Minimalist News

"The US Is Basically Not A Good Credit": Danish Pension Fund To Sell US Treasuries Over the weekend, Deutsche Bank's head of FX George Saravelos laid out one theoretical reason why in his view, Europe has leverage over the US in the latest burst of transatlatnic tensions over Greenland: or rather $8 trillion reasons why the US has leverage. As  Saravelos wrote, "European countries own $8 trillion of US bonds and equities, almost twice as much as the rest of the world combined" and added that in an environment where the geoeconomic stability of the western alliance is being disrupted existentially, "it

More Than 10,000 Illegal Immigrants Arrested In Minnesota: Noem Authored by Arjun Singh via The Epoch Times, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced on Jan. 19 that more than 10,000 criminal illegal immigrants had been arrested by federal law enforcement officers during ongoing immigration-related operations in Minneapolis. “We have arrested over 10,000 criminal illegal aliens who were killing Americans, hurting children and reigning terror in Minneapolis,” Noem wrote on X. “In the last 6 weeks, our brave DHS law enforcement have arrested 3,000 criminal illegal aliens including vicious murderers, rapists, child pedophiles and incredibly dangerous individuals. A HUGE victory for public safety.” Many law

Carney's Beijing Gambit Triggers Trump Warning In The Form Of A Big Beautiful Map After over the weekend warning that he would impose a 10% tariff on imports from several European countries in response to their opposition to his Greenland takeover plan, later threatening the tariff could be raised to 25% within weeks if those governments fail to fall in line - President Trump has once again escalated, this time with an overnight Truth Social post of a map showing not just Greenland as part of the US but Canada too. The image features President Trump addressing European leaders in the Oval

TACO Tuesday? Everything Crashing As Trump Arrives In Davos Amid Japan Bond Meltdown US equity futures are sharply lower, on pace for their biggest drop of the year, with Beta underperforming. And while geopolitics are the catalyst - as attention remains glued to see what Trump will say next on his Truth Social feed ahead of this week's Davos meetings - after Trump reignited his trade war with Europe, the moves are exacerbated by a meltdown in JGBs (in a historic move, 30Y JGB are +27bp, a 6-sigma move) which has triggered a global bond selloff. As of 8:00am ET, S&P futures

JGBs Implode, Gold Soars: The Trade CNBC Ridiculed Is Crushing Everything Submitted by QTR's Fringe Finance As I first noted back in 2023, my disdain, distrust and general disgust for financial media reached a peak in 2016 when CNBC’s Fast Money invited Bill Fleckenstein on the air to offer up his take on the economy and why the Fed-fueled market was “un-shortable”. Bill is a well-known advocate for the Austrian school of economics and has been highly critical of the Fed and central banking policies for decades. In this interview, he made two key points: 1) he thought Japan would probably be the first bond market to blow

Bessent Says MSM Causing "Hysteria" Over Greenland, Downplays Treasury Dumping Threat Asian and European stocks, along with US equity index futures, are deeply in the red this morning as tensions between President Trump and Europe intensify over Greenland. At the annual World Economic Forum in Davos earlier, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged calm on the Greenland issue. He also said the next Federal Reserve chair could be announced as early as next week. "I am confident that the leaders will not escalate, and that this will work out in a manner that ends up in a very good place," Bessent told reporters at

Germany's Censorship Frontier And The Rise Of Digital Control Submitted by Thomas Kolbe Schleswig‑Holstein’s Minister‑President Daniel Günther has, in what felt like a genteel salon, pulled back the curtain on the true censorship ambitions of politics. In the safe biotope of public broadcasting, he simply babbled and hit the spotlight on the repressive tendencies within the party system. We now find ourselves in a critical defensive struggle against the enemies of liberty. Some achieve notoriety and fame by chance. Fortune may fall into one person’s lap, another may experience his ten minutes of public shine through a fluke rhetorical spark. In the case

Don Lemon Faces KKK Act Charges On MLK Holiday Update (1408ET): Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon told conservative podcaster Benny Johnson that former CNN host Don Lemon has been put "on notice" by the Justice Department and could face charges under federal civil-rights laws, including the Ku Klux Klan Act, for his role in storming a church service in Minnesota. Lemon allegedly joined a far-left mob that was on the hunt for a pro-ICE pastor at a St. Paul church.  "The Klan Act is one of the most important federal civil rights statutes. Its a law that makes it illegal to terrorize and violate the civil

UBS: Will There Be Chinese EVs In America? UBS analyst Joseph Spak asked clients on Sunday: Will there be Chinese cars in the US? Spak pointed to comments from President Trump last week at the Detroit Economic Club, in which he said, "If they want to come in and build a plant and hire you and hire your friends and your neighbors, that's great. I love that. Let China come in, let Japan come in. They are. And they'll be building plants, but they're using our labor." Trump's comments come after Chinese automaker Geely stated at CES in Las Vegas that it could

Russia Restores Mothballed Soviet-Era Jets As Plane Shortage Worsens Russia has throughout nearly four years of its 'special military operation' in Ukraine been largely successful in weathering constantly expanding US and EU sanctions. While isolated, its economy has stayed afloat, but it has been forced into desperate measures as sanctions take a toll on some key sectors. Russian newspaper Izvestia reports that Russia's commercial airline industry is having to call back aging, decommissioned planes in an effort to sustain passenger traffic. Soviet-made planes which are several decades old are being restored to service. A Russian An-148 jet on a runway at Pulkovo airport in St. Petersburg

Childish Media Games: How The SPD's "Germany Food Basket" Masks State-Driven Inflation Submitted By Thomas Kolbe Party politics today is essentially a mélange of media strategy, personality cult, and the constant struggle to expand one’s own sphere of power. At the Willy Brandt House, the Social Democrats’ command center, a two-track media strategy appears to have been agreed upon for this year: taking and giving. From the wealthy, the party intends to take—by expanding inheritance taxes on corporate assets—what, according to the Social Democrats’ moral code, never truly belonged to them. To the citizen, meanwhile, they want to give a basket of cheap

