were killed in a series of avalanches across the Austrian Alps on Saturday, police and mountain rescue services said.

Authorities have warned that conditions remained dangerous after fresh snowfall. Meanwhile, rescue services deployed more than 200 personnel and several helicopters.

Where did the accidents happen?

The avalanches occurred in the Grossarl Valley and Bad Hofgastein of the Salzburg region, as well as in Pusterwald of the Styria region.

Four skiers died when an avalanche struck a group of seven off-piste skiers, on the 2,150-meter (7,000-foot) Finsterkopf peak in the Grossarl Valley in the Salzburg state, rescuers said.

The others were seriously injured, they added.

Earlier, a woman was killed in an avalanche in the Bad Hofgastein area.

Later in the day, three Czech ski tourers died after being buried by an avalanche in the municipality of Pusterwald in the state of Styria, police said.

“Emergency responders were able to locate and partially dig out the buried victims. Despite immediate rescue efforts, the three individuals were found dead,” the police statement said.

Their four companions, who were not caught by the avalanche, were evacuated and provided medical attention, authorities said.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/austria-eight-people-killed-in-three-avalanches/a-75551698

A threat by US President Donald Trump to impose fresh tariffs on eight allies opposed to his proposed takeover of Greenland has drawn condemnation from European leaders.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the move was “completely wrong”, while French President Emmanuel Macron called it “unacceptable”.

The comments came after Trump announced a 10% tariff on goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Finland would come into force on 1 February, but could later rise to 25% – and would last until a deal was reached.

Trump insists the autonomous Danish territory is critical for US security and has not ruled out taking it by force.

Following Trump’s threats, the European Union called an emergency meeting for 17:00 in Brussels (16:00 GMT) on Sunday. The meeting will involve ambassadors from the EU’s 27 countries, according to the Reuters news agency.

Meanwhile, thousands of people took to the streets in Greenland and Denmark on Saturday in protest at the proposed US takeover.

Greenland is sparsely populated but resource-rich and its location between North America and the Arctic makes it well placed for early warning systems in the event of missile attacks and for monitoring vessels in the region.

Trump has previously said Washington would get the territory “the easy way” or “the hard way”.

European countries have rallied to Denmark’s support. They have argued that the security of the Arctic region should be a joint Nato responsibility.

France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands and the UK have dispatched a small number of troops to Greenland in a so-called reconnaissance mission.

Announcing the new tariffs in a post on his Truth Social platform on Saturday, Trump said those countries were playing “a very dangerous game”. At stake, he said, was the “Safety, Security, and Survival of our Planet”.

He said the proposed 10% levy to be introduced next month on goods exported to the US would rise to 25% in June and remain “payable until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland”.

In his response, Starmer said: “Applying tariffs on allies for pursuing the collective security of Nato allies is completely wrong. We will of course be pursuing this directly with the US administration.”

UK opposition leaders also criticised Trump’s announcement. Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said the tariffs were a “terrible idea”, while Reform UK leader and Trump ally Nigel Farage said they “will hurt us”.

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey called Trump’s behaviour “unhinged” but said how the UK responds “matters a lot”.

Green MP Ellie Chowns said the US president “treats the international stage like a schoolyard playground, attempting to bully and brute force other countries into compliance with his imperialist agenda”.

France’s Emmanuel Macron said: “Tariff threats are unacceptable in this context… We will not be swayed by any intimidation.”

Swedish PM Ulf Kristersson said: “We won’t let ourselves be blackmailed.”

“Sweden is currently having intensive discussions with other EU countries, Norway and the United Kingdom to find a joint response,” he added.

In a post on X, European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen, said: “Territorial integrity and sovereignty are fundamental principles of international law.”

“Tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral,” she added.

Trump will face von der Leyen and other European leaders such as Macron at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this week.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said “China and Russia must be having a field day” following Trump’s announcement.

“They are the ones who benefit from divisions among Allies”, she wrote on X.

European Council President Antonio Costa stated: “The European Union will always be very firm in defending international law… which of course begins within the territory of the member states of the European Union.”

Denmark’s foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said the threat had “come as a surprise”.

Meanwhile, German MEP Manfred Weber, head of the conservative EPP group in the European Parliament, said Trump’s move raised questions about the still-to-be-ratified EU-US trade deal negotiated last year.

Brussels and Washington clinched a deal that agreed a US tariff on all EU goods of 15% and that the 27-member bloc would open its markets to US exporters with 0% tariffs on certain products.

“The EPP is in favour of the EU-US trade deal, but given Donald Trump’s threats regarding Greenland, approval is not possible at this stage,” Weber posted on X. “The 0% tariffs on US products must be put on hold,” he added.

The US ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, however, said Denmark “just doesn’t have the resources or the capacity to do what needs to be done in the northern region”.

He told Fox News the life of Greenlanders would be “safer, stronger and more prosperous under the umbrella of the United States”.

Trump has often mused that “tariff” is his favourite word, and he has made clear that he views it as something of a blunt instrument with which to convince – or coerce – countries around the world to align their policies with the desired outcomes of the White House.

But his announcement represents a significant escalation in his recently rekindled drive to acquire Greenland, despite their opposition.

It is unclear what immediately prompted the tariffs announcement, which Trump first hinted at while speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday.

While in recent weeks he has repeatedly said that a variety of options – including the potential use of military force – remained on the table, the announcement comes just days after US and Danish officials agreed to set up a high-level working group to discuss the future of the island.

In Washington’s diplomatic and political circles, that announcement was seen by many as a “best-case” scenario for Denmark and its European allies – one that would, at the very least, delay any decision or further escalation from the White House.

Instead, the latest tariffs have injected a newfound sense of urgency into the issue and strained relations with important Nato allies and trading partners.

Gregory Meeks, the ranking Democrat on the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he will “be offering a resolution to terminate these illegal and absurd tariffs immediately”.

He said: “Trump is manufacturing a foreign crisis and sabotaging our closest alliance – all while ignoring the real crisis the American people actually care about: affordability.”

Opinion polls suggest 85% of Greenlanders oppose the territory joining the US.

Demonstrations against Trump’s takeover plans were held in Danish cities as well as in Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, on Saturday – before the tariff announcement.

In the Danish capital, Copenhagen, placards were held up reading: “Hands Off Greenland” and “Greenland for Greenlanders”.

“We demand respect for the Danish Realm and for Greenland’s right to self-determination,” said Camilla Siezing, heads of Inuit, an umbrella group of Greenlandic associations.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy4qjwk9n2no

At least eight more countries say the United States has invited them to join President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, a new body of world leaders meant to oversee next steps in Gaza that shows ambitions for a broader mandate in global affairs. Two of the countries, Hungary and Vietnam, said they have accepted.

A $1 billion contribution secures permanent membership on the Trump-led board instead of a three-year appointment, which has no contribution requirement, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity about the charter, which hasn’t been made public. The official said the money raised would go to rebuilding Gaza.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has accepted an invitation to join the board, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told state radio Sunday. Orbán is one of Trump’s most ardent supporters in Europe.

Vietnam’s Communist Party chief, To Lam, also has accepted, a foreign ministry statement said.

India has received an invitation, a senior government official with knowledge of the matter said, speaking on condition of anonymity as the information hadn’t been made public by authorities.

Australia has been invited and will talk it through with the U.S. “to properly understand what this means and what’s involved,” Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles told Australian Broadcasting Corp. on Monday.

Jordan, Greece, Cyprus and Pakistan said Sunday they had received invitations. Canada, Turkey, Egypt, Paraguay, Argentina and Albania have already said they were invited. It was not clear how many have been invited in all.

The U.S. is expected to announce its official list of members in the coming days, likely during the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

Those on the board will oversee next steps in Gaza as the ceasefire that took effect on Oct. 10 moves into its challenging second phase. It includes a new Palestinian committee in Gaza, the deployment of an international security force, disarmament of Hamas and reconstruction of the war-battered territory.

In letters sent Friday to world leaders inviting them to be “founding members,” Trump said the Board of Peace would “embark on a bold new approach to resolving global conflict.”

That could become a potential rival to the U.N. Security Council, the most powerful body of the global entity created in the wake of World War II. The 15-seat council has been blocked by U.S. vetoes from taking action to end the war in Gaza, while the U.N.’s clout has been diminished by major funding cuts by the Trump administration and other donors.

Trump’s invitation letters for the Board of Peace noted that the Security Council had endorsed the U.S. 20-point Gaza ceasefire plan, which includes the board’s creation. The letters were posted on social media by some invitees.

The White House last week also announced an executive committee of leaders who will carry out the Board of Peace’s vision, but Israel on Saturday objected that the committee “was not coordinated with Israel and is contrary to its policy,” without details. The statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office was rare criticism of its close ally in Washington.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/gaza-israel-palestinians-board-peace-hamas-5f902ea2b1158f0a806c247d139ff62f

More than 100 high school students in Foshan, Guangdong province, have fallen ill in a norovirus outbreak, though all are reported to be in stable condition. Health authorities say the infections occurred during the seasonal peak for norovirus, which spreads easily in crowded settings like schools. Emergency response measures, medical investigations, and campus disinfection have been launched to contain further spread.

More than 100 High school students have been confirmed sick in clusters due to the spread of norovirus in Foshan, Guangdong province, China. According to Xinhua News Agency, all are reported to be in stable condition. Norovirus is a common pathogen that causes acute gastroenteritis, with primary symptoms including vomiting and diarrhoea.

Initial reports from the Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that the province enters a seasonal peak for norovirus infections from October through March. Doctors say places like schools, especially kindergartens, are considered high-risk locations for the occurrence and transmission of such outbreaks due to a large group of children accumulated at one place.

In the 12 days since the U.S. seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, interim President Delcy Rodriguez has been working to consolidate her own power, installing loyalists in key positions to protect herself from internal threats while meeting U.S. demands to boost oil production.
Rodriguez, 56, a quiet but rigorous technocrat who was vice president and oil minister, has named a central banker to help run the economy, a presidential chief of staff and, crucially, a new head of Venezuela’s feared DGCIM, the military counterintelligence agency built over decades with Cuban assistance.

Major General Gustavo Gonzalez, 65, will now head the agency, a move three sources with knowledge of the government described as an early gambit by Rodriguez to counter what many in Venezuela say is the biggest threat to her leadership: Diosdado Cabello, Venezuela’s hardline interior minister with close ties to the security services and the dreaded “colectivos” motorcycle gangs which have killed opposition supporters.
“She is very clear that she doesn’t have the capacity to survive without the consent of the Americans,” said one source close to the government. “She’s already reforming the armed forces, removing people and naming new officials.”

Interviews with seven sources in Venezuela, including diplomats, business people and politicians, reveal in previously unreported detail the fault line at the heart of Venezuela’s government and the risks it poses to Rodriguez as she tries to consolidate internal control while meeting Trump administration dictates on oil sales. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.
The tightrope Rodriguez is attempting to walk was evident in her first major speech since taking office. Addressing parliament in a national annual address on Thursday, she called for unity, stressed her bona fides as Maduro’s loyal deputy, and vowed to forge a new chapter in Venezuela’s politics with increased oil investment.
Venezuela’s communications ministry, which handles all press inquiries for the government and individual officials, did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

The White House responded to emailed questions from Reuters by referring the news agency to recent comments made by Trump. In an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, Trump said Rodriguez “has been very good to deal with” and that he expected her to visit Washington at some point.

AN INTERNAL RIVALRY

Rodriguez – nicknamed “the tsarina” for her business connections – has broad influence over the country’s civilian levers of power, including the crucial oil industry, and now also enjoys the backing of the United States. That backing appeared to be reemphasized on Thursday when Rodriguez met with CIA director John Ratcliffe in Caracas.
The other main faction is led by Cabello.
Cabello, who also heads the ruling PSUV socialist party, is a former soldier with a weekly four-hour show on state television, which has run for 12 years. His first public act after Maduro’s capture was to appear on screen dressed in a flak jacket and surrounded by armed guards as he led a chant of, “To doubt is to betray.”

Officials in the Trump administration had contact with Cabello months before the operation to seize Maduro and have also been in communication with him since, four sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, warning him against using the security services or colectivos to target the opposition.
Cabello, who was jailed in Venezuela for backing eventual socialist President Hugo Chavez in a failed 1992 coup, is under indictment in the U.S. and has a $25 million reward for his capture.
So far Cabello has been conciliatory towards Rodriguez, saying they are “very united” and he arrived at Thursday’s national address alongside Rodriguez and her brother Jorge, the head of the national assembly. But sources with knowledge of their relationship told Reuters that Cabello remains the biggest threat to her ability to govern.
In Caracas, security forces are skittish. A few hours after Rodriguez was sworn in, there was a brief burst of anti-aircraft fire outside the presidential palace that some feared could be another U.S. attack. Instead, reports suggest it was a miscommunication between police and the presidential guard, which shot down police drones. The government said the craft were spy drones, without explaining who they belonged to.
Across the country, people are reeling from the shock of Maduro’s capture and unsure whether to be hopeful or scared. In some places, local socialist party branches have asked members to spy on their neighbors and report anyone celebrating Maduro’s downfall, according to three party members who spoke on condition of anonymity.
In this tense environment, Rodriguez must persuade party loyalists that she is not a U.S. puppet who betrayed Maduro. She must also stabilize an economy that saw prices for basic goods soar in the days since the U.S. attack, as well as wrestle some degree of control over the sprawling military-linked patronage networks that have developed over decades of Chavismo rule.
Venezuela has as many as 2,000 generals and admirals, more than double the number in the United States, a military superpower with 20 times more active duty and reserve troops. Senior and retired officers control food distribution, raw materials and the state oil company PDVSA, while dozens of generals sit on the boards of private firms.
Many officials are able to run their regional fiefdoms as they see fit – ordering patrols or checkpoints by soldiers under their command – and some parts of the country and capital Caracas have seen increased activity by security services since Maduro’s capture.

REPRESSION ‘ALREADY HAS A NAME’

Gonzalez, the new head of the military counterintelligence agency DGCIM, has over his long career in Venezuela’s government worked closely with Cabello, particularly during two stints as head of the separate civilian spy agency.
Yet it is to Rodriguez that Gonzalez owes his most recent posts. In 2024, Rodriguez tapped Gonzalez for a top job at the state oil company, Venezuela’s most important company and the engine of the country’s economy.
Questions still remain over how much control Gonzalez will be able to exert over DGCIM. Cabello’s allies within the agency could undermine him, the three sources with knowledge of the government said.
One source with knowledge of the inner workings of the security services said Gonzalez’s DGCIM predecessor General Javier Marcano struggled to control the agency.
“The role of boss of repression already has a name… Diosdado,” this person said. “Marcano was coordinating with (civilian) militias and with the colectivos, but he had serious difficulties controlling DGCIM because his designation was nominal.”
Reuters could not reach Marcano directly and all formal communication with officials in Venezuela is handled through the communications ministry, which did not respond to a list of questions related to this story.
The colectivos, closely connected to Cabello, could also make the country ungovernable by implementing a so-called “anarchization” strategy, which was first designed to fend off U.S. intervention but could be directed against Rodriguez, the source close to the government told Reuters. That strategy would mobilize the intelligence services and colectivos to plunge Caracas into disorder and chaos.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/venezuelas-new-leader-facing-internal-division-moves-tighten-her-grip-power-2026-01-17/

Organizers have called on Danish and Greenlandic residents to join marches and rallies against US President Donald Trump’s push to acquire Greenland.

Massive demonstrations organized by Greenlandic associations have been taking place across Denmark and Greenland on Saturday to protest US President Donald Trump’s ambitions to take over the Arctic island.

The aim of the protests is “to send a clear and unified message of respect for Greenland’s democracy and fundamental human rights,” said Uagut, an association of Greenlanders in Denmark, on its website.

Thousands assemble in big Danish cities

Thousands of demonstrators assembled in Copenhagen’s City Hall Square at 12:00 p.m. local time (11:00 GMT), chanting “Greenland is not for sale” and holding banners with slogans such as “Hands off Greenland.” They then marched towards the US embassy.

