winter

Europe faces transport chaos as cold snap toll rises

weightloss

Study shows how fast kilos return after ending weight-loss drugs

BY DANIEL LAWLER

  • This meant that people taking the drugs regained their weight four times faster.
  • When people stop taking the new generation of weight-loss drugs they pile back on the kilos four times faster than they would after ending diet and exercise regimes, new research found Thursday.
  • This meant that people taking the drugs regained their weight four times faster.
When people stop taking the new generation of weight-loss drugs they pile back on the kilos four times faster than they would after ending diet and exercise regimes, new research found Thursday.
But this was mostly because they lost so much weight in the first place, according to the British researchers who conducted the largest and most up-to-date review of the subject.
A new generation of appetite-suppressing, injectable drugs called GLP-1 agonists have become immensely popular in the last few years, transforming the treatment for obesity and diabetes in many countries.
They have been found to help people lose between 15-20 percent of their body weight.
"This all appears to be a good news story," said Susan Jebb, a public health nutrition scientist at Oxford university and co-author of a new BMJ study.
However, recent data has suggested that "around half of people discontinue these medications within a year," she told a press conference. 
This might be because of common side effects such as nausea or the price -- these drugs can cost over $1,000 a month in the US.
So the researchers reviewed 37 studies looking at ceasing different weight-loss drugs, finding that participants regained around 0.4 kilograms a month. 
Six of the clinical trials involved semaglutide -- the ingredient used in Novo Nordisk's brands Ozempic and Wegovy -- and tirzepatide used for Eli Lilly's Mounjaro and Zepbound.
While taking these two drugs, the trial participants lost an average of nearly 15 kilograms. 
However after stopping the medication, they regained 10 kilograms within a year, which was the longest follow-up period available for these relatively new drugs.
The researchers projected that the participants would return to their original weight in 18 months.
Measurements of heart health, including blood pressure and cholesterol levels, also returned to their original levels after 1.4 years.
People who were instead put on programmes that included diet and exercise -- but not drugs -- lost significantly less weight. However it took an average of four years for them to regain their lost kilos.
This meant that people taking the drugs regained their weight four times faster.

'Starting point, not a cure'

"Greater weight loss tends to result in faster weight regain," lead study author Sam West of Oxford University explained.
But separate analysis showed that weight gain was "consistently faster after medication, regardless of the amount of weight lost in the first place," he added.
This could be because people who have learned to eat more healthily and exercise more often continue to do so even as they regain weight. 
Jebb emphasised that GLP-1 drugs "are a really valuable tool in obesity treatment -- but obesity is a chronic relapsing condition."
"One would expect that these treatments need to be continued for life, just in the same way as blood pressure medication," Jebb said.
If this was the case, it would impact how national health systems judge whether these drugs are cost-effective, the researchers emphasised.
"This new data makes it clear they are a starting point, not a cure," said Garron Dodd, a metabolic neuroscience researcher at the University of Melbourne not involved in the study.
"Sustainable treatment will likely require combination approaches, longer-term strategies, and therapies that reshape how the brain interprets energy balance, not just how much people eat," he said.
dl/jh

climate

Trump pulls US out of key climate treaty, science body: White House

BY ISSAM AHMED

  • "President Trump's withdrawal of the United States from the bedrock global treaty to tackle climate change is a new low and yet another sign that this authoritarian, anti-science administration is determined to sacrifice people's well-being and destabilize global cooperation," Rachel Cleetus of the Union of Concerned Scientists told AFP. The memo also directs the United States to withdraw from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN body responsible for assessing climate science, alongside other climate-related organizations including the International Renewable Energy Agency, UN Oceans and UN Water.
  • President Donald Trump is withdrawing the United States from a foundational climate treaty and the world's leading global warming assessment body, as part of a sweeping exit from the United Nations system, the White House announced Wednesday.
  • "President Trump's withdrawal of the United States from the bedrock global treaty to tackle climate change is a new low and yet another sign that this authoritarian, anti-science administration is determined to sacrifice people's well-being and destabilize global cooperation," Rachel Cleetus of the Union of Concerned Scientists told AFP. The memo also directs the United States to withdraw from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN body responsible for assessing climate science, alongside other climate-related organizations including the International Renewable Energy Agency, UN Oceans and UN Water.
President Donald Trump is withdrawing the United States from a foundational climate treaty and the world's leading global warming assessment body, as part of a sweeping exit from the United Nations system, the White House announced Wednesday.
A total of 66 international organizations were named in a White House memorandum as "contrary to the interests of the United States."
Most notable among them is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the parent treaty underpinning all major international climate agreements. 
Trump, who has thrown the full weight of his domestic policy behind fossil fuels, has openly scorned the scientific consensus that human activity is warming the planet, deriding climate science as a "hoax" at the UN's high-level summit last September.
The UNFCCC was adopted at the Rio Earth Summit in June 1992 and approved later that year by the US Senate during George H.W. Bush's presidency.
The US Constitution allows presidents to enter treaties "provided two thirds of Senators present concur," but it is silent on the process for withdrawing from them -- a legal ambiguity that could invite challenges.
Trump has already withdrawn from the landmark Paris climate accord since returning to office, just as he did during his first term, a move that Democratic president Joe Biden later reversed.
Exiting the underlying treaty could introduce additional legal uncertainty around any future US effort to rejoin.
"President Trump's withdrawal of the United States from the bedrock global treaty to tackle climate change is a new low and yet another sign that this authoritarian, anti-science administration is determined to sacrifice people's well-being and destabilize global cooperation," Rachel Cleetus of the Union of Concerned Scientists told AFP.
The memo also directs the United States to withdraw from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN body responsible for assessing climate science, alongside other climate-related organizations including the International Renewable Energy Agency, UN Oceans and UN Water.
As in his first term, Trump has also withdrawn the United States from the Paris Agreement and from UNESCO -- the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization -- which Washington had rejoined under Biden.
Trump has likewise pulled the US out of the World Health Organization and sharply reduced foreign aid, slashing funding for numerous UN agencies and forcing them to scale back operations on the ground, including the High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Food Programme.
Other prominent bodies named in the memo include the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), which works on sexual and reproductive health and rights, and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), which focuses on trade, investment and development.
Speaking before the General Assembly in September, Trump delivered a scathing broadside against the UN, saying it was "not even coming close to living up" to its potential.
ia-abd/mlm