China's 200,000-Satellite Filing Sparks Fears Of An Orbital Power Grab China has filed requests to reserve orbital slots for almost 200,000 satellites, prompting concerns it may be positioning itself to control large swathes of near-Earth space, according to the Daily Mail. The applications, submitted on December 29 by the newly formed Institute of Radio Spectrum Utilisation and Technological Innovation, outline two constellations—CTC-1 and CTC-2—each with 96,714 satellites spread across thousands of orbits. If built, the system would dwarf SpaceX’s Starlink plans and could restrict access for rival operators. Officials have offered little detail about the satellites’ role, fuelling speculation about military or security

Much Defiance, No Strategy: Germany's Outrage At Trump's Greenland Policy Submitted by Thomas Kolbe The defiant reaction of Germany’s business and political elite to Donald Trump’s tariff measures in the Greenland conflict reveals a remarkable denial of reality. It is increasingly clear that Brussels and Berlin are more willing to accept significant collateral damage in a dispute with the United States than to pursue rational solutions. It is high time to acknowledge their own weaknesses. In the end, the dispute over Greenland’s strategic future unfolded as expected. In response to the deployment of a tiny contingent of European troops to the Danish-administered island,

Architecture Of Plunder: Why The Modern Democratic Party Is A Kleptocracy Authored by Saggezza Eterna,  In the lexicon of polite political discourse, we are told that "kleptocracy" is a phenomenon reserved for the decaying regimes of the third world—banana republics where dictators in gold-braided epaulets stuff suitcases with cash while their people starve. This is a comforting fiction. It allows the American mind to believe that corruption is something that happens over there, in places without marble capitols or Ivy League economists. But this definition is archaic. It fails to capture the sophistication of the modern predator state. A true kleptocracy in the twenty-first

China Flies Military Drone Into Taiwan Airspace For First Time In the latest geopolitical escalation - because let's face it, all that's left now for the global geopolitical chaos to be complete is for Beijing to finally launch its much anticipated invasion of Taiwan - China sent a military drone into Taiwanese airspace for the first time, underscoring Beijing’s efforts to test the island's defenses. The Chinese reconnaissance drone flew in the airspace of Pratas Island for about four minutes early Saturday, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said in a statement. The islet is near the southern end of the strait, about 400 kilometers

Damascus Attacks Syrian Kurds Overseeing ISIS Prison As US Stands By via The Cradle The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said Monday that Damascus has continued to attack its positions across northern Syria despite the US-backed ceasefire reached a day earlier, warning that attacks are targeting the vicinity of SDF-run prisons holding tens of thousands of jailed ISIS militants.  This poses an "extremely dangerous" security threat, the SDF warned. "Since the early hours of this morning, Al-Shaddadi Prison, which holds thousands of detainees from the terrorist organization ISIS, has been subjected to repeated attacks carried out by factions affiliated with Damascus. Fighters of the SDF confronted

Eric Swalwell's Bid For California Governor Hits Snag Over Residency Claims Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) has a major hurdle to overcome in his bid to succeed California Governor Gavin Newsom - he has been accused of not living in the Golden State.  California's constitution requires gubernatorial candidates to have resided in the state for the previous five years, however a new lawsuit from conservative activist and filmmaker Joel Gilbert claims that Swalwell's "home address" listed on his election paperwork is actually a lawyer's office.  According to Gilbert, Swalwell actually lives in a $1.2 million, six-bedroom mansion in Washington DC with his wife Brittany Watts, who apparently didn't

Socialism Is A Noun - A Synonym For Socialism Is Theft Submitted by Mitchell Vexler, socialism is defined as a political system advocating that the means of production and distribution are owned or regulated by the community as a whole. Words that you may have heard of being representative of socialism are collectivism, communalism, communism, leftism, progressivism, Marxism, Bolshevism, Leninism, Trotskyism, welfarism, Maoism, neo-Marxism, social democracy, consumer socialism, utopian socialism, classless society, collective ownership, public ownership, state ownership, Stalinism, Sovietism Marxism-Leninism, Eurocommunism, totalitarianism, radical socialism, state ownership, rule of the proletariat, and state socialism. All of these synonyms can be replaced with 1 word,

Musk's Boring Company To Build Free 1-Mile Tunnel In "Tunnel Vision Challenge!" In a new contest, Elon Musk's tunneling firm, The Boring Company, will build a 1-mile tunnel for free to the best idea submitted to the company.  The Boring Company's Prufrock 5 tunneler (via X) "Announcing the Tunnel Vision Challenge!" the company wrote on X. "Pitch us your best 1-mile tunnel idea (Loop, freight, pedestrian, utility, etc.), we’ll pick a winner, and build it…for free!" > Announcing the Tunnel Vision Challenge! Pitch us your best 1-mile tunnel idea (Loop, freight, pedestrian, utility, etc.), we'll pick a winner, and build it…for free! > > Details:https://t.co/xRTmClRjVt > > Criteria: >

Why California Is Bleeding Tech Jobs: Decline Is A Policy Choice Authored by Vance Ginn via the American Institute for Economic Research, For much of the past half-century, California benefited from a powerful first-mover advantage. Dense networks of talent, capital, and research institutions allowed the state to absorb policy mistakes that would have crippled competitors. High spending and taxes, restrictive housing rules, and regulatory complexity were treated as nuisances rather than binding constraints, because growth could outstrip their costs. That margin of error has narrowed dramatically. What California is now experiencing is not a cyclical tech downturn or a post-COVID-19 pandemic anomaly. It is a

Church leaders cite Greenland threats, Venezuela action and aid cuts as undermining human dignity and peace Three cardinals in the US Catholic church have criticized the Trump administration’s foreign policy, saying its push to obtain or otherwise seize Greenland, recent military action in Venezuela, and cuts to humanitarian aid risk “destroying international relations and plunging the world into incalculable suffering”. “Our country’s moral role in confronting evil around the world, sustaining the right to life and human dignity, and supporting religious liberty are all under examination,” said a joint statement from Blase Cupich, Robert McElroy and Joseph Tobin, respectively the archbishops of

Salvatore Mancuso given 40-year sentence, which could be reduced after truth and reparation activities A Colombian court has sentenced a former paramilitary leader to 40 years in prison for crimes committed against Indigenous communities in the province of La Guajira, including homicides, forced disappearances and the displacement of people from 2002 to 2006. The special tribunal that hears cases from the country’s armed conflict said in its ruling that Salvatore Mancuso was responsible for 117 crimes committed by fighters under his command in La Guajira. However, it added that Mancuso’s time in prison could be reduced to eight years, if he collaborated

Prosecution over death of Quinto Inuma Alvarado seen as test of ability to curb attacks on environmental defenders Five men are due to go on trial on Tuesday over the killing of an Amazonian Indigenous leader, in a legal case that could test whether Peru can hold perpetrators accountable for violence linked to illegal logging and drug trafficking in one of the world’s most dangerous regions for environmental defenders. The Kichwa tribal leader Quinto Inuma Alvarado was killed on 29 November 2023, after repeatedly denouncing illegal activity within his community’s territory. Continue reading...