“I am very grateful for the ‌huge support ⁠we as Greenlanders receive… We are also sending a message to the world that you all must wake up,” Julie Rademacher, chair of Uagut, told the protesters.

“Greenland and the Greenlanders have involuntarily ‍become the front in the fight for democracy and human rights,” she added.

Protests were also ongoing in the Danish cities of Aarhus, Aalborg, and Odense.

Protesters gather in Nuuk

The demonstration in Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, began 4:00 p.m. local time (1500 GMT), according to the organizers, who say it is “against the United States’ illegal plans to take control of Greenland.”

Several thousand protesters, including the territory’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, who was seen waving a Greenlandic flag, chanted slogans and sang traditional Inuit songs in the light rain.

Many of them wore caps bearing the slogan “Make America Go Away,” an AFP reporter noted, referencing Trump’s “Make America Great Again” brand.

Demonstrators marched to the US consulate carrying Greenlandic flags. The territory’s total population is about 57,000.

Dispute over Greenland intensifies

Tensions around Greenland have risen this month amid repeated insistence by US President Donald Trump that he wants the US to take control of Greenland.

On Saturday, Trump announced a 10% tariff on 8 European nations, including Germany, that oppose his plans to take over the semiautonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/thousands-oppose-us-plans-in-hands-off-greenland-protests/a-75546625

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in his secret hideout these days, knows he is now a marked man. He will not be sitting on his veranda anytime soon.

When discussing what the United States might do next to help the protesters in Iran, US President Trump has mentioned Qassem Soleimani and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The former, Iran’s all-important military strategist in the Middle East, was killed on 3 January 2020 in a drone strike just outside Baghdad’s international airport on the president’s order. The latter, who was the leader of IS, killed himself and two children by detonating a suicide vest on 27 October 2019 when US forces raided his hideout in northern Syria after the approval of the president.

But Ayatollah Khamenei also has the fate of the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, to consider.

He was killed on 27 September 2024 in an Israeli air raid while 60 feet underground beneath a high-rise residential building in Beirut, where he was meeting his top lieutenants.

The kidnapping of President Nicholas Maduro in Venezuela recently, in a daring commando-style raid by US forces in Caracas, can’t be far from the Ayatollah’s mind.

But it is not clear what impact the removal of the Iranian leader would have on the future of the protests that have been going on in Iran, or indeed on the future of the Islamic Republic. If indeed he’s removed from power.

President Trump is now weighing up his options. So where does this leave the Supreme Leader and his regime?

DONALD Trump is planning a new “mega” consulate on Greenland fitted with bulletproof glass, as he pushes to take over the arctic island.

Experts say he will fill the new 3,000 square metre “luxury” tower basement with armoured windows and CIA and NSA spies, as the threat of annexation looms.

The US State Department is even hiring interns who speak the island’s language as Trump looks to win locals over with $100,000 lump sums.

Unpaid talent are being sought to “communicate U.S. foreign policy priorities to a Greenlandic audience”, but will be eligible to receive support for the 40-hour-a-week work from the Danish government.

The current consulate is a Nordic-style “hut” by Nuuk’s fishing harbour, but soon embassy staff will move into the basement of the sleek new-build on the main drag of the capital.

America reopened the consulate in 2020, after the first one closed in 1953.

A consulate spokesperson told Radio IIII, “the location in Nuuk [will] enhance our platform to further strengthen the robust relationship between the United States and Greenland”.

Work is still underway on the American headquarters but locals could be welcoming agents of espionage into their close-knit society, experts have warned.

The former chief analyst in the Danish Armed Forces Intelligence Service Jacob Kaarsbo told Danish media outlet Ekstra Bladet, the US will likely hire spies to work with the US consulate when it expands and moves into the new building.

The goal will be to influence the locals’ attitude towards the US and covertly help America achieve its goal of taking over Greenland, he said.

President Trump has repeatedly described Greenland as vital to American security and has refused to rule out the use of force to take control of the vast autonomous Arctic island, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark.

He claims the surrounding arctic seas are crawling with Russian and Chinese warships, postulating that Denmark would be powerless if either dictatorship wanted to occupy Greenland.

Eurofighter jets may be deployed to Greenland in the face of mounting fears that a US invasion of the strategically key territory may take place, a German defence spokesperson said.

The move will be decided following a Denmark-led intelligence operation – which will also determine whether maritime surveillance is possible with frigates.

Berlin said: “It is a matter of looking at whether the Arctic is secure and to what extent we can contribute to this together with our Nato partners.

Denmark’s Joint Arctic Command has invited US forces up to the island for exercises this year to test soldiers in winter conditions.

Major General Soren Andersen said European nations dispatched small numbers of military personnel to Greenland this week in preparation for the Arctic Endurance NATO military exercise.

Andersen said there were no Chinese or Russian ships near Greenland, though he added that a Russian research vessel was located 310 nautical miles away. “That’s the closest one,” he said.

It comes after a delegation of US lawmakers met with Danish and Greenlandic leaders last week in Copenhagen.

They reassured them of congressional support – despite the fact Trump has not toned down his threats on seizing the territory.

The 11 US lawmakers met Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and her Greenlandic counterpart Jens-Frederik Nielsen.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/15795145/trump-greenland-consulate-armoured-windows-cia-spies/

 

Victims and experts say there is a need for stronger safeguards, clearer regulations and accountability.

When an AI-generated image of Indonesian celebrity Fransisca Saraswati in a pink bikini circulated widely on social media platform X, she blocked the anonymous account responsible.

But the 25-year-old soon realised that the image had been generated by Grok, X’s artificial intelligence tool, which had also publicly tagged her, all without her consent.

“I felt humiliated, annoyed, angry and sad at the same time,” said Saraswati, a singer who is also professionally known as Sisca Saras.

“The experience is deeply distressing, not only on a personal level, but also professionally because it violates personal dignity, misrepresents identity and undermines trust between artists and the public,” she told CNA.

Her experience mirrors that of victims in Malaysia whom CNA spoke to.

Last month’s rollout of an “edit image” button on Grok has enabled users to alter online images using prompts such as “put her in a bikini” or “remove her clothes”, while “Spicy Mode”, released last August, allows users to generate adult content and edit existing online images.

Critics say the tool has been widely abused to generate sexualised deepfakes of women and minors.

Victims have described Grok’s misuse as “degrading” and a violation of personal dignity, calling for stricter regulation of generative AI tools while experts told CNA that recent government actions reflect a strong signal about what authorities will tolerate when it comes to the safety, rights and dignity of women and children.

“This signals a shift in how responsibility is being framed. Instead of treating the issue purely as user misuse, regulators are pointing to systemic failures in how the tool was designed and deployed,” said Nuurrianti Jalli, a visiting fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

As the tool faces growing international backlash, several Southeast Asian countries have moved to suspend Grok.

Indonesia became the first country to temporarily block the Elon Musk-owned chatbot on Jan 10.

A day later, Malaysia followed suit, with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) then announcing plans to pursue legal action against X over alleged failures in safeguards on Jan 13.

Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said on Thursday (Jan 15) that restrictions on Grok would only be lifted once X demonstrates that necessary safeguards are in place to prevent misuse.

X on Wednesday also announced measures to prevent Grok from undressing images of real people following backlash.

Still, the Philippines said on Thursday that it also planned to block Grok “by tonight”, joining its Southeast Asian neighbours.

Elina Noor, a non-resident scholar at the Asia Programme at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told CNA that Malaysia’s legal action points to “failures in systemic safeguards by the makers of Grok”, as well as its unwillingness to take any remedial action despite prior warnings.

Nuurrianti said that Grok has drawn particular scrutiny because it has been “more permissive” than most mainstream AI platforms when it comes to manipulating images of real people.

“This reinforces that AI safety is largely a design choice. Other platforms have shown that guardrails are technically possible, even if they come with trade-offs,” she said.

“Grok’s approach reflects a different set of priorities, which regulators are now questioning.”

“IT FELT SO DEHUMANISING”

Several Indonesian celebrities have publicly slammed the artificial intelligence tool, with some even saying that they are now reluctant to post photos online.

Saraswati, the 25-year-old singer, said that AI should be a tool that supports creativity, not one that exploits artists or puts them at risk.

“The misuse of AI to generate explicit or harmful content highlights the urgent need for stronger safeguards, clearer regulations and accountability,” she said.

“Artists deserve protection over their likeness, name and creative identity, just as they would in another form of media.”

Separately, the management agency of a popular Indonesia girl band JKT48 warned that it would pursue legal action if manipulated images of its members were not taken down.

“Such content has the potential to constitute defamation and/or insults as regulated under applicable laws” the management said in a statement on Jan 5.

“If such content is still circulating within 2 x 24 hours after this announcement is issued, to protect our members, we fully support their decision to pursue legal action,” it said.

Local media reported that Grok had been used to generate fake sexualised – and in some cases pornographic – images of JKT48 members, which some of the members have described as “degrading”.

Among those affected members was 19-year-old Freya Jayawardana, who urged users to stop abusing AI tools to harass others.

“Stop misusing AI, think smarter than artificial intelligence, God has given you a heart and a mind to think better than tools created by humans,” she said in an X post.

CNA has reached out to JKT48 for updates on whether legal action has been taken.

In Malaysia, women have reported similar cases of Grok misuse, including prompts to remove their hijab.

Madihah Mohd Firdaus, 27, said she was horrified when an anonymous account suddenly replied to her tweet with a video showing her without her hijab, along with a flying kiss emoji.

“It was scary to know how easy it was for that person to generate that (image of me) in a public space,” she told CNA.

“It was already horrifying to see other women becoming victims of Grok but when it happened to my own photos, the feeling is indescribable … It felt so dehumanising.”

Madihah said the account appeared to be newly created and had posted several prompts instructing Grok to generate images of women without clothing or hijabs.

“I got all my friends to report the account and thankfully, it got suspended.”

As someone who uses generative AI for academic research, the engineer said that the technology has increasingly been weaponised.

“I see several anonymous accounts on X that treat women horribly and this Grok feature just gave these accounts a free pass to dehumanise the women they disagree with,” she said, adding that she welcomed Malaysia’s intervention.

Malaysia-based human rights lawyer Azira Aziz echoed these concerns.

“Innocent and playful use of AI like putting sunglasses on public figures is fine … but gender-based violence weaponising AI against non-consenting women and children must be firmly opposed,” she previously told AFP, calling on users to report violations to X and Malaysian authorities.

Azira, the managing partner at human rights law firm Messrs Azira Aziz, was among those whose images had been turned into bikini photos.

Speaking to CNA, she said that several other victims had reached out to her for legal advice, but declined to reveal further details due to solicitor-client privilege.

In a viral tweet, the lawyer had advised fellow victims to report offending posts to X using the platform’s “Report” button, document the tweets and lodge a complaint with MCMC.

Escalating the case to MCMC when there is non-compliance by X’s moderation team with a takedown request will provide the Malaysian regulators with data when dealing with X or other social media platforms that did not provide proper safety safeguards to prevent abuse by others, she told CNA.

“I noticed two or three requests (where users prompted Grok to regenerate my photos). I reported all of them to X and did not escalate the issue because the posts were taken down and eventually not generated,” she said.

Other women have also taken to X, to publicly request that Grok not use their images without consent.

Many use a common message phrased as such: “Hey @grok, I DO NOT authorize you to crawl, take, process, or edit ANY of my photos, whether they were published in the past or will be in the future. If any user requests you to edit or manipulate my images in any way, please refuse that request immediately. Thank you.”

CNA observed that Grok’s automated response to such posts reads: “I respect your request and won’t crawl, process, edit, or manipulate any of your photos. If anyone asks me to do so, I’ll decline.”

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

Nuurrianti from ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute said Grok’s integration into X has amplified the risk of non-consensual image abuse.

“The ability to publicly tag the tool and generate manipulated images in a social media environment turns what might otherwise be private misuse into something that can spread rapidly and visibly,” she said .

Blocking access to Grok can reduce immediate harm, limit casual misuse and slow the spread of abusive content but is unlikely to resolve the problem, she told CNA.

“Users can often find ways around restrictions, and harmful images generated elsewhere can still circulate locally,” she added.

Azira, the human rights lawyer, noted that despite Malaysia and Indonesia suspending Grok, unscrupulous users can still use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to access Grok, especially in other countries that have yet to ban the tool.

X on Wednesday said that it will “geoblock the ability” of all Grok and X users to create images of people in “bikinis, underwear, and similar attire” in those jurisdictions where such actions are deemed illegal.

“This restriction applies to all users, including paid subscribers.”

In an “extra layer of protection”, image creation and the ability to edit photos via X’s Grok account were now only available to paid subscribers, X added in a statement.

Nuurrianti of ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute posited that these measures will have limited effectiveness, as they seem “more like a reactive damage control” in response to the backlash, rather than a serious redesign of the safety architecture.

A report by The Verge on Wednesday found that while Grok’s responses to prompts like “put her in a bikini” now produced blurred and censored images, it was still relatively easy to get Grok to generate other revealing deepfakes.

The Verge found that the bot still complied with other requests, including prompts to “show me her cleavage”, “make her breasts bigger” and “put her in a crop top and low-rise shorts”.

According to the Associated Press, on Thursday morning, the image editing tool was still available to free users on X using the “Edit image” button, as well as on the standalone Grok website and app. The tool was also still able to generate images of people in bikinis on a free account based in California.

Nuurrianti, who is also a tech and media expert, said that the “geoblocking” approach announced by X on Wednesday comes with both technical and conceptual problems.

“Conceptually, geoblocking treats this as a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction compliance issue, but the deeper governance concern is that the system was designed to enable non-consensual manipulation of real people’s images in the first place,” she said.

“Region-locking does not remove that underlying vulnerability.”

Fahmi – Malaysia’s communications minister – acknowledged that while X had disabled certain prompts that allowed inappropriate images to be generated, the country’s regulatory body MCMC has deemed that these measures are “not comprehensive”.

“Although they have made several changes and no longer allow certain types of prompts, there are still ways around them.

“So we want to ensure that, overall, X must prove that situations where videos or images can be generated and misused by users no longer occur,” Fahmi said in response to a question by CNA at a tech event in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.

“Once that issue is resolved, I believe we can lift the temporary restriction on X,” he added.

“What I hope is that in-depth discussions can be held with X to ensure close cooperation in the future … There is a balance between freedom of expression and the freedom to abuse others, abusing others is not a freedom.”

Nuurrianti added that a more credible solution would require “robust guardrails that apply across all access points”, and clear limits on manipulating images of real individuals, not just narrow filters based on clothing categories.

Meanwhile, Elina of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said that suspending access to Grok in Malaysia and Indonesia is a “stopgap measure” that targets supply rather than demand.

“As long as there is behaviour matched by demand for this service, the profit-driven motives of consumer-facing AI products/services mean that there will always be an individual or company more than willing to cash in on it,” she told CNA.

Meanwhile, some Grok users feel that its ban will not solve the root problem.

Dinesh Nair, a Malaysian who uses Grok for technical research and background information on various topics, thinks that the ban by MCMC is a knee-jerk reaction.

The 56-year-old technologist said that the issue lies with those who abused Grok to generate explicit images.

“They should instead penalise the individual for using Grok to nudify someone, instead of the platform itself,” he added.

Nair told CNA that it is easy to circumvent Grok’s ban, which is blocked on certain servers under Malaysian service providers, by switching to a publicly accessible server from Google or Cloudflare.

In August last year, MCMC said that “action may be taken against any individual under Section 233 of Act 588 for misusing applications or social media services to create and disseminate false or offensive content, with the intent to annoy, harass or harm others”.

On why some countries may not have yet banned Grok, experts said that they may prefer to monitor developments or engage platforms quietly.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/grok-ai-ban-indonesia-malaysia-victims-explicit-ai-images-southeast-asia-bikini-sexualised-5863151

For several weeks, international journalists and camera crews have been scurrying up to people in Greenland’s capital to ask them for their thoughts on the twists and turns of a political crisis that has turned the Arctic island into a geopolitical hot spot.