crime

US immigration officer fatally shoots woman in Minneapolis

BY KEREM YUCEL

  • "The woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting," he said on Truth Social, adding the agent "seems to have shot her in self-defense."
  • An immigration officer in Minneapolis shot dead a woman Wednesday, triggering outrage from local leaders even as President Donald Trump claimed the officer acted in self-defense.
  • "The woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting," he said on Truth Social, adding the agent "seems to have shot her in self-defense."
An immigration officer in Minneapolis shot dead a woman Wednesday, triggering outrage from local leaders even as President Donald Trump claimed the officer acted in self-defense.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey deemed the government's allegation that the woman was attacking federal agents "bullshit," and called on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers conducting a second day of mass raids to leave Minneapolis.
Thousands of people gathered for a nighttime vigil at the scene, social media showed, while demonstrators also assembled in Manhattan, an AFP correspondent saw.
A widely shared video of the incident shows a Honda SUV apparently blocking unmarked law enforcement vehicles as they attempt to drive down a snow-covered street.  
The driver, named by local media as 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, attempted to drive off as officers approached and tried to open her door, with one agent firing three times with a handgun as the vehicle pulled away.
Trump, who has ordered nationwide anti-immigrant raids, accused the victim of "viciously" trying to run over the agent.
"The woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting," he said on Truth Social, adding the agent "seems to have shot her in self-defense."
ICE's federal agents have been at the forefront of the Trump administration's immigrant deportation drive, despite the objections of local officials.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched an aggressive recruitment campaign last summer to add 10,000 additional ICE agents to the existing 6,000-strong contingent.
That sparked criticism that new officers in the field were insufficiently trained.
DHS chief Kristi Noem said "any loss of life is a tragedy" but called the incident "domestic terrorism" and said Good "had been stalking and impeding (ICE's) work all throughout the day."
"She then proceeded to weaponize her vehicle," she said.
Wednesday's incident came during protest action against immigration enforcement in the southern part of Minneapolis, located in the midwestern state of Minnesota.
The Department of Homeland Security, which runs ICE, said on X the victim had tried to run over its officer who fired "defensive shots."

Grisly scene

Minnesota's Governor Tim Walz called the federal government's response to the incident "propaganda" and vowed his state would "ensure there is a full, fair, and expeditious investigation."
Witness Brandon Hewitt heard "three shots."
"I got a bunch of video of them carrying the body to the ambulance," he told MS NOW. 
Another witness interviewed by local station FOX9 described a grisly scene. 
"The surviving passenger got out of the car covered in blood," the witness said.
He recounted seeing a man who identified himself as a doctor attempting to reach the scene but being refused access by officers.

Anti-ICE protests

There have been passionate protests against immigration operations of the Trump administration, which has vowed to arrest and deport what it says are "millions" of undocumented migrants.
The DHS called the violence a "direct consequence of constant attacks and demonization of our officers."
The officer who opened fire, who was released from the hospital following the incident, was rammed and dragged along a road by an anti-ICE protester in June, Noem said. 
The victim's mother, Donna Ganger, told the Minnesota Star Tribune newspaper that her daughter "was probably terrified."
Good was "not part of anything like" challenging ICE officers, Ganger added.
Trump has made preventing unlawful immigration and expelling undocumented migrants priorities during his second term, and has tightened conditions for entering the United States and obtaining visas.
ICE -- which critics accuse of transforming into a paramilitary force under Trump -- has been tasked with deporting an unprecedented number of undocumented migrants.
US authorities said up to 2,000 officers were in Minneapolis for immigration sweeps.
A US immigration enforcement officer shot dead an undocumented immigrant in Chicago in September after the man tried to resist detention by driving his car into the official, according to authorities.
gw-pho/jgc