President announces 30-day order after inmates also took 46 people hostage at three prisons Guatemala’s president has declared a 30-day nationwide state of emergency to combat criminal gangs after authorities accused them of killing eight police officers and holding hostages at three prisons. The killings occurred in the capital, Guatemal City, and surrounding areas a day after gang-affiliated inmates took 46 people hostage in the three prisons across the country to demand incarcerated gang leaders be moved to lower-security facilities. Continue reading...

Fires blaze through 8,500 hectares, forcing 50,000 people to evacuate as firefighters struggle to extinguish flames Wildfires raging across central and southern Chile have killed at least 18 people, scorched thousands of hectares of forest and destroyed scores of homes, authorities said, as the South American country swelters under a heatwave. Chile’s president, Gabriel Boric, declared a state of catastrophe in the country’s central Biobío region and the neighbouring Ñuble region, about 500km (300 miles) south of Santiago, the capital. Continue reading...

Critics expected to mount legal challenge to plans for vast complex at Royal Mint Court amid security concerns * UK politics live – latest updates The UK communities secretary, Steve Reed, has given permission for China to build a vast new embassy near the Tower of London after spy chiefs told him that the risks to national security could be controlled and dealt with. The decision paves the way for Keir Starmer to visit Beijing in the coming weeks – though local residents plan to legally challenge the decision, potentially delaying the development by months or years. Continue reading...

North Korean leader reportedly blames Yang Sung-ho for ‘confusion’ at factory project as major congress looms The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, has dismissed a vice-premier over troubles in a factory modernisation project, in an apparent move to tighten discipline among officials and push them to deliver greater results before a major political conference. The upcoming ruling Workers’ party congress, the first of its kind in five years, is one of North Korea’s biggest propaganda spectacles and is intended to review past projects, establish new political and economic priorities and reshuffle officials. Continue reading...

Number of high-spending Chinese tourists visiting Japan halved last month after PM said an invasion of Taiwan could spark Japanese military involvement Chinese tourism to Japan almost halved in December amid a bitter diplomatic row between Beijing and Tokyo over the security of Taiwan. The number of tourists from mainland China dropped by about 45% from the same month a year earlier to about 330,000, Japan’s transport ministry said on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Fourth year of decline deepens concerns over ageing, shrinking workforce and long-term economic impact China’s population fell for a fourth consecutive year in 2025 as the birthrate plunged to another record low despite the introduction of polices aimed at encouraging people to have children. Registered births dropped to 7.92 million in 2025 – or 5.63 for every 1,000 members of the population – down 17% from 9.54 million in 2024, and the lowest since records began in 1949. Continue reading...

Sanae Takaichi tells senior figures in ruling Liberal Democratic party she plans to dissolve lower house on 23 January Japan’s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, has called a snap election as she attempts to capitalise on high approval ratings since becoming the country’s first female prime minister three months ago. Takaichi, a conservative who is embroiled in a deepening dispute with China over the security of Taiwan, said on Monday she would dissolve the lower house of the Diet – Japan’s parliament – on 23 January, with an election to follow on 8 February. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Experts also alarmed I-CAN tool – a three-hour interview – may be conducted by people with no allied health background * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The head of Australia’s peak body of psychologists and disability experts have warned the NDIS’s new assessment tool hasn’t been tested on a variety of disability types – including diverse autistic needs – which may lead to “tragedies” occurring, if more research is not conducted. The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) announced in September it had procured the Instrument for the Classification and Assessment of Support Needs (I-CAN) to

Coalition divided over reforms in response to Bondi beach terror attack, with Bridget McKenzie accusing government of ‘trashing normal process of parliamentary scrutiny’ * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Laws to ban hate groups and establish a national gun buyback scheme have passed the Senate after the Albanese government struck separate deals with the Liberals and Greens to legislate its response to the Bondi beach massacre. The two bills were rushed through on Tuesday night at the end of a special two-day sitting to deal with

The first female governor of New South Wales, Dame Marie was widely respected and will be honoured with a state funeral Dame Marie Bashir, the first female governor of New South Wales, has died. She was 95. The NSW premier, Chris Minns, confirmed her death on Tuesday on behalf of her family, writing in a statement that he was saddened to share the news of her passing. Continue reading...

Surfer taken to hospital with minor injuries after latest shark attack at Point Plomer beach on mid-north coast * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A surfer has been taken to hospital after being bitten by a shark off the coast of New South Wales’ Limeburners Creek national park, the state’s fourth incident in 48 hours. The local health district said the man, 39, was in hospital in a stable condition with minor injuries. The attack took place near the Point Plomer campground, less than 20km north

Families call for end to political ‘bickering’ amid concerns the state LNP will not back proposed program * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The parents of police murdered in a 2022 ambush in western Queensland have thrown their support behind the federal government’s proposed gun buyback scheme in the wake of the Bondi beach terror attack. The Guardian understands that the state LNP government decided not to support the buyback program at a marathon cabinet meeting on Monday. Continue reading...

