Defiant EU nations ready themselves for Trump presidency

European Union nations bracing for the looming Donald Trump presidency showed defiance Monday in the face of the president-elect’s stinging comments on everything from NATO and German cars to the crumbling of the EU itself. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the U.S. president-elect’s view that NATO was obsolete and his criticism that European allied members aren’t paying their fair share had “caused astonishment.”

European leaders shocked as Trump slams NATO and E.U., raising fears…

European leaders said Monday that they may have to stand alone without the United States once Donald Trump enters office, raising the prospect of an unprecedented breach in transatlantic relations after Trump’s comments that the European Union is bound for a breakup and that NATO is obsolete. Trump said in a weekend interview with the Times of London and Germany’s Bild newspaper that the 28-nation European Union was a vehicle for German interests and said that he was indifferent to the bloc’s fate.

Pence tries to calm worries about Trump’s foreign policy

Vice President-elect Mike Pence attempted to calm European fears on Monday that President-elect Trump is pulling the United States away from its traditional allies and toward Russia. Speaking on Fox News, Pence said Trump’s statements to foreign newspapers that NATO is obsolete that caused a stir Monday, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel saying Europe’s fate is in “our own hands,” shouldn’t be seen so negatively.

Iran sticks to deadline of nuclear deal with centrifuge move – IAEA

Iran has complied with a deadline set by its landmark nuclear deal with world powers by removing hundreds of centrifuges, machines that enrich uranium, from a site buried deep inside a mountain, the U.N. atomic agency said on Monday. The deal reached between six powers and Iran in 2015 stated that no more enrichment would take place at the Fordow site near the holy city of Qom for 15 years, but that Iran could keep just over 1,000 centrifuges there for other uses.

Biden: Trump should retain sanctions on Russia

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, on a last foreign trip before leaving office, has met with Ukraine’s president and called on the impending Donald Trump administration to retain Ukraine-related sanctions against Russia. Biden’s comments Monday at a briefing with President Petro Poroshenko came after Trump indicated in a Times of London interview that he could end sanctions imposed in the aftermath Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea in return for a nuclear arms reduction deal.

Kremlin counts days to Trump’s inauguration, blasts Obama

In this Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017 file photo Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Russian prosecutors in Moscow, Russia. Careful not to hurt chances for a thaw in U.S.-Russia relations, President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials have deferred questions about their plans for future contacts with Trump and any agenda for those talks until he takes office on Friday, Jan. 20, 2017.

Kremlin counts days to Trump’s inauguration, blasts Obama

In this Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017 file photo Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Russian prosecutors in Moscow, Russia. Careful not to hurt chances for a thaw in U.S.-Russia relations, President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials have deferred questions about their plans for future contacts with Trump and any agenda for those talks until he takes office on Friday, Jan. 20, 2017.

Explosive memos suggest that a Trump-Russia tit-for-tat was at…

An unverified dossier provided to US intelligence officials alleges that President-elect Donald Trump “agreed to sideline” the issue of Russian intervention in Ukraine during his campaign after Russia promised to feed the emails it stole from prominent Democrats’ inboxes to WikiLeaks. The dossier was part of an opposition-research project conducted by a former British spy , Christopher Steele, at the behest of anti-Trump Republicans and, later, Democrats.

Parents share the hilarious things their children get up to in social media photos

Reunited at last! Teen meets her biological parents for first time since she was snatched at birth from hospital 18 years ago by woman who she grew up to love, defend and call ‘mom’ Healthy and devoted father, 48, dies suddenly from meningitis – as his terrified SoulCycle class of 200 are warned they too are now at risk of catching killer infection ‘I’m sleeping with your wife’: Red-faced parents reveal the incredibly awkward things their children have blurted out Ringling Bros.

World diplomats in Paris to urge renewed Mideast peace talks

Fearing a new eruption of violence in the Middle East, more than 70 world diplomats gathered in Paris on Sunday to push for renewed peace talks that would lead to a Palestinian state. The conference is meant to be a forceful message to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that much of the world wants peace and sees a two-state solution as the best way to achieve it in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Davos marks the emergence of a confident, strong China

Xi Jinping is set to become the first Chinese president to attend the World Economic Forum’s annual gathering high in the mountains of Switzerland. It’s a visit rich in symbolism: Beijing is positioning itself as a global leader at a time when Western powers, and especially the United States, are retreating from the world stage.

Ranveer Singh is Deepika Padukone’s boyfriend, officially confirmed…

Bollywood actors Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh are a hot item for a long time but without any official confirmation over their relationship. But the actress’ debut Hollywood film XXX: Return of Xander Cage co-star and global superstar Vin Diesel confirmed Ranveer Singh to be Deepika Padukone’s BOYFRIEND! Diesel in an interview with film critic Anupama Chopra referred Ranveer as Deepika’s boyfriend as the 31-year-old Indian beauty smiled sitting beside him.