conflict

US says to dictate Venezuela decisions, oil sales

BY DANNY KEMP WITH JAVIER TOVAR IN CARACAS

  • - US to 'indefinitely' control oil sales - Trump said Wednesday that under the deal Venezuela "is going to be purchasing ONLY American Made Products, with the money they receive" from the oil profits they receive.
  • US President Donald Trump's administration said Wednesday it will dictate decisions to Venezuela's interim leaders and control the country's oil sales "indefinitely" after toppling Nicolas Maduro.
  • - US to 'indefinitely' control oil sales - Trump said Wednesday that under the deal Venezuela "is going to be purchasing ONLY American Made Products, with the money they receive" from the oil profits they receive.
US President Donald Trump's administration said Wednesday it will dictate decisions to Venezuela's interim leaders and control the country's oil sales "indefinitely" after toppling Nicolas Maduro.
Trump's assertion of US dominance over the oil-rich South American country comes despite its interim leader Delcy Rodriguez saying there is no foreign power governing Caracas.
US special forces snatched president Maduro and his wife on Saturday in a lightning raid and whisked them to New York to face trial on drug charges, underscoring what Trump has called the "Donroe Doctine" of US dominance over its backyard.
"We obviously have maximum leverage over the interim authorities in Venezuela right now" following the US operation that captured Maduro on Saturday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told a briefing.
"We're continuing to be in close coordination with the interim authorities, and their decisions are going to continue to be dictated by the United States of America."
Trump has said that the United States will "run" Venezuela, which has the world's largest proven oil reserves.
But Washington has no boots on the ground, and appears to be relying on a naval blockade and the threat of further force to ensure the cooperation of interim president.
Trump's administration -- which has so far indicated it intends to stick with Rodriguez and sideline opposition figures, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado -- has given few details about its plans.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted on Wednesday, after meeting lawmakers on Capitol Hill who have been critical about the post-Maduro planning, that the United States was "not just winging it."
But so far, the US plan relies heavily on what Trump said on Tuesday was an agreement for Venezuela to hand over between 30 and 50 million barrels of oil to the United States for it to then sell.

US to 'indefinitely' control oil sales

Trump said Wednesday that under the deal Venezuela "is going to be purchasing ONLY American Made Products, with the money they receive" from the oil profits they receive.
That would include agricultural products, machinery, medical devices and energy equipment, he added.
Rubio said that in a second "recovery" phase, US and Western companies would have access to the Venezuelan market and "at the same time, begin to create the process of reconciliation nationally within Venezuela."
Venezuela's state oil firm said on Wednesday that it was discussing oil sales with the United States for the "sale of volumes of oil" under existing commercial frameworks.
But Washington is looking at longer term control, according to US Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
"We're going to market the crude coming out of Venezuela, first this backed-up stored oil, and then indefinitely, going forward, we will sell the production that comes out of Venezuela," Wright said Wednesday.
Trump will on Friday meet executives from US oil companies, whom he has said will invest in Venezuela's crumbling facilities, despite no firm having yet made such pledges amid the turmoil in the country.
"It's just a meeting to discuss, obviously, the immense opportunity that is before these oil companies right now," Leavitt told reporters.
Washington moved further to stamp its authority on Venezuela when it seized two oil tankers on Wednesday, including a Russian-linked vessel that it pursued from Venezuela to the North Atlantic.
Moscow condemned the operation but Leavitt insisted the oil tanker had been "deemed stateless after flying a false flag."
dk/sla

Greenland

Trump has options in Greenland, but provocation may be the point

BY SHAUN TANDON

  • Trump has ramped up threats to Greenland after sending US forces to remove Venezuela's leftist president Nicolas Maduro.
  • If President Donald Trump is serious about bolstering the US presence in Greenland, he has options -- but he may still want the most provocative one.
  • Trump has ramped up threats to Greenland after sending US forces to remove Venezuela's leftist president Nicolas Maduro.
If President Donald Trump is serious about bolstering the US presence in Greenland, he has options -- but he may still want the most provocative one.
Trump has insisted that the United States needs the strategically located island, with Russia and China increasing military activities nearby and Arctic ice melting due to climate change.
He has repeatedly refused to rule out force to seize Greenland, infuriating Denmark, a steadfast US ally and founding NATO member that controls the autonomous island.
Washington already has a military presence in Greenland -- the Pituffik base, which dates from World War II when the United States sent forces to defend Greenland after Denmark fell to Nazi Germany.
Some 150 personnel are permanently stationed at the frigid base, but the United States stationed up to 6,000 troops across Greenland during the Cold War, largely out of concerns that any Soviet missile would cross the island on its way to North America.
Under a 1951 treaty, the United States could simply notify Denmark it is again sending more troops.
"The United States could significantly increase its military presence in Greenland without anything really needing to be done," said Kristine Berzina, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
Under different circumstances, Denmark and other NATO allies might be delighted at Trump demonstrating interest in European security, as Russia pursues its grinding invasion of Ukraine.