French president says ‘we prefer respect over bullies’ after leak of his text exchange with Trump And Davos looks like the place to be this week, with Trump now declaring that after his call with Nato’s Rutte he will have “a meeting of the various parties” on Greenland – whatever that means and whoever is going to be involved. Separately, it’s not clear if Macron’s offer of setting up a G7 meeting on the sidelines was accepted (although looking at timings it would risk clashing with the emergency EU summit on Thursday night), but his separate invitation to a dinner at the

Gonzalo Sánchez, armed with tools and a quad bike, ferried rescuers and victims after rail collision near Córdoba A lottery ticket seller in southern Spain has been hailed as a hero after he spent about six hours ferrying rescuers and victims around on his quad bike after the train collision that killed at least 41 people and injured dozens of others. Gonzalo Sánchez, 43, was at home in the small town of Adamuz when the town’s WhatsApp group alerted to reports of a train that had derailed nearby. Continue reading...

Increasingly unpopular at home, a president obsessed by his legacy has turned his scattergun on the world stage One year into the second Trump administration, an actual US foreign policy remains just a nice idea. Instead, the world has been forced to adapt to the world according to Donald Trump: one increasingly shaped by his erratic shifts and unpredictable decisions, his fury at perceived slights and his growing desire to stamp his legacy in the model of an imperial leader from centuries past. Think of it as the mad king’s court, where every day is a carnival. Continue reading...

FTSE 100 and dollar slide, while gold and silver hit record highs amid uncertainty over global trade * Business live – latest updates Stock markets have fallen on both sides of the Atlantic as Donald Trump stepped up his rhetoric in the push for US control of Greenland. The UK’s FTSE 100 index dropped 1% on Tuesday, accelerating from a smaller fall on Monday and putting it on track for its biggest single-day drop since November. Continue reading...

European Commission president also appears to call US president’s trustworthiness into question * Europe live – latest updates * Business live – latest updates The European Commission president has called Donald Trump’s planned new tariffs an error and questioned how far he can be trusted, as the US president said there was “no going back” on his goal to control Greenland. Ursula von der Leyen said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday that Trump’s threat to impose a 10% tariff on imports from eight European countries that oppose a US takeover of the Arctic island was “a mistake,

Two sides blame each other for release of inmates, as Syria’s president looks to gain control of north-east More than 100 inmates have escaped from a Syrian jail holding Islamic State prisoners amid clashes in the north-east of the country after an agreement by the under-pressure Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces to withdraw from two key provinces. Videos released by the SDF showed what it said were IS members being broken out from a jail in Shaddadi by figures in black balaclavas. It said it had lost control of the building after what it claimed was an attack by government-affiliated fighters that killed

Russia says it is seeking to ‘clarify all the nuances’ of offer it claims Washington has made before responding The Kremlin has announced that Vladimir Putin has been invited to join Donald Trump’s “board of peace”, set up last week with the intention that it would oversee a ceasefire in Gaza. The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told journalists on Monday that Russia was seeking to “clarify all the nuances” of the offer with Washington, before giving its response. Continue reading...

Two people detained in Kermanshah, including 16-year-old, tell group they were subjected to sexual abuse during arrest A 16-year-old was among protesters sexually assaulted in custody by the security forces in Iran during the nationwide uprising that has left thousands dead, according to a human rights group. Two people, one of them a child, detained in the city of Kermanshah in western Iran told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) that they were subjected to sexual abuse by riot police during their arrest. Continue reading...

Government’s truce with Syrian Democratic Forces follows advance on Kurdish-held areas amid struggle to control entire country The Syrian government on Sunday announced a ceasefire with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), taking almost full control of the country and dismantling the Kurdish-led forces that controlled the north-east for over a decade. The announcement comes as tensions between government forces and the SDF boiled over earlier this month, eventually resulting in a major push by government forces towards the east. The SDF appeared to have largely retreated after initial clashes on a tense frontline area in eastern Aleppo province. Continue reading...

President issues warning amid speculation Donald Trump plans to assassinate or remove supreme leader Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, warned on Sunday that any attack on the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would be a declaration of war. In an apparent response to speculation that Donald Trump is considering an attempt to assassinate or remove Khamenei, Pezeshkian said in a post on X: “An attack on the great leader of our country is tantamount to a full-scale war with the Iranian nation.” Continue reading...

Eastern region on high alert as authorities try to track animal tearing through villages in Jharkhand after apparently becoming separated from herd Forest officials in India are on the hunt for an elephant that has killed more than 20 people in a days-long rampage through the eastern state of Jharkhand. Since the beginning of January, 22 people have been killed by a single-tusked elephant that has been tearing through forests and villages in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. Continue reading...

Delhi is world’s second largest purchaser of Russian crude, which is now cheaper than oil from Middle East Russia is already working to circumvent the latest US sanctions to ensure India can continue to import high levels of cheap Russian crude oil, according to industry analysts. Since the outbreak of the Ukraine war, India has become the world’s second largest purchaser of Russian crude oil, which has been heavily discounted due to the impact of western sanctions. Continue reading...

Police ask Paramjeet Singh Pamma to install security cameras and reinforce door locks at his home Police have advised a high-profile Sikh activist in the UK to install security cameras at his home and reinforce door locks because of threats from Hindu nationalist elements. Paramjeet Singh Pamma, 52, said he had been visited by police and received verbal advice to increase his security due to intelligence suggesting threats to his safety. Continue reading...

UN and many western countries as well as human rights groups say that in the absence of a meaningful opposition the election is neither free, fair nor credible Voters in war-torn Myanmar queued up on Sunday to cast their ballots in the second stage of a military-run election, following low turnout in the initial round of polls that have been widely criticised as a tool to formalise junta rule. Myanmar has been ravaged by conflict since the military ousted a civilian government in a 2021 coup and detained its leader, Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking a civil war

Satat Sampada founders Harjeet Singh and Jyoti Awasthi say allegations are ‘baseless, biased and misleading’ Police have raided the home of one of India’s leading environmental activists over claims his campaigning for a treaty to cut the use of fossil fuels was undermining the national interest. Investigators from India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) claim Harjeet Singh and his wife, Jyoti Awasthi, co-founders of Satat Sampada (Nature Forever), were paid almost £500,000 to advocate for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty (FFNPT). Continue reading...

