Senate working to avert partial government shutdown before midnight deadline
Danish foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen rejected on Friday president Donald Trump’s latest remarks about annexing Greenland, saying the Danish autonomous island could not be taken over by another country.
“If you look at the Nato treaty, the UN charter or international law, Greenland is not open to annexation,” he told reporters, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Continue reading...Letter from Elon Musk’s firm to US trade representative warns of ‘downstream impacts’ of tit-for-tat tariffs
Elon Musk’s Tesla has warned that Donald Trump’s trade war could expose the electric carmaker to retaliatory tariffs that would also affect other automotive manufacturers in the US.
In an unsigned letter to Jamieson Greer, the US trade representative, Tesla said it “supports fair trade” but that the US administration should ensure it did not “inadvertently harm US companies”.
Continue reading...Insiders say UK national security adviser avoids limelight, but it found the ‘calm operator’ this week
In the topsy-turvy world in which Keir Starmer and his aides operate, the US putting the onus on Russia to agree to a truce with Ukraine marked a significant victory.
The proposed 30-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine is the culmination of two weeks of high-wire negotiations involving Ukraine, the US, UK, France and Germany.
Continue reading...Lib Dem leader says PM should make public show of support for ally against ‘shocking attacks’ on its sovereignty
The leader of the UK’s Liberal Democrats has called on the prime minister to publicly support Canada and oppose the “shocking attacks” on Canadian sovereignty, as the Trump administration further escalates its global trade war against longstanding allies.
Ed Davey, who leads the third largest political party in the UK, has called on Keir Starmer to travel to Canada in a show of support to the nation’s new prime minister, Mark Carney, as the commonwealth nation faces a generational crisis under Trump’s tariff war and suggestions that the country might become the 51st US state.
Continue reading...The Loess plateau was the most eroded place on Earth until China took action and reversed decades of damage from grazing and farming
It was one of China’s most ambitious environmental endeavours ever.
The Loess plateau, an area spanning more than 245,000 sq miles (640,000 sq km) across three provinces and parts of four others, supports about 100 million people. By the end of the 20th century, however, this land, once fertile and productive, was considered the most eroded place on Earth, according to a documentary by the ecologist John D Liu.
Continue reading...Lai Ching-te’s speech – which included a proposal to set up military courts – prompted an angry reaction from Beijing, which called him a ‘creator of crisis’
Taiwan’s new president has formally labelled China a “foreign hostile force” and ramped up national security measures in the face of growing threats and a string of spying cases.
The new measures announced on Thursday include a controversial proposal to restore a military court system in Taiwan, which was under martial law until the late 1980s.
Continue reading...Israeli Oscar-winner Yuval Abraham speaks out after Miami Beach mayor proposed evicting a local cinema for screening the Palestinian-focused documentary
The Israeli director of No Other Land has criticised a Florida mayor’s efforts to evict a local cinema after it screened his Oscar-winning documentary about Palestinian displacement in the West Bank, saying: “Banning a film only makes people more determined to see it.”
Steven Meiner, the mayor of Miami Beach, has issued a draft resolution calling for the termination of the city’s lease agreement with O Cinema, and withdrawing $40,000 in promised grant funding for the nonprofit that runs the independent cinema.
Continue reading...Raphael Satter had his OCI card taken away after publishing a story critical of an Indian businessman
A US journalist has taken the Indian government to court after his Indian overseas citizenship was unilaterally cancelled, after the publication of a story critical of a prominent Indian businessman.
Raphael Satter, who covers cybersecurity for the Reuters news agency in the US, received a letter from India’s ministry of home affairs in early December 2023, accusing him of producing work that “maliciously” tarnished India’s reputation and informing him that his Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card had been cancelled.
Continue reading...When she took over after her brother Gianni’s murder, few expected her to last 27 years and become a household name
When Donatella Versace took over the house of Versace in the aftermath of her brother Gianni’s murder, most observers privately assumed that her reign would be no more than a postscript. The bottle-blond younger sister, with no formal training and a drug addiction that was the fashion industry’s worst kept secret, was seen as a sentimental appointment by a shell-shocked family.
She proved everyone wrong. Versace is now defined as much by Donatella as by Gianni. She steps down from designing after 27 years as an icon in her own right, one of the most successful female designers in modern fashion history. Sober for 20 years, she has steered Versace to become a global household name, valued at $2bn (£1.6bn) when it was sold to Capri Holdings six and a half years ago.
Continue reading...Researchers say environmental impact from Kakhovka dam explosion comparable to Chornobyl nuclear disaster
The destruction of a large Ukrainian dam in 2023 triggered a “toxic timebomb” of environmental harm, a study has found.
Lakebed sediments holding 83,000 tonnes of heavy metals were exposed when the Kakhovka dam was blown up one year into Russia’s invasion, researchers found.
Continue reading...Homes searched in inquiry into alleged corruption at European parliament relating to Chinese technology giant
Several people have been arrested and homes searched as part of an investigation into alleged bribery and corruption at the European parliament relating to the Chinese technology giant Huawei, Belgian prosecutors have said.
The investigating judge in charge of the case has asked for seals to be fixed to the offices of two European parliament assistants alleged to be involved.