For MAGA, size matters

But for Trump's Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, the security presence may not be the point.
Trump has ramped up threats to Greenland after sending US forces to remove Venezuela's leftist president Nicolas Maduro.
The Republican president has spoken of a new "Manifest Destiny" -- the 19th-century belief the United States was destined to expand -- and of a "Don-roe" Doctrine, his own aggressive take on the 1823 Monroe Doctrine that declared the Western Hemisphere out of bounds to other powers.
Trump's motivation may lie more in "this notion of maps and legacy," Berzina said.
"Perhaps the size of the country harkens back to this idea of American greatness, and certainly for the MAGA movement, American greatness matters a lot," she said.
Greenland, which lies in the Western Hemisphere, is the size of the biggest US state of Alaska and has only 57,000 people.
Its integration would catapult the United States past China to having the third largest land mass after Russia and Canada.

Art of the deal

The White House, while not ruling out an invasion, has said that Trump, a real estate tycoon, is studying an offer to buy Greenland.
Both Greenland and Denmark have made clear the island is not for sale. But there is precedent, if not recent, for a purchase.
The United States bought what are now the US Virgin Islands from Denmark in 1917 for $25 million in gold.
Denmark had initially resisted the deal, in part due to concerns about how segregated America would treat the island's largely Black population, but agreed after the United States threatened force, with Washington fearing Germany would seize the archipelago and gain a Caribbean foothold in World War I.
After World War II, president Harry Truman made his own offer to buy Greenland, but did so quietly and was rebuffed by Denmark.
The issue had appeared moot with the creation of NATO, the alliance that Trump has belittled as unfair to the United States.
Diplomats say that another option mulled by the Trump administration has been to offer a compact association like the United States has with Pacific island nations, which are independent but rely for their defense on the United States.
Greenland's leaders have made clear they do not want to be part of the United States.
Even if Trump could persuade Greenlanders with cash payouts, he would face formidable hurdles of seeking consent from the US Congress, let alone Denmark.
"There are a lot of options that might exist in principle but they seem fairly far-fetched," said Brian Finucane, a former legal expert at the State Department now at the International Crisis Group.
"There are a lot of hurdles to incorporating Greenland into the United States and it's hard to know how much of this is bluster from Trump and trolling," he said.
sct/jgc

Global Edition

US stocks retreat from records as oil falls further

  • Venezuela's state petroleum firm said only that it was negotiating the sale of crude oil to the United States. 
  • Wall Street stock indices pulled back from records on Wednesday ahead of key US labor data, while oil prices fell further after US President Donald Trump said Venezuela would turn over millions of barrels to the United States.
  • Venezuela's state petroleum firm said only that it was negotiating the sale of crude oil to the United States. 
Wall Street stock indices pulled back from records on Wednesday ahead of key US labor data, while oil prices fell further after US President Donald Trump said Venezuela would turn over millions of barrels to the United States.
Both the Dow and S&P 500 retreated from Tuesday's all-time records as markets digested reports showing a fall in US job openings in November and a lower-than-expected rise in private-sector hiring in December.
More upbeat was a services sector survey by the Institute for Supply Management that showed healthier growth in December compared with November.
The jobs data was not great, but did not "trigger changes to perceptions about future Fed rate cuts," said Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers.
"We attempted to follow through from the rallies of the last couple of days, and so far we haven't been able to," Sosnick said.
The Dow finished down 0.9 percent, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.3 percent after both indices surged to new peaks amid bullish investor sentiment to start the 2026 trading year. The tech-focused Nasdaq edged up 0.2 percent. 
Futures markets expect the Fed to hold interest rates steady later this month, but concerns of a sharp slowdown in hiring could prompt a rethink. 
Analysts say Friday's Labor Department report for December will be a critical input to the US central bank.
In Europe, Frankfurt hit a record high above 25,000 points.
Paris traded flat and London slid from a record high set on Tuesday as lower oil prices dragged on British heavyweights BP and Shell, which both fell more than three percent. 
Both main oil contracts dropped on Wednesday, having already lost ground a day earlier, after Trump's latest statement on Venezuela.
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Wednesday that Washington will control sales of Venezuelan oil "indefinitely". Venezuela's state petroleum firm said only that it was negotiating the sale of crude oil to the United States. 
Analysts said the shipments lowered the risk that Caracas would have to cut output owing to its limited storage capacity, easing supply concerns.
But they added that the outlook for the commodity pointed to lower prices, as the market remains well stocked after OPEC+ agreed to boost output.
Elsewhere, US defense stocks tumbled after Trump threatened to cap executive pay at major US defense contractors and ban shareholder dividends and stock buybacks. 
Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and RTX all lost 2.5 percent or more.
Shares in Warner Bros. Discovery edged higher after its board urged shareholders to reject an improved hostile takeover bid by rival Paramount, saying it was still inferior to Netflix's offer.
Shares in Netflix rose a scant 0.1 percent while Paramount fell 0.9 percent.
- Key figures at around 2130 GMT - 
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 2.0 percent at $55.99 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 1.2 percent at $59.96 per barrel
New York - Dow: DOWN 0.9 percent at 48,996.08 (close)
New York - S&P 500: DOWN 0.3 percent at 6,920.93 (close)
New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 23,584.28 (close)
London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.7 percent at 10,048.21 (close)
Paris - CAC 40: FLAT at 8,233.92 (close)
Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.9 percent at 25,122.26 (close)
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.1 percent at 51,961.98 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.9 percent at 26,458.95 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 4,085.77 (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1682 from $1.1689 on Tuesday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3463 from $1.3501
Dollar/yen: UP at 156.77 yen from 156.65 yen
Euro/pound: UP at 86.76 pence from 86.57 pence
burs-jmb/aha