Rolling coverage of the World Economic Forum in Davos, where European Commission president says Europe must respond to geopolitical shocks * Full report: Trump tariffs over Greenland are an error, says Ursula von der Leyen Scott Bessent then denies that European Union countries, and the UK, could exercise the “nuclear option” over the Greenland crisis, and dump their holdings of US Treasuries. Asked how the Treasury Department, and the White House, would prepare for this, Bessent insists it is a “completely false narrative”, and claims the media are “hysterical” over the issue. I would say this is the same kind of hysteria that

Dan Jarvis answers questions in the Commons over the decision to approve a new ‘super-embassy’ * UK government approves Chinese ‘mega embassy’ in London Jack Straw, a former Labour foreign secretary, has praised Keir Starmer for the way he is handling Donald Trump. While some opposition parties want Starmer to be more confrontational, Straw told Times Radio that would be a mistake. He said: The best approach [to handling Trump] that I know of is the one that’s being adopted by our prime minister, Keir Starmer. It’s very hard. It’s very frustrating. I’m sure there have been occasions where Sir Keir has

Ex-nurse, who is serving 15 whole-life prison terms, was convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven more The former nurse Lucy Letby will face no new charges, the Crown Prosecution Service has announced. Letby, 36, is serving 15 whole-life prison terms after being convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others in the year to June 2016. Continue reading...

Tesla boss clashed with Michael O’Leary when airline boss rejected installing Starlink technology on aircraft * Business live – latest updates Elon Musk has floated the idea of buying the budget airline Ryanair, escalating his public spat with the Irish carrier’s boss, Michael O’Leary. The two outspoken businessmen have locked horns since last week, when O’Leary was asked whether he would follow Lufthansa and British Airways in installing Musk’s Starlink satellite internet technology on his fleet of 650 aircraft. Continue reading...

Under-performing civil servants will be sacked and taskforces brought in to solve problems, says Darren Jones Keir Starmer’s chief secretary, Darren Jones, says he is going to bust “the sludge” in Whitehall by bringing in risk-taking taskforces to deal with problems, and providing the ability to sack senior civil servants who do not deliver. Jones, the MP for Bristol North West, said civil servants should feel “jeopardy” if they were underperforming, highlighting that only seven out of 7,000 senior civil servants were on improvement plans. Continue reading...

Court did not publish much-anticipated ruling on the legality of Trump’s tariffs as US president doubles down on Greenland threats The supreme court did not issue a decision today on the legality of Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs. It’s not immediately clear the next date the court will issue opinions. Continue reading...

Shorter attention spans would make it hard for director to tell ‘deeply connective’ stories, say colleagues on 80th birthday A film-maker as unique as David Lynch would struggle to emerge in present-day Hollywood because of audiences’ shorter attention spans and the influence of social media on their ability to concentrate, according to collaborators of the director. Lynch, who died in January 2025 and would have been 80 on Tuesday, was celebrated for his complex, funny and unnerving films and TV work, including Twin Peaks, Eraserhead and Mulholland Drive, all made in his distinctive “Lynchian” style. Continue reading...

ChongLy ‘Scott’ Thao of Minnesota says agents pointed guns at his family, and his four-year-old grandson watched and cried Federal immigration agents forced open a door and detained a US citizen in his Minnesota home at gunpoint without a warrant, then led him out on to the streets in his underwear in subfreezing conditions, according to his family and videos reviewed by the Associated Press. ChongLy “Scott” Thao told the AP that his daughter-in-law woke him up from a nap on Sunday afternoon and said that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were banging at the door of his residence in St

Streaming company says proposal speeds up completion and allows WBD investors to vote as soon as April Netflix has sweetened its $82.7bn (£61.5bn) offer for the studios and streaming businesses of Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) by making it an all-cash deal, streamlining its potential completion in the face of a hostile bid from Paramount Skydance. The streaming company had originally secured the unanimous backing of the WBD board last month with a cash-and-shares proposal that valued the business at $27.75 a share. Continue reading...

Steven Meyer suffered an injury to his arm and Kimberly Meyer had a hip injury from the attack, authorities said An Indiana state court judge and his wife were in stable condition on Monday as authorities continued to search for suspects who shot the couple the day before at their Lafayette home. Steven Meyer, a Tippecanoe superior court judge, suffered an injury to his arm and his wife – Kimberly Meyer – had a hip injury from the attack, authorities said. Continue reading...

Russia is watching with glee as US ‌President Donald Trump’s drive to acquire Greenland widens splits with Europe even though his moves could have serious security ramifications for Moscow, which covets its ‍own presence in the Arctic. The Kremlin said Trump would go down in history if he took control of Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory. President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy Kirill Dmitriev hailed the “collapse of the transatlantic union”. Former President Dmitry Medvedev joked about...

For the Korean American community, the first year of US President Donald Trump’s return to power has been defined by a sense of “pure fear”. According to Kim Dong-seok, head of the non-profit Korean American Grassroots Conference (KAGC), the institutional tolerance that once protected immigrants has vanished, replaced by a political environment that views non-citizens with a presumption of criminality. “Even though the US government says it distinguishes between lawful and unlawful immigrants,...

US President Donald Trump threatened to hit French wines and champagnes with 200 per cent tariffs in an apparent effort to cajole French President Emmanuel ‍Macron into joining his Board of Peace initiative aimed at resolving global conflicts. Trump’s initiative, which would start by addressing Gaza and then expand to deal with other conflicts, raises questions about the role of the United Nations and a source close to Macron said the French president intended to decline the invitation to...

The biggest snowfall in 60 years ‌on Russia’s Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula created ‍vast drifts several metres tall that blocked building entrances and buried cars, according to Reuters visuals and weather monitoring ⁠stations. In some areas more than 2 metres (6.5 feet) of snow has fallen in the first half of January after 3.7 metres in December, ‍according to weather monitoring stations. Heavy snow is not uncommon in Kamchatka - a peninsula which stretches down towards Japan. Reuters...

China achieved its twin goals of tech advancement and macro stability in 2025. Its goals for 2026 remain the same. However, a rapidly deteriorating global security environment is likely to shift national priorities towards preparation for worst-case scenarios. Oil supplies and sea lanes are becoming insecure. The US-China trade war could reignite at any time. China will have to accelerate its goals of energy and technology self-sufficiency to enhance national resilience. Fighting for sea lane...