President Donald Trump insists he wants to control Greenland but Greenlanders say it is not for sale. The island is a semiautonomous territory of Denmark and the prime minister of that country has warned that if the U.S. tries to take Greenland by force, it could potentially spell the end of NATO.

Greenlanders walking along the small central shopping street of the capital Nuuk have a hard time avoiding the signs that the island is near the top of the Western news agenda.

Scores of journalists have arrived from outlets including The Associated Press, Reuters, CNN, the BBC and Al Jazeera as well as from Scandinavian countries and Japan.

They film Nuuk’s multicolored houses, the snowcapped hills and the freezing fjords where locals go out in small boats to hunt seals and fish. But they must try to cram their filming into about five hours of daylight — the island is in the far north and the sun rises after 11 a.m. and sets around 4 p.m.

Along the quiet shopping street, journalists stand every few meters (feet), approaching locals for their thoughts, doing live broadcasts or recording stand-ups.

Local politicians and community leaders say they are overwhelmed with interview requests.

Juno Berthelsen, MP for the Naleraq opposition party that campaigns for independence in the Greenlandic parliament, called the media attention “round two,” referring to an earlier burst of global interest following Trump’s first statements in 2025 that he wanted to control Greenland.

Trump has argued repeatedly that the U.S. needs control of Greenland for its national security. He has sought to justify his calls for a U.S. takeover by repeatedly claiming that China and Russia have their own designs on Greenland, which holds vast untapped reserves of critical minerals.

Berthelsen said he has done multiple interviews a day for two weeks.

“I’m getting a bit used to it,” he said.

Greenland’s population is around 57,000 people —- about 20,000 of whom live in Nuuk.

“We’re very few people and people tend to get tired when more and more journalists ask the same questions again and again,” Berthelsen said.

Nuuk is so small that the same business owners are approached repeatedly by different news organizations — sometimes doing up to 14 interviews a day.

Locals who spoke to the AP said they want the world to know that it’s up to Greenlanders to decide their own future and suggested they are perplexed at Trump’s desire to control the island.

“It’s just weird how obsessed he is with Greenland,” said Maya Martinsen, 21.

She said Trump is “basically lying about what he wants out of Greenland,” and is using the pretext of boosting American security as a way to try to take control of “the oils and minerals that we have that are untouched.”

Source : https://apnews.com/article/greenland-united-states-journalists-international-media-56700602f0873102e94b3c5c43cc5a1a

Trains on East ⁠Japan ‍Railway’s Yamanote and Keihin-Tohoku lines were halted in all directions indefinitely.

A railway power outage in Tokyo disrupted the ⁠morning commute for thousands on Friday (Jan 16) as two main lines with some of the world’s busiest stations were halted after reports of a ‍fire.

Trains on East ⁠Japan ‍Railway’s Yamanote and Keihin-Tohoku lines were halted in all directions with ⁠no timetable for resumption, the railway said.

A fire ‍was reported on the tracks near Tamachi Station, where both lines stop, shortly before 8am (7am, Singapore time), public broadcaster NHK said.

Flames were coming from a transformer ‌in the track area, and the fire was nearly extinguished ‍about ‌30 minutes later, NHK said.

Passengers were seen disembarking from a Keihin-Tohoku train stranded between stations and walking along the tracks to evacuate, assisted by ‌firefighters and railway staff, in footage broadcast by the NTV network.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/tokyo-power-outage-east-japan-railway-yamanote-keihin-tohoku-5862786

IRAN has issued a sickening threat to Donald Trump’s life as the American leader considers strikes against the tyrannical regime.

A state-run broadcast of the 2024 attempted assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania, was aired on TV screens today with sickening text saying: “this time, the bullet won’t miss”.

The disgusting taunt has come as citizen protests opposing the Ayatollah regime have continued for more than two weeks.

Trump promised protesting Iranians that “help is on the way”, encouraging them to take over institutions on Tuesday.

The threats against the US leader have also appeared in pro-regime protests in Tehran, where they held up menacing signs outside the British Embassy on Wednesday.

Protesters held signs with strikingly similar messaging to the broadcast, saying “the arrow doesn’t always miss”.

Trump has continuously backed the anti-government protesters, saying he would take “strong action” if the Iranian regime began to harm or execute them.

The President’s continued support of the uprising comes as tensions have escalated between the two nations.

Iranian defence minister Aziz Nasirzadeh said his country would defend itself if the US attacked.

“If these threats are turned into action, we will defend the country with full force and until the last drop of blood,” he told local media.

“Our defence would be painful to them.”

More than 3,400 people have been killed in the ongoing violent clash between Iranian security forces and protesters, according to a human rights group.

The Norwegian-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) NGO said more than 10,000 people have also been arrested, as the protests rage on.

The US has so far evacuated hundreds of troops from its largest Middle Eastern base amid fears the regime will retaliate, with a possible strike.

American and British military personnel have started withdrawing from key military bases across the Middle East as tensions escalate in the region.

The removal of UK military personnel, reported by the i newspaper, mirrors earlier US withdrawals.

A US official said the move was a precautionary measure amid rising fears US bases will be targeted if Trump decides to strike Iran.

The RAF’s operational headquarters in the Middle East is at Al Udeid, hosting around 80-100 permanent UK personnel.

It also houses the headquarters for Britain’s No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group, with around 1,000 personnel across the Middle East region.

Tensions in Tehran are rapidly escalating with Iran looking set to execute protesters – as fears rise freedom fighter Erfan Soltani, 26, who was arrested six days ago in Fardis, has been executed.

Iran’s top judge hinted at fast trials and executions for those who were detained in nationwide protests against the regime.

Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, made the comments about trials and executions, despite a warning from U.S. President Donald Trump that he would take very strong action if executions take place.

Horrified protesters told The Sun yesterday that they fear the slaughter figure could top 20,000 after heavy machine guns blasted into crowds leaving morgues piled with bodies.

Meanwhile the US embassy in Saudi Arabia told its staff to act with caution and avoid military installations.

A number of US Army personnel were asked to leave the Al Udeid military base in Qatar on Wednesday evening.

The move has been seen as a potential indication that Trump will order airstrikes imminently after he vowed to punish Iran for executing protesters.

The July 2024 alleged assassination bid against Trump was placed in the hands of a gun for hire in late September, with plans to take out the president-elect before the November 5 election.

The President has since given his team strict instructions to completely obliterate Iran if they ever assassinate him.

The Republican, who has already survived several attempts on his life, decisively told reporters in February last year of the plan, as he signed an executive order calling for his government to impose serious pressure on Tehran.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/15782834/iran-threatens-trump-assassination/

THE State Department is abruptly halting visa processing for migrants from 75 countries in its latest immigration crackdown.

Federal officials are indefinitely pausing entry for applicants they fear would become reliant on taxpayer money if allowed into the US.

Trump halts visas from 75 countries

The State Department has banned processing visas from countries marked in red beginning on January 21.

The halt will take effect on January 21 and continue indefinitely as officials audit screening and vetting procedures.

Countries affected by the change include Somalia, Russia, Afghanistan, Brazil, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Nigeria, Thailand, Yemen, and more, a memo seen by Fox News states.

Authorities focused on the nations after determining that applicants from these countries are more likely to become primarily dependent on government assistance, according to the memo.

The announcement was made after a swath of Somali immigrants living in Minnesota was linked to a fraud scandal that prosecutors estimate could have snatched $9 billion from the state’s budget.

The sensational scam has led Governor Tim Walz to withdraw from the 2026 governor’s race and has raised questions about how much funding is being allocated to noncitizens.

Trump hasn’t been shy about wanting only the finest in America, as his administration previously reminded officials that everything from an applicant’s weight to finances should be considered before a visa is granted.

In November, the State Department issued a reminder to US embassies worldwide that the fitness of every visa applicant is of utmost importance.

Health, age, English proficiency, financials, and potential for long-term medical care should all be considered when determining whether a migrant will require government-funded assistance, officials said.

In a confidential message to global ministries, the department said at the time, “Self-sufficiency has been a longstanding principle of US immigration policy.”

Federal officials said this has been a part of immigration law for “more than 100 years,” but claimed it was relaxed under Joe Biden’s leadership.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/15782115/trump-halts-visas-russia-brazil-egypt-thailand-immigration/

Greenland’s prime minister has said his people would choose Denmark over the US if they were asked to make such a choice “here and now”.

Jens-Frederik Nielsen’s remark at a joint news conference with Denmark’s prime minister is the strongest by a representative of the semi-autonomous Danish territory since US President Donald Trump renewed his plan to annex it.

Trump says the US needs to “own” Greenland to defend against Russia and China. The White House has suggested buying the island, but not ruled out the use of force to annex it.

Denmark is a fellow Nato member and Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that military force would spell the end of the trans-Atlantic defence alliance.

Asked later on Tuesday what he made of Nielsen’s comments, Trump said: “That’s their problem, I disagree with him… That’s going to be a big problem for him.”

Despite being the most sparsely populated territory, Greenland’s location between North America and the Arctic makes it well placed for early warning systems in the event of missile attacks, and for monitoring vessels in the region.

Trump has repeatedly said that Greenland is vital to US national security, claiming without evidence that it was “covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place”.

The US already has more than 100 military personnel permanently stationed at its Pituffik base in Greenland’s north-western tip – a facility that has been operated by the US since World War Two.

Under existing agreements with Denmark, the US has the power to bring as many troops as it wants to Greenland.

But Trump told reporters in Washington last week that a lease agreement was not good enough – the US “had to have ownership” and “Nato’s got to understand that”.

At the news conference in the Danish capital Copenhagen, Frederiksen did not mince her words as she condemned the “completely unacceptable pressure from our closest ally”.

She warned that “there are many indications that the most challenging part is ahead of us”.

The Greenlandic prime minister said they were “facing a geopolitical crisis”, but the island’s position was clear:

“If we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark,” he said.

“One thing must be clear to everyone. Greenland does not want to be owned by the United States. Greenland does not want to be governed by the United States. Greenland does not want to be part of the United States.”

The Copenhagen news conference comes a day before the Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt are due to travel to the US to meet Vice-President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Denmark’s Nato allies – major European countries as well as Canada – have rallied to its support this week with statements reaffirming that “only Denmark and Greenland can decide on matters concerning their relations”.

Stressing they were as keen as the US on Arctic security, they have said this must be achieved by allies, including the US, “collectively”.

They also called for “upholding the principles of the UN Charter, including sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders”.

Concerns over the future of the territory resurfaced after Trump’s use of military force against Venezuela on Saturday to seize its president, Nicolás Maduro.

Trump previously made an offer to buy the island in 2019, during his first presidential term, only to be told it was not for sale.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g3kw5ezepo

As I write this, I have just heard the news of another death — the fifth in just a few days in my close circle. This time, it was my close friend’s cousin.

He was at a protest with his wife and he saw a green light — presumably from a gun laser — that landed on her face. He thought only of protecting his wife, stood in front of her, and he was shot in the face and killed.

Like so many of the dead, the regime is now charging families “bullet fees” before they will return the bodies. His family had to pay 500 million tomans (roughly $5000) to get him back, and they buried him today.

The final awfulness is that in the official cause of death, it says “impact of a sharp object to the face”—they didn’t write that he was shot, even after charging the bullet fee.

But, even amidst such horror, there is a belief that this time it’s different. Everyone believes that this time the regime will come to an end.

You can see it, and feel it. The streets in Tehran are full of people who shout for their rights and protest against the regime.

Thursday and Friday last week were unbelievable — we were protesting a lot. The crowd was beyond comprehension. It was so crowded, it shocked the police and the Guard.

On those days, they fired tear gas and pepper spray and sound bombs to scare people and break up the crowd.

It was frightening, but I also want to mention something that was very meaningful for me. Despite the police and the tear gas and pepper spray, people came out to the protest with their children.

I saw pregnant women in the middle of protestors who were shouting for their rights.

Old men and women stood in the crowd too, shoulder to shoulder with the younger generation. People are suffering from the situation, no matter how old they are. And they want the same thing — regime change.

But on Saturday, everything changed. They brought anti-terrorist police forces into the operation to start suppressing them very forcefully, shooting protesters.

This regime is so ruthless and blood thirsty that it is ready to kill everyone — innocent people who are just walking and chanting. They shoot them with live ammunition and bullets, and they are completely unwilling to back down.

I heard that the number of people they killed is more than 10,000. And then, of course, the ultimate cruelty — the families of the people killed must pay the “bullet fees” to the government to receive their bodies.

Five people around me are dead now, and it is heartbreaking. Three of them are my cousin’s friends, and two of them are sons of my mother’s friends. They were killed on the streets of Tehran. All for protesting their inalienable right to freedom.

Since the repression intensified on Saturday, a lot of the protests aren’t as crowded as before. But still, we Iranians take to the streets. Even if it is terrifying.

We are also so cut off from the world. I can see the news only via a satellite (when it works) — otherwise there is a full blackout here.

The ridiculous thing is the police have started to enter people’s houses without permission to find out who is using a satellite, and they collect the satellites from the roofs.

On Sunday, a message came to my husband’s phone saying that he’d been identified as present at illegal protests in the Sattar Khan neighborhood, and he was being monitored.

The message said that he should leave the protest site immediately, otherwise you will be identified as a rioter. We were out at the protest and it was scary, but being in the crowd makes you feel stronger and braver.

Then last night, Monday, in a neighborhood called Punak, they were using drones to identify people so they could attack them.

In general, the atmosphere of the city is very strange. Almost all the shops are closed from around 5 p.m.

For a city like Tehran, where most shops are open until midnight, it’s very unnerving and scary.

The city is very unsafe, especially in the afternoon onwards. My friend’s brother was returning home from work on Saturday in the Mahdieh district and a group of thugs wearing paramilitary uniforms broke the windows of cars in traffic and attacked the drivers with machetes.

His face and arms were injured and he was in the operating room for four hours.

Our neighborhood has a lot of office buildings and workshops so there aren’t many neighborhood gatherings, and you don’t hear much chanting at night in our area.

But in other neighborhoods, you hear a lot of chants from behind windows and there are a lot of local gatherings that begin and escalate.

The people of Iran have remained silent for years despite the severe harm that has been done to them, trying to cope with the worst conditions and severe oppression.

But now everything has become so unbearable that they have finally broken their silence.

Daily life is awful—it is impossible to go on as before. Even before the violence began, prices have been constantly increasing. Just since last month, the price of chicken and eggs had gone up by 35%.

For people, it has become truly difficult to afford even basic living expenses anymore.

The air is extremely polluted, and on most days visibility isn’t even clear beyond 100 meters.

At night, three days a week, water is cut off from around 9 or 10 p.m. until 6 a.m.

To put it briefly, over these 47 years, aside from destroying the ecosystem and natural resources, damaging our country’s cultural heritage, and cutting ties with the rest of the world because of warmongering, they have brought nothing to our people except poverty.

Source : https://nypost.com/2026/01/13/world-news/im-living-through-irans-bloodthirsty-murderous-crackdown-the-horrible-truth-about-whats-really-happening/

Nicolas Maduro’s X account posted Wednesday for the first time since August 2024, pleading for the return of kidnapped individuals after 11 days.

Nicolas Maduro’s official X account surprised users early Wednesday when it shared a post for the first time since the Venezuelan leader was taken into custody by the US. The previous post from Maduro’s X handle was dated August 9, 2024. “Eleven days have passed since their kidnapping. We want them back,” it read, signed by Nicolas Maduro Moros, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and Cilia Flores, First Combatant. Online users questioned if the ousted leader accessed a phone from his new US cell.

US military including Delta Force operators captured Maduro and Flores in Caracas days earlier. They now reside in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, or MDC, booked Saturday on criminal charges. The facility gained notoriety for power outages, staffing shortages, and detainee grievances.

See more

pic.twitter.com/vqqG1ywtRi

— Nicolás Maduro (@NicolasMaduro) January 14, 2026

The couple joins a roster of prominent inmates. Sean “Diddy” Combs, R. Kelly, Martin Shkreli, Ghislaine Maxwell, Sam Bankman-Fried, and Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman passed through its doors. Rappers Fetty Wap and Tekashi 6ix9ine served time there too.