crime

Accused scam boss Chen Zhi arrested in Cambodia, extradited to China: Phnom Penh

  • Cambodian authorities "have arrested three Chinese nationals namely Chen Zhi, Xu Ji Liang, and Shao Ji Hui and extradited (them) to the People's Republic of China," Cambodia's interior ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
  • Chinese-born tycoon Chen Zhi, who was indicted by the United States on fraud and money-laundering charges for running a multibillion-dollar cyberscam network from Cambodia, has been arrested there and extradited to China, Phnom Penh said Wednesday.
  • Cambodian authorities "have arrested three Chinese nationals namely Chen Zhi, Xu Ji Liang, and Shao Ji Hui and extradited (them) to the People's Republic of China," Cambodia's interior ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
Chinese-born tycoon Chen Zhi, who was indicted by the United States on fraud and money-laundering charges for running a multibillion-dollar cyberscam network from Cambodia, has been arrested there and extradited to China, Phnom Penh said Wednesday.
Chen allegedly directed operations of forced labour compounds across Cambodia, where trafficked workers were held in prison-like facilities surrounded by high walls and barbed wire, according to US prosecutors.
Since the US indictment and sanctions by Washington and London in October, authorities in Europe, the United States and Asia have targeted Chen's firm, Prince Holding Group, with a frenzy of asset confiscations.
Chen founded Prince Group, a multinational conglomerate that authorities say served as a front for "one of Asia's largest transnational criminal organizations," according to the US Justice Department.
Cambodian authorities "have arrested three Chinese nationals namely Chen Zhi, Xu Ji Liang, and Shao Ji Hui and extradited (them) to the People's Republic of China," Cambodia's interior ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
The operation was carried out on Tuesday "within the scope of cooperation in combating transnational crime" and according to a request from Chinese authorities "following several months of joint investigative cooperation," it said.
Chen's Cambodian nationality was "revoked by a Royal Decree" in December, the interior ministry added.
Chinese authorities did not immediately comment late Wednesday on Chen's arrest and extradition.
The US Justice Department also declined to comment Wednesday.
US authorities in October unsealed an indictment against Chen, a businessman accused of presiding over compounds in Cambodia where trafficked workers carried out cryptocurrency fraud schemes that have netted billions of dollars.
He faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted in the United States on wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges involving approximately 127,271 bitcoin seized by Washington, worth more than $11 billion at current prices.
Prince Group has denied the allegations.
According to the US charges, scam workers were forced -- under threat of violence -- to execute so-called "pig butchering" scams, cryptocurrency investment schemes that build trust with victims over time before stealing their funds.
The schemes target victims worldwide, causing billions in losses.
Scam centers across Cambodia, Myanmar and the region use fake job ads to attract foreign nationals -- many of them Chinese -- to purpose-built compounds, where they are forced to carry out online fraud.
Since around 2015, Prince Group has operated across more than 30 countries under the guise of legitimate real estate, financial services and consumer businesses, US prosecutors said.
Chen and top executives allegedly used political influence and bribed officials in multiple countries to protect their illicit operations. 
In Cambodia, Chen has served as an adviser to Prime Minister Hun Manet and his father, former leader Hun Sen.
The Southeast Asian nation hosts dozens of scam centres with tens of thousands of people perpetrating online scams -- some willingly and others trafficked -- in the multibillion-dollar industry, experts say.
bur-suy-sco/msp

Greenland

Trump plots offer to buy Greenland as NATO ally Denmark seethes

BY SHAUN TANDON AND DANNY KEMP

  • "When Denmark and Greenland make it clear that Greenland is not for sale, the United States must honor its treaty obligations and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark," they said in a joint statement.
  • US President Donald Trump is considering making an offer to buy Greenland, the White House said Wednesday, despite the island's people and controlling power Denmark making clear the territory is not for sale.
  • "When Denmark and Greenland make it clear that Greenland is not for sale, the United States must honor its treaty obligations and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark," they said in a joint statement.
US President Donald Trump is considering making an offer to buy Greenland, the White House said Wednesday, despite the island's people and controlling power Denmark making clear the territory is not for sale.
Trump has repeatedly refused to rule out using force to seize the strategic Arctic island, prompting shock and anger from Denmark and other longstanding European allies of the United States.
After a request from Copenhagen to clear up misunderstandings, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he would soon hold discussions with Danish representatives.
"I'll be meeting with them next week. We'll have those conversations with them then," Rubio told reporters.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump and his national security team have "actively discussed" the option of buying Greenland.
She reiterated that Trump believed it was in the US interest to acquire sparsely populated Greenland, whose size is around that of the largest US state, Alaska.
"He views it in the best interest of the United States to deter Russian and Chinese aggression in the Arctic region. And so that's why his team is currently talking about what a potential purchase would look like," Leavitt told reporters.
Neither Leavitt nor Rubio ruled out the use of force. But Leavitt said, "The president's first option, always, has been diplomacy."
House Speaker Mike Johnson, speaking as Rubio and Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth briefed lawmakers, also said that the administration was "looking at diplomatic channels."
"I don't think anybody's talking about using military force in Greenland," Johnson said.
Johnson, however, has acknowledged he had no prior notice when Trump on Saturday ordered a deadly attack on Venezuela, in which US forces removed the president, Nicolas Maduro.
The at least tactical success of the operation has appeared to embolden Trump, who has since mused publicly about US intervention in Greenland, Cuba, Iran, Mexico and Colombia.