Brooklyn Peltz Beckham, son of the British celebrity couple David and Victoria Beckham, said he did not want to reconcile with his parents after a family rift he described in a lengthy post on social media on Monday. The 26-year-old said that his parents have been controlling narratives in the press about his family and tried to “ruin” his relationship with his wife Nicola Peltz Beckham. “I do not want to reconcile with my family,” he wrote in a post to his 16.2 million Instagram followers. “I’m...

Italian officials ‍on Monday hailed the discovery of a more than 2,000-year-old public building attributed to Vitruvius, the ancient Roman architect and engineer known as the “father of architecture”. “It is a sensational finding … something that our grandchildren will ⁠be talking about,” Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli told a press conference. Vitruvius, who lived in the 1st century BC, is celebrated for having written De architectura, or The Ten Books on Architecture, the oldest...

A day after a sweeping deal was announced between the Syrian government and the country’s main Kurdish-led force, the agreement appeared to be falling apart on Monday. After new outbreaks of clashes Monday, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces issued a statement calling for “all of our youth” to “join the ranks of the resistance”. “Just as our comrades in 2014 forged a historic resistance in Kobani and turned it into a graveyard for (the Islamic State group) ... today we affirm with the same...

Key allies reacted coolly on Monday to US President Donald Trump’s invite to pay US$1 billion for a permanent spot on his “Board of Peace” for resolving international conflicts, with analysts likening it to a pay-to-play version of the UN Security Council. The White House has asked various world leaders to sit on the board, chaired by Trump himself, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Hungarian premier Viktor Orban and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. The board’s charter, seen by...

In 1900, most people lived without electricity, antibiotics or universal education. Today, life expectancy is decades longer, literacy and access to medicine are near universal in many regions, and hundreds of millions have entered the global middle class. This progress was built through science, industry, public health, education and the hard work of ordinary people who believed tomorrow could be better. The question now is whether humanity can achieve a still more audacious goal: a world in...

Spain woke to flags at half-staff on Tuesday as the nation began three days of mourning for the victims of the deadly train accident in the country’s south, while emergency crews continued to pull bodies from the wreckage. The official death toll of Sunday’s accident rose to 41 by Tuesday morning, after Spanish Transport Minister Oscar Puente Santiago said that another corpse had been discovered when a crane lifted a damaged carriage. Officials have repeatedly warned that the death count may...

Brazilian beef exports will remain stable ‌in 2026 compared with last year, beef lobby Abiec said on ‍Monday, projecting shipments between 3.3 million and 3.5 million tonnes this year. That compares with 3.5 million tonnes of beef exported in 2025, including fresh and processed products, when Brazil’s ⁠beef shipments had their best year on record both in volumes and revenue, according to trade data. Roberto Perosa, Abiec president, said exports would remain broadly unchanged after top importer...

Valentino Garavani, the jet-set Italian designer whose high-glamour gowns – often in his trademark shade of “Valentino red” – were fashion show staples for nearly half a century, has died at home in Rome, his foundation announced on Monday. He was 93. “Valentino Garavani was not only a constant guide and inspiration for all of us, but a true source of light, creativity and vision,” the foundation said in a statement posted on social media. His body will repose at the foundation’s headquarters in...

Canada is considering whether to send a ‌small contingent of troops to Greenland to ‍take part in Nato military exercises, a source directly familiar with the matter said on Monday. The news was first reported by CBC News and the Globe and Mail newspaper. Military officials have presented plans for the operation to the government and are awaiting a decision from ‍Prime Minister Mark Carney, said the source, who requested anonymity ‍given the sensitivity of the matter. Carney’s office declined to...

A blast at a Chinese restaurant in central Kabul on Monday killed at least seven people and wounded more than a dozen others, emergency services said. An Agence France-Presse journalist saw police vehicles and an ambulance at the scene following the explosion on a street known for its flower sellers in the Shahr-e-Naw area. Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran said the explosion occurred at the Chinese Noodle restaurant, which he said mainly served Chinese Muslims. “A Chinese Muslim, Ayub, and...

South Africa mourned the deaths on Monday of 13 schoolchildren who died when their minibus collided with a truck, ⁠local officials said in a statement, in an incident that put the spotlight on the country’s dismal road safety record. The private vehicle was transporting students to various primary schools and high schools in the southwest of Johannesburg when the incident occurred around 7am, according to authorities. Parents were seen weeping uncontrollably at the scene of the accident, while...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been invited to join US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” aimed at resolving conflicts globally and overseeing governance and reconstruction in Gaza, the Kremlin said on Monday. Moscow for years tried to balance relations with all major players in the Middle East – including Israel and the Palestinians. But since the Israel-Gaza war and Russia’s assault on Ukraine, Putin has moved away from Israel, boosting ties with its foes like Iran. Moscow has...

The global landscape is undergoing profound rupture. The United States has blatantly interfered in the internal affairs of Venezuela through direct military action and openly covets Greenland. US President Donald Trump has called Canada the “51st state” of his country and threatened to “take back” the Panama Canal. The US is undermining the core assumptions that have underpinned the Western alliance system. Against this backdrop, Canada’s policy community broadly and Prime Minister Mark Carney...

Donald Trump no longer needs to think “purely of peace” after being snubbed for a Nobel prize, the US president said in comments published on Monday, adding the world will not be safe until Washington controls Greenland. Trump has put the transatlantic alliance to the test with threats to take over Greenland “one way or the other”, with European countries closing ranks against Washington’s designs on the vast Danish territory. German and French leaders denounced as “blackmail” weekend threats by...

For much of the past decade, the energy transition debate has largely revolved around one question: can clean technologies work at scale? That is increasingly being answered. Solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and electric vehicles (EVs) have moved into the mainstream as key technologies become more cost-effective, efficient and faster to deploy. In many markets, these energy sources are no longer the future of energy; they are the present. The challenge is no longer simply proving that more...

Guatemala’s president on Sunday declared a 30-day nationwide state of emergency to combat criminal gangs after authorities accused the groups of killing eight police officers and holding hostages at three prisons. The killings occurred in the Guatemalan capital and surrounding areas a day after gang-affiliated inmates took 46 people hostage in the three prisons across the country to demand incarcerated gang leaders be moved to lower security facilities. President Bernardo Arevalo said...