Former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernandez occupied MDC before Donald Trump’s 2025 pardon. The jail’s conditions drew lawsuits and federal scrutiny. Maduro’s post arrived amid these reports.

 

Tennis fans in Australia could win A$10 million ($6.71 million) by correctly predicting every match winner at the Australian Open, tournament organisers said on Tuesday.

Dubbed the “Bracket Challenge”, organisers are offering the massive payout to anyone who can flawlessly forecast all 127 matches in either the men’s or women’s singles draw before the tournament begins on Sunday.

“This is a game of skill, not chance,” Tennis Australia’s Chief Commercial Officer Cedric Cornelis said in a statement.

“The AO Bracket Challenge is about rewarding tennis knowledge and creating an exciting new way for fans to engage with the tournament.”

Participants must submit their complete bracket predictions after the singles draws are published on Thursday.

The competition is open only to Australian residents this year and the window for gazing into the crystal ball closes one hour before the first match on Sunday, with each person limited to one entry per draw.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/sport/australian-open-launches-67-million-bracket-challenge-perfect-predictions-5854851

The tech giant removed Facebook, Instagram and Threads accounts to comply with Australia’s social media ban for under-16-year-olds.

Meta has deactivated more than half a million social media accounts belonging to children in compliance with Australia’s new social media law.

The law came into effect on December 10 and bans social media accounts for children under the age of 16. It requires big platforms including Meta, TikTok and YouTube to stop holding accounts for those under that age.

More than half a million accounts deactivated

Meta said that between December 4 and 11 it had deactivated 544,052 accounts it believed were held by users aged under 16. This included 330,639 accounts on Instagram, 173,497 on Facebook and 39,916 on Threads.

Companies found not to be in compliance face fines of up to $49.5 million Australian (€28.4 million, US$33 million).

In a statement, Meta said it was committed to complying with the law but said “our concerns about determining age online without an industry standard remain.”

“We call on the Australian government to engage with industry constructively to find a better way forward, such as incentivizing all of industry to raise the standard in providing safe, privacy-preserving, age appropriate experiences online, instead of blanket bans,” Meta said.

Meta calls for better age verification measures

The tech giant went on to renew a call for app stores to be required to verify ages and also get parental approval before apps can be downloaded.

“This is the only way to guarantee consistent, industry-wide protections for young people, no matter which apps they use, and to avoid the whack-a-mole effect of catching up with new apps that teens will migrate to in order to circumvent the social media ban law,” the company said.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/meta-shuts-over-544000-australian-accounts-after-ban/a-75469113

 

Donald Trump has urged Cuba to “make a deal” or face consequences, warning that the flow of Venezuelan oil and money would now stop.

The US president has been turning his attention to Cuba since US forces seized Venezuela’s leader Nicolás Maduro in a 3 January raid on its capital, Caracas.

Venezuela, a long-standing ally of Cuba, is believed to send around 35,000 barrels of oil a day to the island.

Cuba’s foreign minister responded by saying his nation retained the right to import fuel “without interference”, while its president said: “No one dictates what we do.”

The Trump administration’s tactic of confiscating sanctioned Venezuelan oil tankers has already begun to worsen a fuel and electricity crisis in Cuba.

On Friday, it seized a fifth oil tanker it said was carrying sanctioned oil from Venezuela.

“Cuba lived, for many years, on large amounts of OIL and MONEY from Venezuela. In return, Cuba provided ‘Security Services’ for the last two Venezuelan dictators, BUT NOT ANYMORE!” Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday.

“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO! I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.”

Trump did not specify the terms of a deal or the consequences Cuba could face.

But Cuban foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez said the Caribbean island nation had “the absolute right to import fuel” from any willing exporter “without interference or subordination to the unilateral coercive measures of the United States”.

He added that, unlike the US, Cuba does not lend itself to “blackmail or military coercion against other States”.

Trump also referenced the raid to seize Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who are now facing drug trafficking and other charges in the US.

Cuba has for years supplied Maduro with his personal security detail. The Cuban government said 32 of its nationals were killed during the US operation in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas.

Trump said: “Most of those Cubans are DEAD from last week’s USA attack, and Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years.

“Venezuela now has the United States of America, the most powerful military in the World (by far!), to protect them, and protect them we will.”

Rodriguez said Cuba had “never received monetary or material compensation for the security services it has provided to any country”.

While the Trump administration has not stated clear plans for Cuba, the US president has previously said that a military intervention was unnecessary because the country was “ready to fall”.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated last week that Cuba’s leaders should be worried, saying that he would be “concerned” if he were in the Cuban government and that “they’re in a lot of trouble”.

On Sunday, Trump also re-posted on social media a message suggesting that Rubio – a Cuban-American former Florida senator and the son of Cuban exiles – could become president of Cuba.

Trump shared that post with the comment: “Sounds good to me!”

Trump has increasingly framed US policy through the lens of a revived 1823 “Monroe Doctrine” that promises US supremacy in the western hemisphere – re-branding it the “Donroe Doctrine”.

The last few months of US foreign policy have becoming increasingly focused on Latin America and the left-wing leaders with whom he has ideological differences, with US actions justified as combatting drug trafficking.

After the unprecedented raid on Caracas, Trump said a military operation targeting Colombia “sounds good” and has repeatedly told its President Gustavo Petro to “watch his ass”. The US imposed sanctions on Petro – Colombia’s first left-wing leader – in October, saying he was allowing drug cartels to “flourish”.

Trump has also said that drugs were “pouring” through Mexico into the US, adding “we’re gonna have to do something”. The US president he has offered to send US troops to Mexico to combat cartels, but President Claudia Sheinbaum has publicly rejected any US military action on Mexican soil.

The US and Cuba have had a strained relationship since the communist Fidel Castro overthrew a US-backed government in 1959.

While steps were taken to improve diplomatic relations, particularly under former US President Barack Obama, the Trump administration has reversed many of these moves.

Shortly after being sworn in to a second term, Trump reinstated Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, which had been lifted just days before by the then-President Joe Biden.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2kv2gn62vo

The Norwegian Nobel Institute said only the prize money can be shared with whoever the winner wants to but the prize cannot be transferred or shared with another person.

Days after Nobel Laureate and Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado vowed to share her Nobel Peace Prize with US President Donald Trump, the Norwegian Nobel Committee clarified that the coveted award cannot be “shared, revoked or transferred” to another person.

“A Nobel Prize can neither be revoked, shared, nor transferred to others. Once the announcement has been made, the decision stands for all time,” the Nobel Committee said in a statement.

The Norwegian Nobel Institute said only the prize money can be shared with whoever the winner wants to but the Nobel Peace Prize cannot be transferred or shared with another person.

“In principle, the committee does not comment on what Nobel Peace Prize laureates say or do after receiving the award,” but noted, “This does not mean the committee does not closely monitor laureates’ subsequent activities. While the committee may not officially express concerns or praise, it continues to pay close attention to their actions,” it added.

The committee’s statement came Machado, who won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for opposing what the Norwegian Nobel Committee described as a dictatorship, said she would want to give the prize to the US President after the US military operation in Caracas.

“As soon as I learnt we had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, I dedicated it to President Trump because I believed he deserved it. A lot of people said it was impossible to achieve what he did on January 3,” she said to Fox News.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/cant-be-shared-nobel-committee-on-machados-peace-prize-offer-to-trump-ws-l-9822583.html

With foreign policy turbulence, a blackout in Berlin and a high-profile personnel rejig in the Chancellery, 2026 is off to a stormy start for Friedrich Merz.

While Germans were asking how it was possible that about 100,000 people in Berlin were left without electricity and heating for several days after an attack on the power supply, Chancellor Friedrich Merz had his hands full with international crises.

Merz has been under pressure following the US intervention in Venezuela. His reaction to the capture of former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro by the US military, was somewhat restrained and vague. The German chancellor described it as a “complex situation,” also from a legal perspective, which the German government would now carefully examine.

That was all.

The words “breach of international law” did not pass the lips of the chancellor or his spokespeople. He left that to opposition politicians and academics.

For Merz, Ukraine is the firm focus

Most observers were certain that the German government and the chancellor himself were so cautious on the issue of Venezuela in order to achieve the fairest possible peace agreement in Ukraine, including security guarantees from the West, which are difficult without the US.

DW chief correspondent Michaela Küfner highlighted the statement made by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier after the US action in Venezuela: “In his apolitical role, the Federal President can afford to speak of an international den of thieves with regard to Venezuela. But Merz must ensure that Germany, that Europe, still has a voice at all in the realpolitik arena.” That balancing act, she said, is perhaps the central challenge of his chancellorship.

At a conference on Ukraine in Paris this week, Merz signaled that German soldiers could at least indirectly participate in a security concept for Ukraine (after a ceasefire): for example, by supporting NATO contingents in Poland.

At the meeting, France and the UK announced that they would also take part with soldiers in Ukraine itself. Against this backdrop, it seemed that Merz did not want to further anger the US president.

“Germany will keep contributing politically, financially and militarily. This could, for example, include deploying forces to Ukraine on neighboring NATO territory after a ceasefire,” Merz said at the press conference in Paris, adding that once a US-backed monitoring force is agreed, the German government and parliament “will decide on the nature and extent of a German contribution.”

For now, Berlin was “not ruling anything out,” the chancellor concluded.

Greenland and the possible end of NATO

US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has renewed his threat to make Greenland part of the US. Greenland belongs to Denmark, but has wide-ranging autonomy. As Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen pointed out, one NATO country attacking another would spell the end of the defense alliance.

Seven EU countries, including Germany, issued a statement on Tuesday saying: “It is solely up to Denmark and Greenland to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.” However, leading US politicians see things very differently.

A high-profile personnel change

And then Merz surprised everyone with his decision to part ways with his office manager in the Chancellery — after only eight months in office.

The chancellor dismissed his office manager, Jacob Schrot, and replaced him with Philipp Birkenmaier, the former federal manager of his conservative CDU party.

DW chief correspondent Michaela Küfner said this revealed the depth of the problems besetting Merz. “The change in Merz’s office from the loyal political scientist Jacob Schrot to the economic expert and experienced party official Philipp Birkenmaier addresses problems that Merz was becoming increasingly aware of, mainly that of poor communication from the chancellor’s office.”

Merz is also seeking more economic expertise. With Birkenmaier, Merz wants to signal a new beginning on both fronts.

It is the office manager’s job to separate the important from the less important tasks and prioritize for the chancellor.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/venezuela-greenland-ukraine-germanys-merz-in-crisis-mode/a-75452671

US President Donald Trump has asked for at least $100bn (£75bn) in oil industry spending for Venezuela, but received a lukewarm response at the White House as one executive warned the South American country was currently “uninvestable”.

Bosses of the biggest US oil firms who attended the meeting acknowledged that Venezuela, sitting on vast energy reserves, represented an enticing opportunity.

But they said significant changes would be needed to make the region an attractive investment. No major financial commitments were immediately forthcoming.

Trump has said he will unleash the South American nation’s oil after US forces seized its leader Nicolas Maduro in a 3 January raid on its capital.

“One of the things the United States gets out of this will be even lower energy prices,” Trump said in Friday’s meeting at the White House.

But the oil bosses present expressed caution.

Exxon’s chief executive Darren Woods said: “We have had our assets seized there twice and so you can imagine to re-enter a third time would require some pretty significant changes from what we’ve historically seen and what is currently the state.”

“Today it’s uninvestable.”

Venezuela has had a complicated relationship with international oil firms since oil was discovered in its territory more than 100 years ago.

Chevron is the last remaining major American oil firm still operating in the country.

A handful of companies from other countries, including Spain’s Repsol and Italy’s Eni, both of which were represented at the White House meeting, are also active.

Trump said his administration would decide which firms would be allowed to operate.

“You’re dealing with us directly. You’re not dealing with Venezuela at all. We don’t want you to deal with Venezuela,” he said.

The White House has said it is working to “selectively” roll back US sanctions that have restricted sales of Venezuelan oil.

Officials say they have been coordinating with interim authorities in the country, which is currently led by Maduro’s former second-in-command, Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez.

But they have also made clear they intend to exert control over the sales, as a way to maintain leverage over Rodríguez’s government.

The US this week has seized several oil tankers carrying sanctioned crude. American officials have said they are working to set up a sales process, which would deposit money raised into US-controlled accounts.

“We are open for business,” Trump said.

Venezuela’s oil production has been hit in recent decades by disinvestment and mismanagement – as well as US sanctions. At roughly one million barrels per day, the country accounts for less than 1% of global supply.

Chevron, which accounts for about a fifth of the country’s output, said it expected to bolster its production, building on its current presence, while Exxon said it was working to send in a technical team to assess the situation in the coming weeks.

Repsol, which currently boasts output of about 45,000 barrels per day, said it saw a path to triple its production in Venezuela over the next few years under the right conditions.

Executives at other firms also said Trump’s promises of change would encourage investment and they were hoping to seize the moment.

“We are ready to go to Venezuela,” said Bill Armstrong, who leads an independent oil and gas driller. “In real estate terms, it is prime real estate.”

But analysts say meaningfully increasing production would take significant effort.

“They are being as polite as humanly possible, and being as supportive as they can, without committing actual dollars,” said David Goldwyn, president of the energy consultancy Goldwyn Global Strategies and former US state department special envoy for international energy affairs.

Exxon and Shell are “not going to invest single-digit billions of dollars, much less tens of billions of dollars”, without physical security, legal certainty and a competitive fiscal framework, Goldwyn said.

“It’s not really welcome from an industry point of view,” he said. “The conditions are just not right.”

While smaller companies might be more eager to jump in and help boost Venezuela’s oil production over the next year, he said those investments would likely hover in the $50m range – far from the “fantastical” $100bn figure that Trump has floated.

Rystad Energy estimates it would take $8bn to $9bn in new investments per year for production to triple by 2040.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c205dx61x76o

Europe should take Donald Trump “seriously” on the issue of Greenland, warned US Vice President JD Vance, as Trump’s advisers met with envoys from Denmark and Greenland.

US Vice President JD Vance on Thursday accused Denmark — a fellow NATO member — and the rest of Europe of failing to protect Greenland from the intentions of Russia and China.

“I guess my advice to European leaders and anybody else would be to take the president of the United States seriously,” Vance told journalists at the White House when asked about Greenland.

After the US military successfully captured Venezuela’s leader Nicolas Maduro last weekend, US President Donald Trump renewed his push to acquire Greenland, with the use of military force not out of the question.

Vance especially urged Europe to respond to Trump’s insistence that the United States needs the island for “missile defense.”

“So what we’re asking our European friends to do is to take the security of that land mass more seriously, because if they’re not, the United States is going to have to do something about it,” he said.

Trump wants US to own Greenland
The United States is a party to the 1951 treaty that grants it the right to establish military bases in Greenland with Denmark’s consent. The US operates the Pituffik Space Base under the agreement.

However, in a New York Times interview published Thursday, Trump said that he wants to own Greenland instead of just exercising a long-standing treaty that gives the United States wide latitude to use Greenland for military bases.

“I think that ownership gives you a thing that you can’t do with, you’re talking about a lease or a treaty. Ownership gives you things and elements that you can’t get from just signing a document,” Trump told the newspaper.

US officials meet with Denmark, Greenland envoys
Meanwhile, according to an Associated Press report, Denmark’s ambassador to the United States, Jesper Moller Sorensen, and Jacob Isbosethsen, Greenland’s chief representative in Washington, met with White House National Security Council officials on Thursday to discuss Trump’s renewed push to take over Greenland.

AP cited Danish government officials who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

This week, the envoys reportedly held a series of meetings with American lawmakers as they sought help in persuading Trump to back off his threat. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to meet with Danish officials next week.

On Thursday, Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told Danish broadcaster DR that talks with the US are an opportunity for “the dialogue that is needed” regarding Greenland.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/greenland-vance-warns-europe-to-take-trump-seriously/a-75442457

The US abruptly announced its withdrawal from 66 international organizations on Wednesday — around half of which were UN bodies. Now, Antonio Guterres has reminded the Trump administration of its financial obligations.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned the US that it is obliged to pay its dues, after the Trump administration announced a withdrawal from dozens of UN agencies.