Continue reading...‘What more do you want from us?’ asks chancellor-in-waiting as he seeks urgent support for fiscal rule changes
Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting has tried to win over the Greens to his ambitious but controversial plans to raise the country’s defence spending, promising to expand the scope of the plans and demanding of them: “What more do you actually want from us?”
The outgoing parliament met on Thursday to debate the creation of a €500bn (£420bn) fund for infrastructure investment and radical changes in Germany’s borrowing limits in order to boost defence spending.
Continue reading...Israeli forces have used sexual violence as weapon to ‘dominate and destroy’ Palestinian people, report also says
Israel’s systemic attacks on women’s healthcare in Gaza amount to “genocidal acts”, and Israeli security forces have used sexual violence as a weapon of war to “dominate and destroy the Palestinian people”, a UN report states.
The 49-page report on sexual and gender-based violence was drawn up by the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Including East Jerusalem, and presented to the UN human rights council.
Continue reading...Photographer in coma and scores injured as police use teargas, rubber bullets and water cannon against retirees
Argentina’s hardline security minister is facing calls to resign after the violent police response to a protest by pensioners left a photographer in a coma and scores of other people injured.
More than 1,000 riot police used teargas, rubber bullets and water cannons to disperse demonstrators late on Wednesday.
Continue reading...New requirement hardens enforcement of existing law that hasn’t been applied consistently to Canadians entering the United States
Canadians who visit the US for more than 30 days will be required to register with authorities and have their fingerprints taken, as the Trump administration tightens migration rules amid soaring tensions between the North American neighbors.
The new requirement, effective from 11 April, will harden enforcement of an existing law, which states that all foreign nationals 14 years old or older who plan to stay in the US for 30 days or more must register with the authorities.
Continue reading...Russian operation to expel Ukrainian forces in final stage, claims Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, following visit to region by President Vladimir Putin
Foreign ministers of leading western democracies will meet in Canada on Thursday after seven weeks of rising tensions between Trump and US allies over his upending of foreign policy on Ukraine and imposing of tariffs.
The Group of Seven ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, along with the EU, meet in the remote tourist town of La Malbaie, nestled in the Quebec hills for two days of meetings that in the past have broadly been consensual on the issues they face.
Top of the agenda for Washington’s partners will be getting a debriefing on US secretary of state Marco Rubio’s talks on Tuesday with Kyiv in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where Ukraine said it was ready to support a 30-day ceasefire deal.
But in the run-up to the first G7 meeting of Canada’s presidency, the crafting of an agreed all-encompassing final statement has been tough, Reuters reports:
A US decision to impose 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports immediately drew reciprocal measures from Canada and the EU, underscoring the tensions.
Washington has sought to impose red lines on language around Ukraine and opposed a separate declaration on curbing Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, a murky shipping network that eludes sanctions, while demanding more robust language on China.
On Monday, Rubio cautioned that Washington did not want language that could harm efforts to bring Russia and Ukraine to the table. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday he said a good G7 statement would recognise that the United States has moved the process to end the war forward.
G7 diplomats said the positive outcome from Jeddah may at least ease talks on Ukraine.
The United States, since Trump’s return to office on 20 January, has taken a less-friendly stance on Ukraine, pushing for a quick deal to end the war, demanded European partners take on more of the burden without openly endorsing their role in future talks, and warmed Washington’s ties with Moscow.
Canadian government says it will follow ‘dollar-by-dollar’ approach and institute 25% tariffs on US imports
Canada announced retaliatory tariffs on nearly C$30bn worth of American imports after US tariffs on steel and aluminum imports went into effect on Wednesday.
The Canadian government said it will be following a “dollar-by-dollar” approach and institute 25% tariffs on American imports, including steel, computers and sports equipment.
Continue reading...Thunderstorms and high winds forecast for San Francisco Bay while southern California under flood watch
A powerful atmospheric river storm was set to wallop California on Wednesday evening, drenching large swaths of the state with rain and bringing several feet of snow to the mountains – the latest in a wave of intense storms that new research shows are getting worse.
Much of northern California was under a winter storm warning because of the gusty winds and heavy snow in the forecast that the National Weather Service (NWS) said would lead to “difficult to impossible travel conditions”. Severe thunderstorms and high winds were predicted across the San Francisco Bay area, according to reports.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Jotham Napat said pact must be taken ‘back to the drawing board’ and should reflect climate change as security issue
Vanuatu’s new prime minister has said his government intends to “revisit” a security agreement with Australia, arguing it does not reflect his country’s priorities including climate change and travel mobility for its citizens.
Jotham Napat, who was elected in February, said the pact with Canberra had to be taken “back to the drawing board” as he sought a “win-win situation” in a renegotiated deal.
Continue reading...Senate minority leader says Democrats will not provide votes for stopgap measure and calls for bipartisan effort
Senator Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, said on Wednesday that Democrats would not provide the necessary votes to pass a stopgap funding bill, dramatically raising the risk of a partial government shutdown at the end of the week.
Announcing the decision in a speech on the Senate floor, Schumer urged Republicans to consider a shorter funding extension that would give congressional negotiators more time to consider a bipartisan path forward.
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