Hackers disrupted Iranian state television satellite transmissions to air footage supporting the country’s exiled crown prince and calling on security forces to not “point your weapons at the people”, footage online showed early Monday, the latest disruption to follow nationwide protests in the country. The hacking came as the death toll in a crackdown by authorities that smothered the demonstrations reached at least 3,919 people killed, activists said. They fear the number will grow far higher...

We have put together stories from our coverage last weekend to help you stay informed about news across Asia and beyond. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Japan urged to ‘correct historical errors’, return Tang dynasty stele to China 2. Melaku Belachew, Shitaye Eshete claim Hong Kong Marathon crowns - as it happened 3. Trump shrugs off concerns over Canada-China EV deal, calls it a ‘good thing’ 4. Philippines enters its ‘hour of danger’ in Marcos...

The ‌Pentagon has ordered about 1,500 active-duty soldiers in Alaska to prepare for a possible deployment to Minnesota, the site of large protests against the government’s deportation drive, two US officials told ‍Reuters on Sunday. The US Army placed the units on prepare-to-deploy orders in case violence in the midwestern state escalates, the officials said, though it is not clear whether any of them will be sent. US President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to use the Insurrection Act to...

Wildfires raging across central and southern Chile on Sunday left at least 18 people dead, scorched thousands of acres of forest and destroyed hundreds of homes, authorities said, as the South American country sweltered under a heatwave. Chilean President Gabriel Boric declared a state of catastrophe in the country’s central Biobio region and the neighbouring Nuble region, around 500km (300 miles) south of Santiago, the capital. The emergency designation allows the suspension of constitutional...

Spanish police said on Monday that at least 39 people are confirmed dead in a high-speed train collision the previous night in the south of the country. Efforts to recover the bodies are continuing and the death toll is likely to rise. Some bodies were found hundreds of meters from the crash site, Andalusia regional president Juanma Moreno said. The crash occurred Sunday at 7.45pm when the tail end of a train carrying 289 passengers on the route from Malaga to the capital, Madrid, went off the...

US President Donald Trump’s actions in Venezuela and the kidnapping of the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, have put Russia and China – widely considered two of Caracas’ most important international partners – in a difficult position. If they do not significantly reduce ties with the Latin American nation, they risk Washington’s retaliation. But who has more to lose, Moscow or Beijing? Unlike previous American leaders, Trump has not made any pretence about protecting democracy and human...

Ukraine’s top negotiator Rustem Umerov said ‍on Sunday that talks with US officials on a resolution of the nearly four-year-old war with Russia would continue at the World Economic Forum opening this week in the Swiss resort of Davos. Umerov, writing on Telegram, said two days of talks in Florida with a US team ⁠including envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, had focused on security guarantees and a post-war recovery plan for Ukraine. He gave no indication...

European Union ambassadors reached broad agreement on Sunday to intensify ‌efforts to dissuade US President Donald Trump from imposing tariffs on European allies, while also preparing retaliatory measures should the duties go ahead, EU diplomats said. Trump vowed on Saturday to implement ‍a wave of increasing tariffs from February 1 on EU members Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland, along with Britain and Norway, until the US is allowed to buy Greenland, a step major EU...

Eight people killed in three separate avalanche accidents in Austria were citizens of the Czech Republic and Austria, authorities said on Sunday. The deadliest incident on Saturday occurred in the Grossarl Valley in the state of Salzburg, where three men aged 53, 63 and 65 were killed. A 60-year-old woman also died after being buried by snow. The victims were part of a group on an alpine ski course offered by the Austrian Alpine Club, the organisation announced on Sunday. “Risk competence and...

Governments reacted cautiously on Sunday to US President Donald Trump’s invitation to join his “Board of Peace” initiative aimed at resolving conflicts globally, a plan that diplomats said could harm the work of the United Nations. Only ‍Hungary, whose leader is a close Trump ally, gave an unequivocal acceptance in response to the invitations, which have been addressed to some 60 nations and began arriving in European capitals on Saturday, according to diplomats. Other governments appeared...

Yemeni politicians met on Sunday in Saudi Arabia’s capital in their first public gathering since a southern separatist group backed by the United Arab Emirates was disbanded following weeks of clashes. The meeting in Riyadh discussed the future of southern Yemen ahead of a Saudi-sponsored conference, the dates of which have not yet been announced. The separatist demands in southern Yemen are one element in a complex civil war that has gripped the country since 2014, when Houthi rebels backed by...

Iran’s president warned on Sunday that any US strike would trigger a “harsh response” from Tehran after an Iranian official in the ‍region said at least 5,000 people - including about 500 security personnel - had been killed in nationwide protests. Iran’s protests, sparked last month in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar over economic grievances, swiftly turned political and spread nationwide, drawing participants from across generations and income groups - shopkeepers, students, men and women, the poor and...

Kurdish-led forces withdrew on Sunday from Syria’s largest oilfield, a conflict monitor said, as government troops extended their grip over swathes of territory in the country’s north and east. The push came after President Ahmed al-Sharaa issued a decree granting the Kurds official recognition in an apparent goodwill gesture, even as his Islamist government seeks to assert its authority across Syria after the ousting of long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad in 2024. The Kurds’ de facto autonomous...

Talk of the United States acquiring Greenland has often been dismissed as rhetorical provocation. But the latest escalation is harder to wave away. President Donald Trump said it would be “unacceptable” if the US did not control Greenland only hours before Vice-President J.D. Vance hosted the Danish and Greenlandic foreign ministers. When territorial language is paired with senior-level diplomacy, it forces allies to draw public red lines, narrows the space for quiet crisis management, and turns...

Moderate Socialist Antonio Jose Seguro came ‍out on top in the first round of Portugal’s presidential election on Sunday, followed by the far-right leader Andre Ventura, and the two will face off in a February 8 run-off. In the five decades since Portugal threw off its fascist dictatorship, a presidential election has only once before - in 1986 - required a run-off, highlighting ⁠how fragmented the political landscape has become with the rise of the far-right and voter disenchantment with...