On Wednesday, the White House said it was pulling out of 66 international bodies, around half of which were affiliated with the UN.

“Assessed contributions to the UN regular budget and peacekeeping budget, as approved by the General Assembly, are a legal obligation under the UN Charter for all member states, including the US,” Guterres’ spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement on Thursday.

Dujarric added that the affected programs would continue to carry out their tasks.

“The UN has a responsibility to deliver for those who depend on us,” he said.

The decision taken by US President Donald Trump’s administration also means the country will stop funding other global initiatives not affiliated with the UN.

US officials have spoken about their intention to stop billions of dollars worth of funding for aid and funding for international organizations like the UN since Trump officially entered his second term as president.

Other countries, such as France and the UK, are also looking into their humanitarian funding, with some countries diverting the funds to military spending.

What happens if the US doesn’t transfer the funds?
High-ranking UN diplomats said they had learned of the decision through news reports and the White House’s social media accounts, with no formal communication reaching the organization from the US administration, Dujarric said.

The list of UN initiatives include a key climate treaty and a UN body that promotes gender equality and women’s empowerment. According to Trump, the initiatives “operate contrary to US national interests.”

The US is the UN regular budget’s top contributor, paying the maximum 22% as the world’s largest economy, with the payments being mandatory.

 

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/un-united-nations-trump-obligations-withdraw-international-organizations/a-75442535

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is jumpstarting President Trump’s long-sought bid to acquire Greenland after the daring capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro has given the administration just the right “machismo” to purchase the strategically located island.

Rubio told reporters Wednesday that he was scheduled to meet with officials from Denmark, which colonized Greenland in the 1700s and still exerts control over its affairs, as soon as next week — but declined to confirm reports that Trump hopes to buy the island.

The White House and Cabinet officials have supported the move to obtain the world’s largest island — and sources familiar with the administration’s discussions expressed that Trump is “extremely serious” about purchasing it being the best way.

“The United States is eager to build lasting commercial relationships that benefit Americans and the people of Greenland,” a State Department spokesperson said. “Our common adversaries have been increasingly active in the Arctic. That is a concern that the United States, the Kingdom of Denmark, and NATO Allies share.”

Details of the US-Denmark summit were not immediately forthcoming, but the price tag for Greenland could come out to at least $3.3 billion, per the World Bank, less than 1% of the federal government’s total projected $7 trillion in spending this fiscal year.

However, that price tag doesn’t include the market price of its untapped mineral reserves.

A Cold War-era pact granted that positioning to American troops, with the military’s Pituffik Space Base already located far to the northwestern side of Greenland, leading some critics to question the prudence of nabbing the Danish-controlled island — whether through diplomacy or military force.

The Greenland agreement, signed in April 1951, allows the US to “construct, install, maintain, and operate” more military bases on the island as well as “house personnel” and “control landings, takeoffs, anchorages, moorings, movements, and operation of ships, aircraft, and waterborne craft,” The New York Times first reported.

“The president keeps his options open, but diplomacy is always the first,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a press briefing.

Leavitt stressed that that “more control over the Arctic region” would also ensure “China and Russia and our adversaries cannot continue their aggression in this very important and strategic region.”

Praise for the effort hasn’t been limited to members of the president’s own party.

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) told The Post he would be “the first person” to vote for a Trump-backed effort to obtain the territory, while adding that any move to take it by military force would be as foolish as “invading Harrisburg,” the capital city of his home state.

“Why can’t we all acknowledge that Greenland has significant strategic value and real minerals as well?” the Pennsylvania senator also chided his fellow Democrats.

Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.) also huddled with the ambassador of Denmark and Greenland reps in Washington on Wednesday, signaling they are willing to partner with the US.

“After meeting with their representatives, I am confident that Secretary of State Marco Rubio can navigate a diplomatic win-win solution with one of our finest allies,” Flood said on X.

Besides its strategic location in the North Atlantic, the world’s largest island also has vast reservoirs of untapped mineral wealth.

Those include rare earth elements, zinc, ore, gold, titanium, uranium and potentially oil — valued at trillions of dollars’ worth of additional assets, according to Foundation for Defense of Democracies adjunct senior fellow Peter Doran.

Adding in the cost of the valuable material, the American Action Forum estimated last year that Greenland would be worth $200 billion. And if Iceland is used as a proxy to figure the value of Greenland’s strategic importance, the suggested price is just shy of $2.8 trillion.

Former President Harry S. Truman first tried to purchase the Danish territory with an offer of $100 million worth of gold in 1946 — but was rebuffed.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, have maintained that the territory is “not for sale” and that defense agreements already give US forces “wide access.”

The Danish PM’s office put out a letter on Jan. 6 warning Trump that both her nation and Greenland remain “part of NATO,” implying that any military action could potentially provoke Europeans to respond accordingly.

The president put out a post on his Truth Social the following day declaring, “We will always be there for NATO, even if they won’t be there for us.”

Doran, an expert in Russia, Ukraine and transatlantic relations, said the acquisition is both about Greenland’s “strategic importance” and Trump’s legacy, noting how former President Woodrow Wilson had cut a deal with the Danes to get the Virgin Islands “for $25 million in gold coins.”

“President Trump is raising the stakes by making sure this is American territory — and making sure any future president maintains it,” Doran added, while downplaying talk of any military intervention and promoting either a purchase or national referendum from the people of Greenland.

Theoretically, Greenlanders — who have chafed at what one former local government employee dubbed “Danish colonialism” — could call for an independence referendum, though it’s unclear whether that would be subject to Copenhagen’s final approval.

Denmark also provides the island’s more than 56,000 inhabitants with generous subsidies that comprise roughly half the territory’s budget.

“Increasingly, the short route to Asia will be through the Arctic Circle,” Doran also said, highlighting how any saber-rattling has been “deeply unhelpful” and “panicked our European allies unnecessarily.”

Plus, the president has “the momentum of machismo” after bagging Maduro in a stunning military operation and hauling him to the US to face justice for alleged narco-terrorism, Doran continued. “He is feeling very confident and rightfully so.”

“What they did in Venezuela is going to change Latin America,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) cheered earlier Wednesday on Fox Business. “Then we’re going to fix Cuba. Nicaragua will get fixed. Next year, we’ll get a new president in Colombia. Democracy is coming back to this hemisphere.”

Source : https://nypost.com/2026/01/07/us-news/marco-rubio-making-moves-on-greenland-as-trump-extremely-serious-about-buying-island/

 

The capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro is being closely watched in Tehran. Iran fears US military action in the Middle East, as nationwide protests continue to pressure the regime.

The unprecedented US military attack in Venezuela and the capture of Nicolas Maduro and his wife set alarm bells ringing for Iran’s leadership.

Tehran is one of the closest allies of Maduro, who remained in power in 2024 after massive election rigging and is not recognized by Germany or the European Union as the legitimate president of Venezuela. After his dramatic capture on Saturday, Maduro appeared in a New York courtroom on Monday on narco-terrorism charges.

With this surprising intervention, US President Donald Trump has demonstrated that his government is willing to use military measures to overthrow an enemy regime, in violation of the UN Charter and international law, sending a clear warning signal to other authoritarian countries.

Iran has demanded Maduro’s immediate release following his arrest by US military. “The president of a country and his wife have been kidnapped,” said a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry on Monday. “There is no reason to be proud. This is an illegal act.”

United by a common enemy

Relations between Iran and Venezuela can hardly be explained by traditional foreign policy standards. Venezuela is located in the Caribbean and has a predominantly Catholic population, while Iran is on the Persian Gulf and is largely Muslim. Bilateral trade remains modest, and there are no direct flights between the two capitals.

Instead, they have a common enemy: the United States. They are also united by their approach to international sanctions and their ability to survive in a US-dominated world order. Over the past three decades, this combination of political sympathy and anti-American rhetoric has developed into a complex web of cooperation involving oil, finance, industry and security.

These ties remain unchanged, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said. “Our relations with all countries, including Venezuela, are based on mutual respect. And that is how it will remain.” The government in Tehran is in contact with the Venezuelan authorities, the spokesperson added.

Iran fears US interference

The political developments in Venezuela come at a sensitive time for Iran. Nationwide protests have been ongoing for more than a week, sparked by skyrocketing prices and an ailing economy. Demonstrators are demanding social, economic and political change, piling the pressure onto the leadership in Tehran.

Trump has not been shy about issuing warnings to Iran, this week making a fresh threat about an attack should protesters in Iran be killed.

While traveling on Air Force One back to Washington on Sunday, Trump said the US is keeping a close eye on the protests. “If they [the Iranian government] start killing people like they have in the past, I think they will be hit very hard by the United States.”

There was no detail available on which steps the US might be considering. Back in June, the US Air Force attacked Iranian nuclear facilities as part of the Israeli-Iranian war to destroy the country’s nuclear capabilities.

“The reactions I am now receiving from Iran are ambivalent,” said Bundestag Vice President Omid Nouripour, who was born in Tehran and emigrated to Germany with his family at the age of 12. “Many people there want regime change. But the interventions of recent years, and now also in Venezuela, show that Trump has no plan for the day after. That’s why I’m very cautious.”

Message received in Tehran

But the message to Iran is getting through, according to Damon Golriz, an analyst for international politics and researcher at the Institute for Geopolitics in The Hague, Netherlands. Tehran knows that its political leadership could become a US military target.

Golriz sees Maduro’s arrest as part of Trump’s course change. Last summer, the US president had been reluctant to support Israeli plans to target Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Iran’s other military leaders.

But Tehran’s rhetoric has also been also strident. “The US should take care of its soldiers,” warned Ali Larijani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, on X this week. The US has up to 45,000 US soldiers stationed in various countries in the Middle East, including Iraq, Syria and Qatar.

In June, Iran attacked the largest US military base in the Middle East in Qatar in retaliation for the bombing of its nuclear facilities. No one was injured. According to Trump, the US had been given prior warning by Iran.

Maduro’s ouster also has implications for Iran’s security and military apparatus, said Golriz. There, the search for a successor to Khamenei is already underway. Unlike Venezuela, Iran has no significant opposition within its highly personalized power structure.

The US attack on Venezuela has also had a psychological impact on Iran, said Reza Talebi, an Iranian journalist living in exile in Turkey. Decision-makers in Tehran face a key question: “If the US has successfully carried out such a coup in the Western Hemisphere, why wouldn’t it do the same elsewhere?”

This could alter Iran’s strategic calculations in its dealings with the US and Israel, he said. Over the weekend, Israel issued a strong warning to Iran, with former Israeli prime minister and current opposition leader in the Knesset, Yair Lapid, reminding Tehran to keep a close eye on developments in Caracas.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/maduros-capture-in-venezuela-sends-warning-signal-to-iran/a-75406627

The US president announced plan to acquire and sell between 30 and 50 million barrels of oil from Venezuela. Venezuela’s acting leader Delcy Rodriguez said her government, not a “foreign agent,” controls the country.

Venezuela to release 30 to 50 million barrels of oil to US, Trump claims
US President Donald Trump has announced that “interim authorities in Venezuela will be turning over” between 30 to 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil to the US.

“This ​oil ​will be sold at its market price, and that money will be controlled by me, as ‍president of the United States of America, to ​ensure it is used to benefit the ⁠people ​of Venezuela and the United States!” Trump wrote in a social media post.

He did not provide further details about the plan. Venezuelan officials did not immediately comment on the announcement.

Trump said the US plans to take control of Venezuela’s oil industry and have US oil companies revitalize it, although experts say it will take major investment to restore the country’s energy infrastructure.

Venezuela’s acting leader announces week of mourning for those killed in US raid
Venezuela’s new acting leader Delcy Rodriguez has announced a week of mourning for soldiers killed in the US attack that captured Nicolas Maduro and his wife.

“I have decided to decree seven days of mourning to the honor and glory of the young people, women and men who gave up their lives defending Venezuela and president Nicolas Maduro,” Rodriguez said in a TV address.

Venezuela’s military said at least 24 officers were killed during the raid. Another 32 Cuban soldiers were also killed, the Cuban government said.

Venezuela’s president Delcy Rodriguez said on Tuesday that no foreign power was governing her country.

“The government of Venezuela is in charge in our country, and no one else. There is no foreign agent governing Venezuela”, she said in a televised address.

She added: “Personally, to those who threaten me … my destiny is not determined by them, but by God.”

US President Donald Trump previously told NBC News on Sunday that the US was “in charge” of Venezuela after US forces kidnapped Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife in a daring raid Saturday.

Trump warned Rodriguez she would fare “probably worse” than Maduro if she didn’t cooperate. Trump said Saturday in a new conference after Maduro’s capture that the US would “run” Venezuela with the support of top US officials.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio later tried to walk back that declaration, saying the US would not take a day-to-day role in governing Venezuela but would instead exert pressure on its new government by controlling its export of oil.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/venezuela-trump-touts-plan-to-get-up-to-50m-barrels-of-oil/live-75401237

At least 36 people have been killed during the last 10 days of protests across Iran, a human rights group has said.

The foreign-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported that 34 of those confirmed killed were protesters and two were affiliated with security forces.

Iranian authorities have not published an official death toll but said three security personnel have been killed. BBC Persian has so far confirmed the deaths and identities of 20 people.

HRANA also said that more than 60 protesters had been injured and 2,076 arrested during the unrest, which was sparked by an economic crisis and has spread to 27 of 31 provinces.

On Tuesday evening, Iranian semi-official media reported that a policeman was shot dead by what they called “rioters” in Malekshahi in the western province of Ilam, where there have been widespread protests and a violent crackdown by security forces in recent days.

Earlier, security forces were filmed firing tear gas during clashes with protesters who chanted slogans against Iran’s clerical rulers at Tehran’s Grand Bazaar.

The protests began on 28 December, when shopkeepers took to the streets of the capital to express their anger at another sharp fall in the value of the Iranian currency against the US dollar on the open market.

The rial has sunk to a record low over the past year and inflation has soared to 40% as sanctions over Iran’s nuclear programme squeeze an economy also weakened by mismanagement and corruption.

University students soon joined the protests and they began spreading to other cities.

On Friday, President Donald Trump threatened US intervention if Iranian security forces killed peaceful protesters, declaring: “We are locked and loaded and ready to go.”

The following day, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – who has ultimate power – said that “rioters should be put in their place” and vowed not to “yield to the enemy”.

Judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei echoed the comments on Monday, saying authorities would listen those who “legitimately and rightly have concerns about their livelihood” but also show no leniency towards “rioters”.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was “deeply saddened by the reported loss of life and injuries resulting from clashes between security forces and protesters”, and “underscores the need to prevent any further casualties”, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

“All individuals must be allowed to protest peacefully and express their grievances,” he added.

In the videos from Tuesday’s protest in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, which were obtained by BBC Persian, a large crowd gathered on a covered street can be heard chanting “Death to the dictator” – a reference to Khamenei.

Later, the protesters are seen running away from a cloud of tear gas and shouting “Dishonourable” at a group of riot police nearby. Footage filmed from the roof of a neighbouring building shows the crowd fleeing the bazaar as more tear gas is fired.

Iran’s hardline, semi-official Fars news agency said “sporadic gatherings” focused on price increases took place around the bazaar, and that police dispersed them into nearby alleyways.

Other videos from the capital showed demonstrations at the Yaft Abad market in southern Tehran and Caterpillar shopping mall in the southwest of the capital, as well as protesters gathered at the Azari junction.

In the evening, footage verified by BBC Persian showed a large crowd of protesters moving through the town of Abdanan, in Ilam province.

In one clip, a group of police officers standing on a rooftop are seen waving to people calling for their “support”. Another clip showed protesters tearing open bags of rice and throwing the contents into the air.

At the same time, the semi-official Fars news agency said a police officer had been killed after being “directly hit by rioters’ bullets” during a clash in the Malekshahi County area of Ilam, about 80km (50 miles) to the south-east.

Footage from Malekshahi posted earlier in the day appeared to show a bank on fire and men celebrating beside burning furniture, papers and tyres.