'Stay focused on real threats'

Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican who is retiring, criticized Trump's threats in a joint statement with Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
"When Denmark and Greenland make it clear that Greenland is not for sale, the United States must honor its treaty obligations and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark," they said in a joint statement.
"We must stay focused on the real threats before us and work with our allies, not against them, to advance our shared security."
Greenland's leaders have insisted that the island, a semi-autonomous territory under Denmark, is not for sale and that only its 57,000 people should decide its future.
Greenland's foreign minister, Vivian Motzfeldt, said the government would join the meeting with Rubio that she hoped would "lead to a normalization of our relations" with the United States.
"Greenland needs the United States and the United States needs Greenland when it comes to security in the Arctic," she told Danish public broadcaster DR.

Threat of sanctions

Taking a different tone, Austrian Vice Chancellor Andreas Babler urged European leaders to draw up a sanctions package as a "deterrent" against a US invasion of Greenland.
The measures could include "harsh sanctions" against US technology companies and punitive tariffs on US agricultural products, said Babler, who heads Austria's left-of-center Social Democrats.
"Given the close ties between American tech companies and the Trump administration, tough sanctions... would be an effective lever," Babler said.
Sanctions within the Western bloc once seemed extraordinary, but the Trump administration has already stunned Europeans with US action against judges and senior EU policymakers.
Denmark is a founding member of NATO and has been a steadfast US ally, including controversially sending troops to support the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an invasion of Greenland would end "everything" -- NATO and the post-World War II security structure.
Trump, in sharp contrast to previous US presidents, has criticized NATO, seeing it not as an instrument of US power but as smaller countries freeloading off US military spending.
"We will always be there for NATO, even if they won't be there for us," Trump wrote Wednesday on his Truth Social platform.
bur-sct/dw

conflict

What are the US charges against Venezuela's Maduro?

BY CHRIS LEFKOW

  • The charge of narco-terrorism conspiracy stems from accusations that Maduro partnered with Colombian rebel groups FARC and ELN, Mexican cartels Sinaloa and Los Zetas and the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to move vast quantities of cocaine.
  • The US indictment of Nicolas Maduro accuses the deposed Venezuelan leader, his wife, son and senior aides of conspiring with Mexican drug cartels and Colombian rebel groups to import tons of cocaine into the United States.
  • The charge of narco-terrorism conspiracy stems from accusations that Maduro partnered with Colombian rebel groups FARC and ELN, Mexican cartels Sinaloa and Los Zetas and the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to move vast quantities of cocaine.
The US indictment of Nicolas Maduro accuses the deposed Venezuelan leader, his wife, son and senior aides of conspiring with Mexican drug cartels and Colombian rebel groups to import tons of cocaine into the United States.
Maduro and his five co-defendants are facing four felony charges and could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted by the federal jury in New York that will eventually hear the case.
The 63-year-old Maduro is expected to fight the allegations on the grounds that he has presidential immunity and his lawyer, at Monday's arraignment, questioned the "legality of his abduction" by US forces.
The specific charges in the indictment are narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.
The charge of narco-terrorism conspiracy stems from accusations that Maduro partnered with Colombian rebel groups FARC and ELN, Mexican cartels Sinaloa and Los Zetas and the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to move vast quantities of cocaine.
The US State Department has designated the Sinaloa Cartel, Los Zetas and Tren de Aragua as "foreign terrorist organizations."
The now defunct Marxist rebel group FARC was removed from the list in 2021. ELN, the National Liberation Army, which controls key drug-producing regions of Colombia, remains on the list.
"Maduro and his co-conspirators have, for decades, partnered with some of the most violent and prolific drug traffickers and narco-terrorists in the world, and relied on corrupt officials throughout the region, to distribute tons of cocaine to the United States," according to the indictment.
A previous US indictment of Maduro, from 2020, repeatedly described him as the leader of a drug trafficking group known as Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns.
The superseding indictment unsealed on Saturday after Maduro's capture, however, barely mentions Cartel de los Soles, which was designated a "foreign terrorist organization" by the State Department in November.
According to a number of Venezuela experts, Cartel de los Soles has never existed as a formal organization. The latest indictment refers to it as a "patronage system" to channel illegal drug profits to "corrupt rank-and-file civilian, military, and intelligence officials."
According to the InSight Crime think tank, the name was ironically coined by Venezuelan media in 1993 after two generals were nabbed for drug trafficking. The sun is an insignia on the military uniforms of Venezuelan generals.