The latest developments in Venezuela are interpreted as part of a broader US strategy to secure access to major oil resources. They are much more than that: the US raid signals a transformation in the global economy wherein a country’s power is increasingly determined not by its political actions, but by its capacity to embed resource wealth within a self-sustaining production system. These deeper processes did not begin today, but rather around 2008-2009 when, according to an integrated...

Ulrikke Andersen has already made a plan. If the United States invades Greenland, she will flee her home with her daughter. “Before, I was ready to die for my country but when I had a kid that changed everything,” she said. The 40-year-old is one of many residents of the Greenlandic capital, Nuuk, now weighing up options they would never have considered just a few months ago. But US President Donald Trump has been clear about his desire to seize the vast, self-governing Danish island, rich in...

The army has once again missed its own deadline for fielding the first US hypersonic weapon, in a sign that one of the Pentagon’s top priorities is still running late. The unit responsible for using the advanced weapon is trained and ready, but the missile – part of a US$10.4 billion hypersonic programme – is not ready for use. And while the army as recently as last month said that it planned to field the weapon by the end of 2025, the army acknowledged this week that it missed that...

US President Donald Trump’s fixation on Greenland offers an ice-cold reminder to leaders in Europe and abroad: no deal is ever final. Trump announced a 10 per cent tariff, rising to 25 per cent in June, on eight European nations, including Denmark, for saying they would undertake token Nato military exercises in Greenland in response to US sabre-rattling. While the tariffs are not certain to take effect, the threat was a brazen escalation and insult to close US allies, trampling over the US-EU...

The Trump administration is asking countries that want a permanent spot on his new Board of Peace to contribute at least US$1 billion. According to a draft charter for the proposed group seen by Bloomberg, US President Donald Trump would serve as its inaugural chairman and would decide on who is invited to be members. Decisions would be taken by a majority, with each member state present getting one vote, but all would be subject to the chairman’s approval. “Each Member State shall serve a term...

A third round of retaliatory strikes by the US in Syria resulted in the death of an al-Qaeda-affiliated leader, who officials say had a direct tie to the Islamic State member responsible for last month’s ambush that killed two US soldiers and one American civilian interpreter in the country. US Central Command announced that the strike in northwest Syria on Friday killed Bilal Hasan al-Jasim, who they claim was “an experienced terrorist leader who plotted attacks and was directly connected” to...

Europe’s debate over its technological future is both timely and necessary. The centre of gravity for platform technologies, advanced semiconductors, hyperscale cloud infrastructure and artificial intelligence (AI) has undeniably shifted towards the United States and China. While the US boasts giants like Microsoft and Nvidia, and China has cultivated powerhouses like Huawei and Tencent, Europe has seen its share of the digital platform market shrink. However, viewing this shift as inevitable...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on ‍Saturday that this week’s Trump administration announcement on the composition of a Gaza executive board was not coordinated with Israel and ran counter to ⁠government policy. It said Foreign Minister Gideon Saar would raise the issue with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The statement did not specify what part of the board’s composition contradicted ‍Israeli policy. An Israeli government spokesperson declined to comment. The board, unveiled...

Opening a new front in his worldwide tariff onslaught, US President Donald Trump said on Saturday he would impose a 10 per cent import tax on the United Kingdom and six European countries for opposing his plan to purchase Greenland and that the rate would more than double if they did not let him acquire the Danish territory. His post on Truth Social two weeks to the day after he abducted Venezuela’s president from Caracas marks the latest chapter in a tumultuous start to 2026, even by Trump’s...

With cameras rolling, President Trump met with more than 40 international leaders in his first year back in office.

The president has justified many significant moves of his second term with inaccurate claims and overstated boasts.

A round-table discussion of President Trump’s first year back in office.

The justices will hear arguments over whether a Hawaii law that imposes restrictions on carrying concealed weapons violates the Second Amendment.

The court is set to hear Ms. Cook’s case challenging her firing as the Justice Department investigates Jerome H. Powell, the central bank chair.

Netflix will pay all cash for the $83 billion deal to acquire major parts of Warner Bros. Discovery, instead of a mix of cash and stock.

Thousands of Minneapolis residents have joined a church-run effort to deliver donated groceries to immigrant families who fear being caught in public by federal agents.

The decision permitted the Trump administration to continue restricting inspections of the conditions inside immigration detention compounds.

Lawyers for the state and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul have sued over the deployment of some 3,000 federal agents to Minnesota.

Ángel Godoy was thrown into jail after writing columns that angered the government of President Nicolás Maduro. Now his family is trying to make up for lost time.

Officials on Tuesday were struggling to identify bodies from the crash near the southern city of Córdoba, which killed at least 41 people.

Intended as China’s version of Dubai’s palm-shaped artificial island, Ocean Flower Island is a $12 billion monument to debt-fueled economic excess.

For decades, there had been an average of 30 each year. With a new deterrent in place, there were none in the second half of 2025.

Long held up as the big benchmark of nutrition, the calorie is losing its clout in the age of GLP-1s and a sharper focus on nutrients.

Ms. Sherrill beat a Republican endorsed by President Trump and did what no politician in New Jersey has done since 1961: win her party a third consecutive term in the governor’s office.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani campaigned on a proposal to increase taxes on those earning more than $1 million. For now, at least, he isn’t pushing.

“Sinners” and “One Battle After Another” could set a record. Expect them to be up for best picture with “Hamnet,” “Frankenstein” and “Marty Supreme.”

Who will watch the watchmen?

We have a conversation with a Times correspondent who is reporting from Venezuela.

The “Tonight Show” host joked that President Trump hung his new Nobel Prize on the wall “right next to his McDonald’s customer of the month plaque.”

Founded by researchers from Anthropic, Google and xAI, the new company, Humans&, is already valued at $4.48 billion.

The plane, organized by the National Archives, will take rare 18th-century documents around the country in a tour loosely inspired by the Bicentennial’s Freedom Train.

The Syrian Democratic Forces withdrew abruptly from the sprawling Al Hol camp, according to Syrian and Kurdish officials, during a conflict with the government.

Numerous countries say they have been invited to join President Trump’s newly minted organization, which critics say could undermine the United Nations.