World diplomats in Paris to urge renewed Mideast peace talks

The French organizers hope Sunday’s conference will send a strong message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump that much of the world wants a two-state solution to the protracted Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Netanyahu says the conference is “rigged” against Israel, and the incoming Trump administration isn’t taking part.

At Paris meeting, major powers to warn Trump over Middle East peace

Major powers will send a message to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday that a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians is the only way forward, and warn that his plan to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem could derail peace efforts. Some 70 countries, including key European and Arab states as well as the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, are due in Paris for a meeting that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected as “futile” and “rigged”.

In long-shot Mideast peace bid, France sees nothing to lose

In this March 17, 2003 file photo, an Israeli border policemen guards the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv as Israelis line up for U.S. visas. The Palestinians are ringing alarm bells over Donald Trump’s stated intention to relocate the U.S. Embassy in Israel to contested Jerusalem, fearing quick action once he takes office as U.S. president next week.

Nervous about their neighbour, Ukraine and Latvia urge Canada to press Trump on Russia

Soldiers lift their rifles during an honor guard beside the Freedom monument in Riga, Latvia, on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017 Two of Russia’s nervous neighbours are urging the Trudeau Liberals to use Canada’s close relationship with the U.S. to encourage the incoming Trump administration not to become too cosy with the Kremlin. The ambassadors of Ukraine and Latvia tell The Canadian Press that Canada’s historic friendship and alliance with the world’s only superpower puts it in a strong position to advise president-elect Donald Trump to be wary of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Cubans sold everything to reach U.S., now hundreds stranded

A group of Cuban migrants share travel stories outside the Caritas shelter for migrants in Panama City, Panama, January 13, 2017. Lilia Gonzales , a staff member of the Caritas shelter for migrants, explains the center policy and options to new Cuban migrants that arrived the previous night to the center in Panama City, Panama, January 13, 2017.

Canadian dairy could face Trump challenge

U.S. dairy groups are calling on Donald Trump to set his sights on Canada’s “protectionist” dairy practices as he seeks to safeguard American jobs. The International Dairy Foods Association, National Milk Producers Federation and U.S. Dairy Export Council, along with the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture say a planned national Canadian ingredients strategy will block U.S. exports in violation of NAFTA and the World Trade Organization.

A Springsteen – sort of – Trump event

Tirdad Derakhshani was born in Tehran, Iran, and raised in London and rural North Jersey, where he closely studied a theoretical, radical post-Hegelian approach to cow-tipping. He moved to Philadelphia in the mid-’80s to seek enlightenment, and instead received a B.A. in literature at Penn.

On Russia, Tillerson can look to Reagan

Confirmation hearings for former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson to become secretary of state began with Sen. Marco Rubio and others questioning Tillerson on the biggest newsmaker of the moment: Russia. Vladimir Putin’s regime not only meddled in the U.S. election; Russia’s alliance with Syria’s Bashar Assad has been responsible for the loss of countless lives and awful regional instability.

The guardians of the liberal order now foresee its collapse

Want smart analysis of the most important news in your inbox every weekday along with other global reads, interesting ideas and opinions to know? Sign up for the Today’s WorldView newsletter . At his farewell address in Chicago earlier this week, President Obama offered a plaintive lament for a world under threat.

Germaphobe in chief calls shaking hands ‘barbaric’ – but Trump…

U.S. President Barack Obama shakes hands as he meets with Republican President-elect Donald Trump on transition planning in the Oval Office at the White House on Nov. 10, 2016 in Washington, D.C. Trump has said that he hates shaking hands. WASHINGTON – President-elect Donald Trump, during a news conference in New York City on Wednesday, vehemently denied the salacious and unverified allegations put forth in a 35-page dossier published by BuzzFeed News.

Report: ‘Very Credible’ Trump Dossier Author Has Gone Into Hiding

As of Thursday, the debate over the credibility of the purported opposition research dossier on Donald Trump alleging that Russia has blackmail material on him continues to be the top news story in America. The Guardian stoked the fire with a report citing their intelligence community sources as saying that Christopher Steele , the former MI-6 officer who authored the dossier, is considered “very credible” and a “highly regarded professional.”

US troops arriving in Poland draw Russian ire

US troops and tanks began streaming into Poland Thursday as part of one of the largest deployments of US forces in Europe since the Cold War, an operation that Russia angrily branded a “threat”. The Atlantic Resolve mission will see more than 3,000 American soldiers and heavy equipment deployed in Poland and nearby NATO partners Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary on a rotational basis.

Trump’s choice for top US diplomat talks tough on China

Senate Foreign Relations Committee member Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. questions Secretary of State-designate Rex Tillerson during the committee’s confirmation hearing Tillerson, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017, on Capitol Hill in Washi… WASHINGTON – Pointing toward possible confrontation, Donald Trump’s selection for secretary of state likened Beijing’s island-building in the South China Sea to a takeover of another country’s territory and spoke of forcing Beijing to fully apply sanctions on North Korea.