'Kidnappings, beatings, and murders'

Indicted along with Maduro are his wife, Cilia Flores, his son Nicolas Ernesto Maduro Guerra, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello Rondon, former interior minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin and the alleged leader of Tren de Aragua, Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores.
The United States has declined to recognize the results of recent Venezuelan presidential elections, and the indictment describes Maduro as the "de facto but illegitimate ruler" of Venezuela.
The 25-page complaint traces his alleged involvement in drug trafficking back to at least 1999.
Maduro and the other defendants "partnered with narcotics traffickers and narco-terrorist groups, who dispatched processed cocaine from Venezuela to the United States via transshipment points in the Caribbean and Central America, such as Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico," it says.
Maduro and "other corrupt officials" provided "law enforcement cover and logistical support" for the transport of cocaine produced in Colombia to the United States, the indictment alleges.
While he was foreign minister between 2006 and 2008, Maduro allegedly provided Venezuelan diplomatic passports to known drug traffickers allowing them to move illicit drug proceeds from Mexico to Venezuela under diplomatic cover, it says.
The indictment alleges that between 2004 and 2015, Maduro and Flores, his wife, "worked together to traffic cocaine, much of which had been previously seized by Venezuelan law enforcement."
They ordered "kidnappings, beatings, and murders against those who owed them drug money or otherwise undermined their drug trafficking operation," it says.
Maduro and Flores pleaded not guilty at Monday's arraignment. The next hearing has been set for March 17.
cl/iv

Kurds

Syria govt demands Kurdish fighters leave Aleppo neighbourhoods

BY BAKR ALKASEM

  • The army said it had established two "humanitarian crossings" and AFP correspondents saw thousands of civilians use them to flee with their belongings, some of them in tears.
  • Syria's government on Wednesday demanded that Kurdish fighters leave the neighbourhoods they control in Aleppo following clashes between the two sides which saw thousands of civilians flee.
  • The army said it had established two "humanitarian crossings" and AFP correspondents saw thousands of civilians use them to flee with their belongings, some of them in tears.
Syria's government on Wednesday demanded that Kurdish fighters leave the neighbourhoods they control in Aleppo following clashes between the two sides which saw thousands of civilians flee.
The Syrian government and Kurdish-led forces traded blame over who started the deadly clashes on Tuesday, which killed 16 civilians and one defence ministry member.
The violence comes as the two sides have so far failed to implement a March deal to merge the Kurds' semi-autonomous administration and military into Syria's new Islamist government.
In a statement, the government expressed its "demand for the withdrawal of armed groups from the Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafiyeh neighbourhoods".
The Syrian military shelled the neighbourhoods after declaring them "closed military zones" from 1200 GMT.
An AFP correspondent reported that the intensity of the bombardment had decreased by Wednesday evening but tanks and soldiers remained deployed around the areas.
A military source at the scene told AFP the ongoing operation was "limited" and aimed at "pressuring Kurdish fighters in the two neighbourhoods to leave the area so the authorities can extend their control to the entire city".
The army said it had established two "humanitarian crossings" and AFP correspondents saw thousands of civilians use them to flee with their belongings, some of them in tears.
Later, the Syrian civil defence agency said they had evacuated "more than 3,000 civilians", mostly from the two neighbourhoods.
"We fled the clashes and we don't know where to go... Fourteen years of war, I think that's enough," Ahmed, a 38-year-old man who only gave his first name, told AFP while carrying his son on his back.
Ammar Raji, 41, said he and his family were "forced to leave because of the difficult circumstances".
"I have six children, including two young ones... I am worried we will not return," Raji, who had previously escaped fighting in his northern hometown of Manbij six years ago, added.

'Path of reason'

Earlier on Wednesday, the Syrian army said that "all Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) military positions within the Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafiyeh neighbourhoods of Aleppo are legitimate military targets", referring to the Kurdish-led force.
Senior Kurdish official Ilham Ahmed accused Damascus of launching a "genocidal war" against the Kurds, calling on the Syrian government to "pursue a path of reason to resolve problems through dialogue".
The March agreement on the Kurdish authority's integration into the state was supposed to be implemented by the end of 2025.
The Kurds are pushing for decentralised rule, an idea which Syria's new authorities have rejected.
Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafiyeh have remained under the control of Kurdish units linked to the SDF, despite Kurdish fighters agreeing to withdraw from the areas in April.
In a statement, the SDF insisted that they had no presence in the neighbourhoods, and that the areas "do not pose a military threat in any way".
The Kurdish-led force called on Damascus to "immediately halt the siege, bombardment and military offensive targeting innocent civilians".
"The continuation of this aggression... could turn all of Syria into an open battlefield again."
Syrian authorities on their end accused the SDF of bombarding government-controlled areas.
Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, on Wednesday said: "We call on all actors to immediately deescalate, exercise maximum restraint and take all measures to prevent further harm to civilians."
He called for "flexibility and goodwill" and the prompt resumption of negotiations to implement the March deal.