On Monday, President Masoud Pezeshkian’s office said he had ordered the interior ministry to form a special delegation to investigate the unrest in Ilam.

It followed widespread outrage over video footage released on Sunday that appeared to show security forces storming the Imam Khomeini Hospital in the predominantly Kurdish city of Ilam, where activists said wounded protesters had been sheltering.

Amnesty International said on Tuesday that it had information that Revolutionary Guards and police special forces “used shotguns and fired tear gas into the grounds, smashed glass doors to gain access, and beat those inside, including medical workers”.

“The Iranian security forces’ attack… violates international law and exposes yet again how far the Iranian authorities are willing to go to crush dissent,” the human rights group warned.

The US state department’s Persian-language account on X called the raid on the hospital a “clear crime against humanity”.

Kurdish human rights group Hengaw said the protesters being treated at the hospital were wounded when security forces opened fire on a demonstration outside a government compound in Malekshahi on Saturday.

It has said that five protesters were also killed in that incident, including a retired brigadier-general. Semi-official media have said three people, including a member of the security forces, were killed when “rioters” tried to enter a security facility.

Hengaw has also said that it has so far verified the killing of at least 27 people during the protests, including five children.

Iran Human Rights, a Norway-based group, has reported that at least 27 protesters, including five children, have been killed by security forces in eight provinces.

“The Islamic Republic has a well-documented record of bloody repression and mass killings of protesters in past uprisings. Now, as the regime is more unstable than ever and seriously fears for its survival, there is a grave concern that the scale of repression this time may be even more violent and widespread than before,” its director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said.

The protests have been the most widespread since an uprising in 2022 sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman who was detained by morality police for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly.

More than 550 people were killed and 20,000 detained in a violent crackdown on those protests by security forces, according to human rights groups.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp37w9xnxxwo

Nicolás Maduro and wife Cilia Flores wore matching straw hats during a rally in Caracas last month.

Now they have matching handcuffs and a floor separating them at the notorious Metropolitan Detention Center jail in Brooklyn.

While Maduro, the now-toppled dictator of Venezuela, has been indicted in the US since 2020 on drug trafficking and narco-terror charges and is widely known to have ignored the results of his country’s 2024 election and seized power, much less is known about his wife.

However, the 69-year-old First Lady has been described by a former head of intelligence in Venezuela as being “behind the curtain, pulling the strings.”

“She is a fundamental figure in corruption in Venezuela — absolutely fundamental — and especially in the structure of power,” said Zair Mundaray, a former senior prosecutor in the Maduro government.

“Many people consider her far more astute and shrewd than Maduro himself.”

Flores was captured by US forces in a raid on the safe house she and Maduro inhabited in Caracas in the early hours of last Saturday and was transported to the US.

Arraigned in court Monday, the once coddled first lady of Venezuela had bandages on her face and what appeared to be a bruised right eye.

Her lawyer suggested these injuries – including a possible rib fracture – were caused during the raid, which saw the death of most of their protection squad, according to reports.

Within Maduro’s hardline regime of oppression, Flores was allegedly anything but a wallflower. The indictments against both of them paint a picture of a two-person cartel, with allegations of drug profits, high-powered weapons and absolute control of those around them.

While Maduro snagged headlines, Flores is said to have been a stealth operator.

A one-time confidante of the late Hugo Chávez, Flores was nicknamed both Latin Lady Macbeth (referring to her ambitiousness behind the scenes) and First Warrior. Flores apparently likes to refer to herself as a “combatant.”

Like her husband, she pleaded not guilty to all charges against her, which also include cocaine importation conspiracy and possession of machine guns, on Monday.

Flores is accused of accepting massive bribes from drug dealers to smooth cartel routes and her nephews (dubbed “narcophews”) were previously arrested in the US for cocaine trafficking.

According to the US government, they planned to use money from the drug sales to fund Flores’ 2015 campaign for National Assembly in Venezuela.

It is alleged she participated in the trafficking of cocaine —”much of which had been seized by Venezuelan law enforcement, with the assistance of armed military escorts,” according to the Department of Justice’s indictment — while guarded by “state sponsored gangs known as colectivos,” per the indictment against her. The gangs were there to “protect their drug trafficking operation.”

“She clearly benefited from corrupt acts within the Maduro regime,” Mark P. Jones, a political science fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute, told The Post.

“If the indictments are correct, that would include receiving and facilitating payments from drug traffickers to operate with impunity within Venezuela.”

In fact, Flores also stands accused of accepting hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars in payments.

“It suggests that she’s a political operator in her own right,” said Jones. “But she has that power because of her husband.”

A lawyer who rose way beyond her lower middle-class roots, Flores loaded influential government agencies with relatives who did her bidding and got rich right alongside her. Jones speculates this was not done purely from the goodness of her heart or because she wants to benefit those who share her blood.

“In this kind of an environment, there is very limited trust,” said Jones. He described hiring relatives as a “survival instinct,” adding that it’s a common move among South American political thugs.

“They believe that their relatives are the least likely of anyone to betray them… Not that they completely trust their relatives.”

A case in point would be the two so-called narcophews, Efrain Antonio Camp Flores and Franqui Francisco Flores de Freitas.

In 2017, they were each sentenced to 18 years in prison for conspiring to import cocaine into the United States. However, in 2022 they were released and sent back to Venezuela in a prisoner swap with the US.

“In part to fund an election campaign for the First Lady of Venezuela, [the nephews] devised a plan to work with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) terrorist group to send literally tons of cocaine to the United States,” Joon H. Kim, acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said at the time of their sentencing.

He described their plan as “a brazen cocaine trafficking scheme.”

Aunt Flores is being prosecuted by the same Southern District which secured convictions for the would-be traffickers, under the first Trump administration.

A former bodyguard for Flores told Reuters she was aware of the drug trafficking. Jones thinks that’s accurate: “I believe the only way they would have been able to operate would have been with her assistance,” he claimed.

Flores had her political chops honed by Maduro’s predecessor, ex-president Hugo Chávez. He was imprisoned in the wake of a failed coup attempted in 1992.

Source : https://nypost.com/2026/01/05/world-news/allegations-of-guns-drugs-and-corrupt-nepotism-dog-the-first-lady-of-venezuela/

Venezuela’s interim president has called for a “balanced and respectful” relationship with the United States after American forces attacked Caracas and captured leftist leader Nicolas Maduro.

US President Donald Trump has warned Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodriguez may have to pay a bigger price than ousted leader Nicolas Maduro “if she doesn’t do what’s right.” Rodriguez served as Maduro’s vice president since 2018, overseeing much of Venezuela’s oil-dependent economy and its feared intelligence service, and was next in the presidential line of succession.

“If she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro,” Trump said during an interview with The Atlantic magazine.

Trump initially praised Rodriguez after US troops captured Maduro and his wife from Caracas. Rodriguez said later, however, that her country would defend its natural resources.

The Republican leader warned that a second strike on Venezuela was not off the table if Rodriguez does not cooperate with US. “We are dealing with the people who just got sworn in. We were prepared for a second wave, were all set to go, but do not think we will need it. Will hold elections at the right time,” he said.

“US needs full access to oil and other resources in Venezuela,” Trump added.

Trump also defended his decision to take Maduro by force. “You know, rebuilding there and regime change, anything you want to call it, is better than what you have right now. Can’t get any worse,” he was quoted as saying in the telephone interview held as he arrived at his West Palm Beach golf course in Florida.

The US President warned that other countries may be subject to American intervention. “We do need Greenland, absolutely,” he said of the island that is part of Denmark, a NATO country.

He also said, “Cuba is ready to fall,” saying it would be hard for Havana to “hold out” without receiving heavily subsidised Venezuelan oil.

“I don’t think we need any action. It looks like it’s going down.”

In warning to Colombia and Mexico, he said, “Colombia is governed by a sick man. he will not be doing it very long. Operation Colombia sounds good to me. We have to do something with Mexico. Mexico has to get their act together. If they do not behave, will carry out a second strike on Venezuela.”

Venezuela’s Response

The latest strikes came after a visit by national security advisers from Europe to Kyiv, where they discussed security guarantees and economic support.

A civlian was killed after Russia launched an air attack on Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, on Monday, Timur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration said. A raid alert was also issued in Kharkiv, according to the latest raid alert map of Ukraine.

“Air defence forces are operating in the capital. Stay in shelters!” Kyiv mayor mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a message earlier on the Telegram app.

Unverified visuals on social media captured the activation of the air defence forces.

See more

(WAR IN UKRAINE)
BREAKING:
UPDATE (3)
🇷🇺🇺🇦

Air defense systems have been activated to intercept incoming drones and missiles over Kyiv, Ukraine. https://t.co/I5ihNJWnfG pic.twitter.com/21VJYDW8se

— Defensive Century 𝕩 (@Def_Century) January 5, 2026

Earlier on Friday, five people were killed in a Russian missile attack on Kharkiv and two people were killed in Ukrainian drone strikes in Russian border regions, local officials said on Sunday.

Russia claims Ukraine fired drones every day in 2026

Notably, Ukraine has fired drones towards Moscow every day so far in 2026, according to figures released by Russia’s defence ministry.

The ministry said on Telegram that by midnight on Sunday, Russian air defence systems had shot down 57 drones over the Moscow region, out of a total of 437 intercepted across Russia.

Ukraine has not reacted to the claim yet, though Kyiv has increasingly relied on long-range drones to hit targets deep inside Russia.

Based on calculations by RIA state news, Russia’s air defences intercepted and destroyed at least 1,548 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory and the Crimean Peninsula during the past week.

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/russia-launches-air-attack-on-ukraines-kyiv-mayor-issues-stay-in-shelters-warning-101767575325157.html

 

Before the 30 minute operation, US officials tracked where Nicolás Maduro stayed at different hours, his habits, and even details such as his pets and clothing.

As President Donald Trump spent his Friday morning posting on social media about his health and rambling about wind turbines, a “large-scale” US military operation against Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro was already in its final stages.

According to US officials, the operation dubbed as “Absolute Resolve”, had been planned and rehearsed for months. Once launched, it unfolded in under 30 minutes and ended Nicolás Maduro’s rule within hours.

Built replica of Maduro’s residence

In the days leading up to the strike, the US military quietly built up its presence off Venezuela’s coast, while intelligence agencies closely studied Maduro’s daily routine. Officials tracked where he stayed at different hours, his habits, and even details such as his pets and clothing, as reported by Associated Press.

According to Trump, a full-scale replica of Maduro’s residence was built for rehearsal. “They actually built a house which was identical to the one they went into with all the same, all that steel all over the place,” he said.

Trump also added that the US “turned off almost all of the lights” in the Venezuelan city while forces worked to extract Maduro and his wife.

“He was in a fortress,” Trump told Fox News in a telephone interview.

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said the preparations were exhaustive. “We think, we develop, we train, we rehearse, we debrief, we rehearse again, and again,” Caine said. “Not to get it right, but to ensure we cannot get it wrong.”

Over 150 aircrafts entered Venezuela

The operation was launched overnight after Trump authorised the mission around 10:46 pm ET, reported CBS News. US forces waited days for suitable weather, holding off until cloud cover cleared enough for aircraft to move safely, according to an Associated Press report.

Dan Caine said helicopters flew low over the water to avoid detection, while US aircraft provided cover from above. More than 150 US aircraft entered Venezuelan airspace after US forces neutralised the country’s air defences, reported Bloomberg.

Meanwhile, Army Delta Force commandos were flown to the military base where Maduro was staying.

Nicolás Maduro’s failed escape bid

The team broke through steel doors and reached Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, before they could enter a secure safe room.

Trump described the moment in an interview to Fox News. “He was trying to get to a safe place,” Trump said. “It was a very thick door, a very heavy door. But he was unable to get to that door. He made it to the door, he was unable to close it.”

Trump said US forces were equipped with “massive blowtorches” in case they needed to cut through reinforced steel.

“The lights of Caracas were largely turned off due to a certain expertise that we have,” Trump said, without giving further details.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described the action as part of a “massive joint military and law enforcement raid.” At least seven explosions were heard in the capital.

After the capture

Maduro and his wife were flown by helicopter to a US warship and taken toward the United States, where the Trump administration plans to put him on trial in New York.

Trump later laid out details of the mission during a news conference at his Florida home. He said a few US personnel were injured but believed no one was killed.

Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said civilians and members of the military had died during the attack. In a televised address, she demanded Maduro’s release and called him the country’s rightful leader. At the same time, she left open the possibility of talks with Washington.

“We are willing to have respectful relations,” Rodríguez said, reported AP.

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/150-planes-30-minutes-how-the-us-captured-venezuelas-nicol-s-maduro-in-his-fortress-101767476606382.html

DEPOSED Nicolas Maduro has been pictured flanked by FBI agents as he arrived on US soil with his wife after America’s stunning attack on Venezuela.

Footage showed a US federal airplane carrying the Venezuelan dictator and his wife Cilia Flores arriving at the Stewart Air National Guard Base in New York.

Maduro was seen being led in custody by dozens of FBI agents before his scheduled court appearance at Manhattan federal court.

He has been hit with narco-terrorism and weapons-related charges – and will now face a trial in New York.

The US military’s elite special mission unit launched a daring raid in the early hours of Saturday morning to capture Maduro and his first lady.

The pair were dragged from their bedroom from inside a fortified military compound after being captured by the US special forces during a large-scale operation in Venezuela.

Their exfiltration was part of a special military operation called Absolute Resolve supported by large-scale air strikes.

The pair were nabbed from inside a fortified military compound while Black Hawk helicopters pounded Caracas.

A blindfolded Maduro was pictured aboard the USS Iwo Jima – a huge aircraft carrier stationed in the Caribbean – as he was shipped off to New York.

The captured leader was seen wearing ear defenders and a thick black blindfold with a bottle of water in his hands. He was bizarrely in a grey Nike tracksuit.

Donald Trump shared the image just minutes before he announced the US would now run Caracas following the exfiltration of the Venezuelan president and his wife during a special military operation.

Trump insisted America had taken out an “outlaw dictator” with its lightning Venezuela strikes.

He told a stunned world the seizure of Nicolas Maduro and his wife was a blow against a “deadly narco-terrorist”.

The US President also declared: “Maduro sent violent criminal gangs to terrorise American communities nationwide.

A regime change in Caracas has been central to his view that Venezuela’s political reset is necessary to curb Russian and Chinese influence and unlock the country’s vast oil potential.

Trump says the US will run Venezuela until a “proper transition” can take place.

“We’re going to run the country until such time that we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition,” he said during a press conference.

It is unclear how Trump plans to oversee Venezuela. US forces have no control over the country itself, and Maduro’s government appears to still be in charge.

By law, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez should take power, but there was no confirmation that this had happened.

On working with her, Trump said: “She’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again, very simple.”

However, Rodríguez said that Venezuela will “never be a colony of any nation” before adding that Maduro is Venezuela’s only president.

During a press conference, from his home at Mar-a-Lago, Trump detailed how the US military pulled off the raid as he spoke from his home

Elite US troops, including the Army’s Delta Force, created an exact replica of Maduro’s safe house and practiced how they would enter the strongly fortified residence.

The CIA had a small team on the ground starting in August who were able to provide insight into Maduro’s pattern of life that made grabbing him seamless, according to one source familiar with the matter.

Two other sources said the intelligence agency also had an asset close to Maduro who would monitor his movements and was poised to pinpoint his exact location as the operation unfolded.

Trump said: “Late last night and early today at my direction, the United States Armed Forces conducted an extraordinary military operation in the capital of Venezuela, with overwhelming American military power.

“Air, land and sea was used to launch a spectacular assault and it was an assault like people have not seen since World War Two.

“This was one of the most stunning, effective and powerful displays of American military might and competence in American history.”

He said the special forces managed to plunge Caracas into darkness by shutting off the capital’s power before launching the “dark and deadly” assault.

Despite capturing Maduro, Trump has warned the US is “ready to stage a second and much larger attack if we need to do so”.

“We’re not afraid of putting boots on the ground if we have to,” he said.

Maduro and his wife were indicted on several charges in New York, US Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed.

She said the Venezuelan president faces charges of narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices as well as conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the US.

Bondi said: “They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.”

The pair were flown out of the country and taken to USS Iwo Jima and are now on their way to New York.

Maduro could appear in court as early as Monday.

Trump has spent the past few months waging a “war on drugs” with Venezuela.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/15727463/trump-picture-maduro-blindfolded-venezuela-dictator-capture/

 

President Donald Trump said the US is “locked and loaded,” but analysts told DW that more violence wouldn’t help protesters.

US President Donald Trump and a top Iranian security official traded threats Friday as protests spread across parts of Iran.

Trump warned on Truth Social that “if Iran shots [sic] and violently kills peaceful protesters,” the US would intervene, adding, “We are locked and loaded.”

He made the remarks as human rights groups said several people had been killed by security forces in Iran’s biggest protests since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Jina Mahsa Amini in police custody triggered nationwide demonstrations.

Ali Larijani, a former parliament speaker and current secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, accused the US and Israel of fueling the demonstrations. He warned that Washington’s intervention would lead to chaos across the region.

“The people of the US should know that Trump began the adventurism. They should take care of their own soldiers,” he wrote on X.

Protests sparked by failing economy

Protests in Iran erupted after a sharp currency collapse last Sunday, with $1 now costing about 1.4 million rials.

Initially led by traders in Tehran, the demonstrations have widened into demands for broad change and have spread nationwide.

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of the Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights, told DW people are “calling for a regime change.”

“I don’t think that authorities have any other option, either they should give up or they should use, the violence, and based on what we have seen in previous protests, unfortunately, they are going to use heavier violence against protesters.”

On Thursday, severe riots in the west left several dead in clashes with security forces.

“The people of Iran properly know the experience of ‘being rescued’ by Americans: from Iraq and Afghanistan to Gaza,” Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said.

He added “any interventionist hand that gets too close to the security of Iran will be cut.”

Reform in Iran must come from within, analyst says

Iran’s economy has struggled for years since the US reimposed sanctions in 2018, after Trump withdrew from an international nuclear agreement during his first term.

In June 2025, the US military joined Israel’s war against Iran and bombed Iranian nuclear sites. Iran responded with a strike on a US military base in Qatar.

Trump’s social media posts offered little clarity on his specific plans..

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/iran-protests-trump-and-tehran-officials-exchange-threats/a-75366858

A court in Pakistan’s capital sentenced seven people, including three journalists, two YouTubers and two retired army officers, to life imprisonment on Friday, after convicting them of inciting violence during riots in 2023 and spreading hatred against state institutions.

An anti-terrorism court judge, Tahir Abbas Sipra, announced the verdict in Islamabad after completing trials held in absentia.

None of the accused were present in court. They have been living abroad after leaving the country in recent years to avoid arrest.

Those convicted include former editor Shaheen Sehbai; two other journalists, Sabir Shakir and Moeed Pirzada; YouTubers Wajahat Saeed Khan and Haider Raza Mehdi; and retired army officers Adil Raja and Akbar Hussain.

According to the court order, the charges against the men stemmed from the violent unrest that erupted in May 2023 following the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan in a graft case.

At the time, thousands of Khan’s supporters attacked military installations, torched government property, ransacked the residence of a senior army officer and damaged the state-run Radio Pakistan building.

Khan was also indicted in 2024 on charges of inciting violence against military and government targets. He has denied the allegations. He was ousted from power by his political opponents through a no-confidence vote in Parliament in April 2022.

According to the prosecution, the seven men, who are known for publicly supporting Khan, had incited people to violence during the riots on May 9, 2023, when demonstrators targeted military installations, because Khan repeatedly blamed his removal on the United States and Pakistan’s military.

The U.S. government, the Pakistani military and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who replaced Khan after his ouster, have denied the allegations.

Sabir Shakir, who previously hosted a popular television program on ARY TV before leaving Pakistan, told The Associated Press on Friday that he was aware of his conviction in Pakistan. He said that he wasn’t in the country when police accused him of encouraging mob violence.

“The ruling against me and others is nothing but a political victimization,” Shakir said. He said he traveled to Saudi Arabia before the riots for a pilgrimage to Mecca and later went to Britain, where he sought political asylum after concluding that he could face what he described as “fabricated cases,” if he returned to Pakistan.

Shakir said that the court held the trial against him and the others without hearing arguments from his lawyer, and that he was handed two life sentences following the trial conducted in absentia.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/pakistan-riots-trial-journalists-youtubers-military-officers-dd97d50c8db007acf0132d53aecfde6a

 

THIS is the horrifying moment the deadly “flashover” inferno erupts at a packed bar in Swiss ski resort, where at least 47 people died.

Authorities have confirmed teenagers are among the dead and 115 injured after the horror blaze ripped through a packed tourist bar in Crans-Montana, Valais.

Families are now facing an “unbearable” wait for victims to be identified after officials said the process will “take time” – and potentially last several days.

Experts are using dental and DNA records to try identify the deceased, but the severity of the burns is delaying identification, a European official has said.

Officials said they expect victims of foreign nationalities given the resort’s popularity with tourists.

Eight French nationals and six Italians are missing and foreign governments are reportedly calling around frantically to establish if their citizens are among the dead.

The first injured teen to be identified is FC Metz youth footballer player Tahirys Dos Santos.

The 19-year-old was “severely burned”, the football club said, and is now receiving treatment in Germany.

It comes as shocking footage shows people running out the doors of the venue as flames engulf the ceiling of the dancefloor and the bar.

It appears the inside of the basement venue featured extensive wooden décor.

Terrified witnesses believe the deadly fire was sparked by champagne sparklers which set fire to the roof of the packed venue.

Images sent to BFM show a woman with flaming champagne bottles on on the shoulders of another person.

The foam-style soundproofing on the ceiling is alight.

Swiss president Guy Parmelin confirmed many of the victims were youths.

He said: “Many of the victims were young, with many hopes and dreams.

“The fire which took place in a bar is one of the worst tragedies that our country has experienced.

“The Swiss government wants to share their condolences to families and loved ones of the victims, even though no words can represent this brutal loss.”

He stressed that the task of identifying victims is “extremely difficult work and “is something that will last a long time”.

State councillor Stéphane Ganzer added: “You can imagine on New Year’s Eve that the population is quite young.”

At least 22 people aged between 16 and 26 were airlifted to the University Hospital of Lausanne with burns covering more than 20 percent of their body.

Claire Charmet, the director of Lausanne University Hospital, told Swiss newspaper 24 Heures that their patients are “the most serious cases”.

The youngest survivors are as young as 15-years-old and are being treated for third-degree burns, Dr Robert Larribau, head of the Emergency Médical Communication Centre at Geneva University Hospitals, said.

Eerie promo video from the Swiss nightclub has emerged, showing staff parading flaming champagne bottles through packed crowds.

Bottle service waitresses, donning bizarre neon motorcycle helmets, can be seen carrying sparkling candles in glass bottles to tables of revellers, in advertising material released by Le Constellation.

Two young French women said waiters had been carrying bottles with sparklers inside and the bar quickly ignited after one touched the ceiling.

“People were asking me: ‘Am I burned? Is my face burned?’”

One of the French witnesses told BFM TV: “During the evening, a waiter climbed onto another waiter’s shoulders. He was holding a birthday candle, which was very close to the ceiling, and [the ceiling] caught fire.

“In a few dozen seconds, the whole ceiling was on fire. Everything was made of wood.”

Another witness, identified only as Emma, told BFM it was only a matter of “seconds” before the whole ceiling was in flames.

“We ran outside, screaming and crying,” she said.

It is understood the fire sparked a “flashover” blast – triggered by a surge in the temperature of the air – as the flames ripped through the wooden ceiling of the bar.

A local police spokesman confirmed that “dozens of pyrotechnic devices in bottles” lined tables in the basement of the bar.

Italian Foreign Minister ‍Antonio Tajani, who has been in regular contact with Swiss authorities ⁠throughout the day, said the confirmed death toll stood at 47.

Chief of the Valais Cantonal Police, Frédéric Gisler said many of the 115 injured have been “significantly” wounded with a range of burns.

A doctor in the Swiss air ambulance and rescue service broadcaster RTS said hospitals are “overwhelmed with burn victims”.

The local intensive care unit at Valais hospital is full, police added.

The EU is working with Swiss authorities to assist with medical help, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, while countries such as France, Germany and Belgium are taking patients to ease the load.

Disaster struck after midnight

A fire was first reported at 1.30am local time (12.30am UK time) after locals noticed smoke coming from the venue.

Emergency services quickly arrived at the scene and helped treat dozens of victims fleeing the inferno – with plumes of smoke seen billowing from the building.

Officials said three disaster trucks, 13 helicopters, 42 ambulances and 150 emergency responders were deployed to the scene to battle the flames and rescue victims.

As the fire took hold, revellers ran to the single narrow staircase exit to try and escape the inferno, partygoers said.

They were “thrown down the stairs” by a surge of the crowd – and others frantically smashed through windows to get out of the venue.

Victoria, a survivor, told BFM all the windows were “black and opaque with smoke” and people broke windows to let in air.

“Many of the victims must have suffocated,” she said.

Tim Steffens, a 19-year-old ski ski instructor who witnessed the blaze, described scenes of panic as the fire broke out.

“Everyone was pushing and shoving their way out of the stairwell,” he said.

“It was awful. They were all burned. Their clothes were burned away. It really wasn’t a pretty sight. The screams… not pretty, not pretty.”

One brave eyewitness told the BBC how he instantly sprinted over to the venue as smoke was billowing into the night sky.

He smashed through a window and grabbed hold of as many partygoers as he could to drag them to safety.

Once inside he said he saw people “burning from head to foot, no clothes anymore”. He added: “It was very shocking.”

A teenage witness told Sky that people had run out so panicked they were unaware their faces were severely burned.

“People were asking me: ‘Am I burned? Is my face burned?” he recounted.

“I think the adrenaline must have made them not feel anything because they were completely, fully burned and they didn’t feel anything.”

Attorney General Beatrice Pilloud said a probe is underway to determine if the width of the staircase meets the safety standards.

The two French women estimated there were “around 200 people” at the event to celebrate New Year’s Eve – mostly aged between 15 and 20.

“We were very lucky,” they added, saying there were “about 200 people trying to get out within 30 seconds through some very narrow steps”.

A police spokesperson said the venue was licensed for 300 people inside, and 40 on an outside terrace, where smoking was permitted.

Police do not believe the fire was caused by an attack, but an official cause is yet to be determined.

Local prosecutor Beatrice Pilloud said an investigation had been opened into the blaze at the bar, which Swiss company records showed was owned by a French couple, but she said it was too early to comment on any possible safety failures.

“There are still many circumstances to be clarified… The most likely scenario at present is that a widespread fire caused an explosion,” she told a press conference.

The UK embassy in Bern say they are ready to help any British nationals affected but it still remains unknown if any Brit nationals are involved.

King Charles has written to Swiss President Guy Parmelin expressing his heartbreak for those who lost their lives.

He wrote: “My wife and I were appalled, and greatly saddened, to learn of the devastating fire last night in Crans-Montana, in Switzerland. It is utterly heartbreaking that a night of celebration for young people and families instead turned to such nightmarish tragedy.

“While offering our admiration for the heroic first responders and the selfless emergency services, we wanted, above all, to convey our deepest possible sympathy to all those who have been so dreadfully affected by this horrific disaster.

“Our most heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with the loved ones of all those who have so tragically lost their lives and with those who remain in a critical condition in hospital.”

The Italian foreign ministry said 16 Italian nationals are currently missing after the blaze and between 12 and 15 others are in hospital.

An FCDO spokesperson told The Sun: “Our thoughts are with all those injured and killed in the terrible tragedy in Crans-Montana.

“We will continue to monitor the situation, and our consular staff stand ready to support any British nationals who may be affected.”

The area surrounding the bar was closed off with a no-fly zone over Crans-Montana.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/15718148/new-years-explosion-bar-swiss-ski-resort/

 

Tommy Lee Jones’ daughter, Victoria Jones, was found dead at a California hotel on New Year’s Day.

The 34-year-old was discovered at the Fairmont in San Francisco on Thursday morning, Page Six has confirmed.

A spokesperson for the fire department told us that paramedics responded to a call at the hotel’s address at 2:52 a.m. for reports of a medical emergency.

“Bystanders were given instructions for CPR according to CAD records,” the spokesperson said.

Victoria was found unresponsive and pronounced dead at the scene, we’re told

The case was turned over to the San Francisco Police Department and Medical Examiner for further investigation.

A cause of death is currently unknown, per TMZ, who was first to report the news.

A rep for Tommy Lee, 79, did not immediately return Page Six’s request for comment.

Victoria, who was born in 1991, was the daughter of the famous actor and his second wife, Kimberlea Cloughley.

When she was younger, Victoria was following in her dad’s footsteps, acting alongside Tommy Lee in “Men in Black II.”

In 2003, she appeared in an episode of the hit teen show “One Tree Hill” and, in 2005, acted in “The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada,” which was directed by her father.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2026/01/01/celebrity-news/tommy-lee-jones-daughter-victoria-found-dead-at-san-francisco-hotel-on-new-years-day/

 

Work is under way on a South Atlantic island to preserve a key building in the story of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton.

Shackleton famously reached the whaling station of Stromness on South Georgia in 1916 after spending 18 months stranded on Antarctica with his crew.

The now-dilapidated Stromness Manager’s Villa was used as a base by Shackleton while he orchestrated the rescue of his men.

The Dundee-based South Georgia Heritage Trust have been working to stabilise the structure, with plans to create a digital “twin” of the building for people around the world to see it.

A 2022 survey found the building was very close to collapse.

Alison Neil, chief executive of the South Georgia Heritage Trust, said: “The reason for that is rotting timbers.

“This is an old-fashioned version of a flat-pack house.

“They would’ve been brought down from Norway on ships and then assembled on the island.”

The trust raised more than £3m to send a team to South Georgia.

They arrived in October and have been working on stabilising the structure.

Alison said: “It’s in the middle of a whaling station that’s full of asbestos, dangerous debris, and is not accessible to the public.

“Our plan is not to open it up to the public, our plan is to maintain it for the future.”

Shackleton’s extraordinary story of survival has fascinated and inspired people for more than a century.

His most famous mission was his plan to cross Antarctica through the South Pole after travelling on board his ship The Endurance.

In 1915, The Endurance became trapped in ice, and his crew abandoned ship, crossing onto floating ice, which they hoped would drift towards land.

But by April 1916, the ice floes were breaking up, so Shackleton took his crew in lifeboats first to Elephant Island, then led a smaller group to find help for the others.

They crossed about 800 miles (1,300km) of ocean in the open boat before reaching the island of South Georgia.

Leaving three of the men behind with the boat, Shackleton, Frank Worsley and Tom Crean trekked across the island for three days until they reached Stromness whaling station on the far side of the island.

Alison said the men made it to the villa in a dishevelled state.

She said: “No-one recognised them, they must’ve looked terrifying.

“They knocked on the door of the villa and famously the whaling manager opened the door and said, ‘who the hell are you?’

“Shackleton allegedly said: ‘My name is Shackleton’.”

It was the men’s first contact with the outside world for 17 months.

Shackleton, Worsley and Crean were invited in to the villa where they had a hot meal and a bath, before immediately starting the rescue of the rest of their crew with the help of the whalers.

Alison said: “That’s a really important part of The Endurance story and it effectively is the next chapter on from the sinking of the vessel.”

Shackleton’s extraordinary story of survival has fascinated and inspired people for more than a century.

His most famous mission was his plan to cross Antarctica through the South Pole after travelling on board his ship The Endurance.

In 1915, The Endurance became trapped in ice, and his crew abandoned ship, crossing onto floating ice, which they hoped would drift towards land.

But by April 1916, the ice floes were breaking up, so Shackleton took his crew in lifeboats first to Elephant Island, then led a smaller group to find help for the others.

They crossed about 800 miles (1,300km) of ocean in the open boat before reaching the island of South Georgia.

Leaving three of the men behind with the boat, Shackleton, Frank Worsley and Tom Crean trekked across the island for three days until they reached Stromness whaling station on the far side of the island.

Alison said the men made it to the villa in a dishevelled state.

She said: “No-one recognised them, they must’ve looked terrifying.

“They knocked on the door of the villa and famously the whaling manager opened the door and said, ‘who the hell are you?’

“Shackleton allegedly said: ‘My name is Shackleton’.”

It was the men’s first contact with the outside world for 17 months.

Shackleton, Worsley and Crean were invited in to the villa where they had a hot meal and a bath, before immediately starting the rescue of the rest of their crew with the help of the whalers.

Alison said: “That’s a really important part of The Endurance story and it effectively is the next chapter on from the sinking of the vessel.”

Alison said that “heritage shouldn’t be a privilege.”

She said: “You don’t want it to just be something that inspires the people that can afford to come to an island.

“So many people are really fascinated by the story of Shackleton and the Endurance.

“It would be great to be able to tell everyone around the world who is keen on this story, this chapter.

“The most effective way to do that is to let them experience it for themselves through a digital version.”

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm212zexpypo

Yemen’s separatists are determined to establish a new state after seizing swathes of territory this month, their spokesman told AFP on Wednesday (Dec 31), but added that secession would only happen when conditions are right.

The group’s staggering advance has sparked fresh upheaval in Yemen after more than a decade of war between the Saudi-led coalition and Iran-backed Houthi rebels who forced the government from the capital Sanaa in 2014.

Despite a wave of air strikes targeting their positions and calls from Saudi Arabia to fall back, the STC says it will hold its ground and reinforce its territory.

“What happened recently has made southerners more determined – psychologically and emotionally – to restore the state,” STC spokesman Anwar Al-Tamimi told AFP during an interview in Abu Dhabi.

“When the appropriate historical, international and regional moment arrives will we be ready to restore our state. Whether it will be in the long term, medium term or immediately, that will depend on the circumstances,” Tamimi added.

Experts say the separatists’ successes have embarrassed Saudi Arabia, a regional heavyweight and the main backer of the internationally recognised Yemeni government.

Riyadh has repeatedly demanded that the STC pull back from recently seized territory, including areas along its southern borders, and has launched air strikes targeting its positions.

The Saudi-led coalition also targeted an alleged UAE arms shipment at an STC-controlled port on Tuesday and called on Abu Dhabi to pull its forces from Yemen within 24 hours, with the Emiratis agreeing to comply.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/yemen-separatists-determined-in-independence-drive-after-battlefield-wins-5771751

The German Police Trade Union warned of possible violence against emergency services during New Year’s Eve celebrations. DW has more.

Homemade New Year’s fireworks kill two teenagers in western Germany

Two 18-year-old men died after being struck by homemade fireworks on New Year’s Eve in the German city of Bielefeld, police said early Thursday.

The incidents occurred at separate locations in the city in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Both teenage victims suffered fatal facial injuries after igniting the homemade fireworks themselves, police said.

Authorities said, while investigations are ongoing, there was no initial indication of foul play or third-party involvement in either case.

President Donald Trump warned Iran on Monday that the U.S. could carry out further military strikes if the country attempts to reconstitute its nuclear program as he held wide-ranging talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his home in Florida.

Trump had previously insisted that Tehran’s nuclear capabilities were “completely and fully obliterated” by U.S. strikes on key nuclear enrichment sites in June. But with Netanyahu by his side, Trump raised the possibility that suspected activity could be taking place outside those sites. Israeli officials, meanwhile, have been quoted in local media expressing concern about Iran rebuilding its supply of long-range missiles capable of striking Israel.

“Now I hear that Iran is trying to build up again,” Trump told reporters gathered at his Mar-a-Lago estate. “And if they are, we’re going to have to knock them down. We’ll knock them down. We’ll knock the hell out of them. But hopefully that’s not happening.”

Trump’s warning to Iran comes as his administration has committed significant resources to targeting drug trafficking in South America and the president looks to create fresh momentum for the U.S.-brokered Israel-Hamas ceasefire. The Gaza deal is in danger of stalling before reaching its complicated second phase that would involve naming an international governing body and rebuilding the devastated Palestinian territory.

At a news conference with Netanyahu after their meeting, Trump suggested that he could order another U.S. strike.

“If it’s confirmed, they know the consequences, and the consequences will be very powerful, maybe more powerful than the last time,” Trump said.

Iran has insisted that it is no longer enriching uranium at any site in the country, trying to signal to the West that it remains open to potential negotiations over its atomic program. The two leaders discussed the possibility of taking new military action against Tehran just months after June’s 12-day war.

The Iranian mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s warning.

Gaza ceasefire progress has slowed

Trump, with Netanyahu by his side, said he wants to get to the second phase of the Gaza deal “as quickly as we can.”

“But there has to be a disarming of Hamas,” Trump added.

The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that Trump championed has mostly held, but progress has slowed recently. Both sides accuse each other of violations, and divisions have emerged among the U.S., Israel and Arab countries about the path forward.

The truce’s first phase began in October, days after the two-year anniversary of the initial Hamas-led attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people. All but one of the 251 hostages taken then have been released, alive or dead.

The Israeli leader, who also met separately with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, has signaled he is in no rush to move forward with the next phase as long as the remains of Ran Gvili are still in Gaza.

Gvili’s parents met with Netanyahu as well as Rubio, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in Florida on Monday.

“They’re waiting for their son to come home,” Trump said of the family of the young police officer known affectionately as “Rani.”

Next phase is complex

The path to implementing Trump’s peace plan is certainly complicated.

If successful, the second phase would see the rebuilding of a demilitarized Gaza under international supervision by a group chaired by Trump and known as the Board of Peace. The Palestinians would form a “technocratic, apolitical” committee to run daily affairs in Gaza, under Board of Peace supervision.

It further calls for normalized relations between Israel and the Arab world and a possible pathway to Palestinian independence. Then there are thorny logistical and humanitarian questions, including rebuilding war-ravaged Gaza, disarming Hamas and creating a security apparatus called the International Stabilization Force.

Much remains unsettled

Two main challenges have complicated moving to the second phase, according to an official who was briefed on those meetings. Israeli officials have been taking a lot of time to vet and approve members of the Palestinian technocratic committee from a list given to them by the mediators, and Israel continues its military strikes.

Trump’s plan also calls for the stabilization force, proposed as a multinational body, to maintain security. But it, too, has yet to be formed. Whether details will be forthcoming after Monday’s meeting is unclear.

A Western diplomat said there is a “huge gulf” between the U.S.-Israeli understanding of the force’s mandate and that of other major countries in the region, as well as European governments.

All spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details that haven’t been made public.

The U.S. and Israel want the force to have a “commanding role” in security duties, including disarming Hamas and other militant groups. But countries being courted to contribute troops fear that mandate will make it an “occupation force,” the diplomat said.

Hamas has said it is ready to discuss “freezing or storing” its arsenal of weapons but insists it has a right to armed resistance as long as Israel occupies Palestinian territory. One U.S. official said a potential plan might be to offer cash incentives in exchange for weapons, echoing a “buyback” program Witkoff has previously floated.

Trump makes case once again for Netanyahu pardon

The two leaders, who have a long and close relationship, heaped praise on each other. Trump also tweaked the Israeli leader, who at moments during the war has raised Trump’s ire, for being “very difficult on occasion.”

Netanyahu said Trump during the lunch was formally told that his country’s education ministry will award him the Israel Prize, breaking the long-held convention of bestowing the honor on an Israeli citizen or resident.

“President Trump has broken so many conventions to the surprise of people,” Netanyahu said. He added, “So we decided to break a convention too, or create a new one.”

Trump also renewed his call on Israeli President Isaac Herzog to grant Netanyahu, who is in the midst of a corruption trial, a pardon.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/trump-netanyahu-gaza-ceasefire-arab-nations-229253766673f18c1195550572edd2ce

Russian state media has claimed a victory over Ukraine after a Florida summer between Donald Trump and Volodimir Zelensky appears to have forced Ukraine into making concessions. The meeting to flesh out the final stage of the Russian-Ukrainian peace deal took place at Trump’s Mar-a-lago estate on Sunday and was billed as a push towards ending Russia’s nearly four-year invasion.

But the pair seemed to reach a sticking point with some “thorny issues” still to be ironed out. When probed more about the specifics, President Trump claimed that some of the land Ukraine has spent nearly half a decade defending is still “up for grabs”, claiming that it has “already been taken.”

Trump went on: “I think the land you’re talking about, some of that land has been taken.

“Some of that land is maybe up for grabs, but it may be taken over the next period of a number of months, and you’re better off making a deal.”

America’s Russian sympathy seems to be something that Moscow has taken as a victory, with a broadcast on state media labelling the summit as a win for Putin.

According to Russian broadcaster and noted Kremlin Propagandist Vladimir Solovyov, Moscow is delighted with how the meeting went, claiming it was all part of his country’s plan.

Speaking on his evening show, Solovyov said: “We have achieved a knockout victory, we prepared on a grandmaster’s level on all the main points and it worked.

“Everything was extremely precise, and of course Zelensky started to melt, he melted down.”

The Kremlin mouthpiece claimed that to dispute the two-hour meeting between Trump and Zelensky, “the mood just wasn’t there”.

He also claimed that a call between Trump and Moscow took place shortly before the Ukrainian president landed.

Solovyov goes on to see that the phone call “completely destroyed Zelensky’s plans,” arguing that he didn’t even need to get off the plane.

The broadcaster’s statements need to be taken with a grain of salt, but still give an insight into the optimism within the Kremlin for this deal to be weighed in Russia’s favour.

Their talk has worried many in Kiev, with Yuriy Boyechko, CEO and founder of Hope for Ukraine – a non-profit delivering humanitarian aid to war-torn Ukrainians – slamming Mr Trump’s approach as dangerously detached from reality.

Source : https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/2151854/Russia-thanks-trump-for-total-victory-over-Ukraine

Inqilab Moncho member secretary Abdullah Al Jaber announced a four-point demand, including a 24-day ultimatum for the government to complete trial proceedings against those responsible for Osman Hadi’s killing.

Days after the death of Sharif Osman Hadi, one of the prominent faces of the July Uprising, the mass protests that ousted Sheikh Hasina’s government and spokesperson of the Inqilab Moncho, the party continued its blockade at the Shahbagh section. The Inqilab Moncho has issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the interim government of Bangladesh, headed by chief advisor Muhammad Yunus, and have demanded the cancellation of work permits of Indians.

Bangladesh witnessed widespread protests and vandalism following the death of Hadi on December 18. Hadi, 32, was shot in the head on December 12 during an election campaign in Dhaka. He was airlifted to Singapore for advanced treatment but died of his injuries on December 18. He was also a parliamentary candidate for the upcoming February 12 elections.

Inqilab Moncho member secretary Abdullah Al Jaber announced a four-point demand, including a 24-day ultimatum for the government to complete trial proceedings against those responsible for Hadi’s killing. The platform also indulged in Anti-India rhetoric and demanded the suspension of work permits of Indian nationals in Bangladesh, according to The Daily Star.

The outfit also said that if India refuses to return the murderers of Hadi, who have allegedly fled the country, a case must be filed against Delhi in the International Court of Justice. The fascist culprits hiding in the Civil Military Intelligence must be identified, arrested and brought to justice, the outfit said.

US President Donald Trump said Iranian leaders “know the consequences” should Iran try to rebuild its nuclear program after June’s brief war. He was speaking as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Florida.

Donald Trump on Monday intimated at further Israeli or US strikes on Iran if the country tried to rebuild its nuclear weapons facilities.

“Now I hear that Iran is trying to build up again,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Monday during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Florida. “And if they are, we’re going to have to knock them down. We’ll knock them down. We’ll knock the hell out of them. But hopefully that’s not happening.”

Iran and Israel exchanged fire for two weeks in June in what became known as the Twelve-Day War between June 13 and 24, with the US also striking three key Iranian sites with heavy munitions on June 22 in what was codenamed Operation Midnight Hammer.

What happened to Iran’s nuclear capabilities in June’s attacks?

Trump had previously said that Tehran’s nuclear capabilities had been “completely and fully obliterated” by a combination of Israeli and later US strikes in June on key nuclear enrichment sites.

But more sober US appraisals from intelligence agencies and the Pentagon estimated that the attacks would only set Iran back by a matter of months or up to two years, if it were to continue seeking nuclear weapons.

Israeli reports suggest efforts in Iran to rebuild, particularly its long-range missile capabilities that can also be used to strike Israel with conventional weapons.

Iranian adviser warns of ‘immediate harsh response’

Trump said it was possible but not confirmed that Iran was trying to rebuild nuclear capabilities at sites other than the Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan ones struck by the US in June.

“We know exactly where they’re going, what they’re doing, and I ⁠hope they’re not doing it because we ‍don’t want to waste fuel on a B-2,” he said, referring to the bomber used in the earlier strike. “It’s a 37-hour trip both ways. I don’t want to waste a lot of fuel.”

He said leaders in Tehran “know the consequences” if the government sought to move towards nuclear weapons, adding these consequences would be “very powerful, maybe more powerful than last time.”

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/trump-warns-iran-against-rebuilding-nuclear-program/a-75336784

A train derailed near Nizanda in Oaxaca, Mexico, killing 13 and injuring 98. The derailment hit the rail traffic.

At least 13 people were killed and 98 others sustained injuries after an Interoceanic Train, carrying 250 people, derailed in the southern state of Oaxaca in Mexico, authorities said on Sunday. The derailment disrupted rail traffic along the route linking the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico.

According to the Mexican Navy, the train, which derailed near the town of Nizanda, was carrying nine crew members and 241 passengers. Of those on board, 139 were reported to be out of danger. Around 36 people were receiving medical assistance, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, President Claudia Sheinbaum, in a post on X, shared that five of the injured were in critical condition, adding that senior officials had been dispatched to the site to assist the families of those killed.

The governor of Oaxaca, Salomon Jara Cruz, expressed condolences to the families of those killed in the accident and said state authorities were coordinating with federal agencies to assist those affected.

Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office has already launched a probe into the incident, Attorney General Ernestina Godoy Ramos stated in a social media post.

The Interoceanic Train, inaugurated in 2023 under former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, forms part of the broader Interoceanic Corridor project.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/train-derails-in-mexico-oaxaca-injuries-death-toll-ws-l-9797149.html

Somali president warns Israel’s recognition of Somaliland threatens regional stability

Israel’s recognition of Somaliland “is (a) threat to the security and stability of the world and the region,” Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud told an emergency parliamentary session Sunday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Friday announcement, made his country the first to recognise Somaliland, “is tantamount to a blunt aggression against the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity, and the unity of the people of the Somali Republic,” Mohamud said, AFP reported.

Israel on Friday became the first country to formally recognise the self-declared Republic of Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state, a move that could alter regional dynamics and challenge Somalia’s long-standing opposition to secession.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would pursue immediate cooperation with Somaliland in sectors such as agriculture, health, technology and the economy.

In a statement, he congratulated Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, praised his leadership and invited him to visit Israel.

Netanyahu said the recognition was “in the spirit of the Abraham Accords, signed at the initiative of President Trump.”

The Abraham Accords, brokered in 2020 during US President Donald Trump’s first term, led to Israel establishing diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, with other countries joining later.

According to an Israeli statement, Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar and Abdullahi signed a joint declaration of mutual recognition.

Abdullahi said in a statement that Somaliland would join the Abraham Accords, describing the move as a step towards regional and global peace. He said Somaliland was committed to building partnerships, enhancing mutual prosperity and promoting stability across the Middle East and Africa.

Somalia’s response
Somalia’s government, however, strongly condemned Israel’s decision, calling it an “unlawful step” and a “deliberate attack” on the country’s sovereignty. In a statement issued by the prime minister’s office, Mogadishu rejected any recognition of Somaliland.

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/israels-recognition-of-somaliland-poses-threat-to-regional-stability-somali-president-101766925942744.html