'Nowhere else to go'

Schools, universities and government offices in the city were shut down on Wednesday, and authorities announced the suspension of flights to and from Aleppo airport until Thursday evening.
Joud Serjian, a 53-year-old housewife and resident of the government-controlled Syriac Quarter, said the violence "reminded us of the war".
"We have nowhere else to go, so we'll stay in our home," she added.
The SDF controls swathes of Syria's north and northeast, with the backing of a US-led international coalition, and was key to the territorial defeat of the Islamic State group in Syria in 2019.
During the Syrian civil war, Aleppo was the scene of fierce fighting between rebels and forces of ousted president Bashar al-Assad before he regained control of the city in 2016.
Assad was ousted in a lightning Islamist-led offensive in 2024.
Despite assurances from Damascus that all of Syria's communities will be protected, minorities remain wary of their future under the new authorities.
Last year, flare-ups of sectarian violence in the Alawite heartland on the Mediterranean coast and in Druze-majority Sweida province killed hundreds of members of the minority communities.
str-mam-nad/amj/dcp

Saudi

Saudi strikes Yemen after separatist leader skips talks

  • But he failed to board the flight carrying his delegation, and the coalition struck his home province of al-Dhale after accusing him of mobilising "large forces" there.
  • A Saudi-led coalition struck the home province of Yemen's UAE-backed separatist leader on Wednesday, after he failed to show up for talks in Riyadh and was kicked out of the country's presidential body.
  • But he failed to board the flight carrying his delegation, and the coalition struck his home province of al-Dhale after accusing him of mobilising "large forces" there.
A Saudi-led coalition struck the home province of Yemen's UAE-backed separatist leader on Wednesday, after he failed to show up for talks in Riyadh and was kicked out of the country's presidential body.
The coalition said it had given Aidaros Alzubidi a 48-hour ultimatum to come to Riyadh for discussions, after his Southern Transitional Council (STC) grabbed swathes of territory last month. 
But he failed to board the flight carrying his delegation, and the coalition struck his home province of al-Dhale after accusing him of mobilising "large forces" there.
The separatists later said that the delegation they sent to Riyadh had been detained by the Saudi authorities.
Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, which holds executive power and includes rival UAE- and Saudi-backed figures, announced Alzubidi's removal, accusing him of high treason.
The showdown between Yemen's rival factions has raised fears that its second city, Aden, where the STC insisted its leader was still located, could be drawn into the violence.
The STC's advance and the Saudi response have also sent relations with the United Arab Emirates, a fellow oil power and rival powerbroker in Yemen, plummeting.
The Saudi-led coalition and allied Yemeni forces have in recent days rolled back the STC's territorial advances.
On Wednesday, the separatists announced a nighttime curfew in Aden, the capital of government-controlled areas and an STC stronghold, amid fears of clashes with Saudi-backed forces.

'Arbitrarily detained'

"More than 50 STC officials have been arbitrarily detained and taken to an unknown location by the Saudis. We call on their immediate release and put the onus on Saudi Arabia for their safety," the group said in a statement.
An STC official told AFP that Alzubidi decided not to join the delegation flying to Saudi Arabia for talks after hearing he would be asked to dissolve his group, which forms part of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) governing government-held Yemen.
Alzubidi "continues his duties" in Aden, the group said, calling on the Saudi-led coalition to halt the air strikes.
Coalition spokesperson Major General Turki al-Maliki, meanwhile, said Alzubidi "fled to an unknown location... after he had distributed weapons and ammunition to dozens of elements inside Aden".
The coalition carried out strikes to prevent Alzubidi from "escalating the conflict" and extending it into Dhale governorate, he said.
More than 15 air strikes hit Dhale, a local official told AFP, killing four people, according to two hospital sources.

'Grave crimes'

The PLC announced Alzubidi's removal, accusing him of committing several crimes, including "high treason" and "engaging in armed insurgency".
"It has been established that (Alzubidi) has abused the just cause of the South and exploited it to commit grave crimes against civilians in the southern governorates," it said.
More than 100 people have been killed in the Saudi-led coalition's strikes on the separatists' positions and in clashes on the ground.
The Saudis and Emiratis have long supported rival factions in Yemen's fractious government, after they had initially joined forces in the Saudi-led military coalition against the Houthis.
The coalition and another Saudi-backed group said it has asked STC deputy Abdulrahman al-Mahrami, who is in Riyadh and approved Alzubidi's dismissal from the presidency, to "enforce security and prevent hostilities in Aden".
A security official in Aden told AFP that the forces loyal to Mahrami have been deployed in the streets and government buildings, including the presidential palace.
Mahrami later announced there would be a 9:00 pm to 6:00 am (1800 GMT to 0300 GMT) curfew in the city.
A military source in Shabwa province told AFP that units of the Saudi-backed National Shield forces had arrived in Ataq city and were heading towards Aden. 
Aden is an STC stronghold and home to the group's headquarters.
After the Iran-backed Houthis seized Sanaa in 2014, it became the government's self-proclaimed temporary capital.
As the civil war progressed, the STC's political and military influence expanded across south Yemen and they became a dominant force in Aden.
Another security official told AFP that two days ago, the STC evacuated its headquarters in Aden and moved the operations of its TV channel to an unknown location for fear of Saudi bombing. 
Last week, Alzubidi had announced a two-year transition towards creating a new country, "South Arabia", in Yemen's south.
bur/aya-th/dcp/amj

oil

US seizes Russia-linked oil tanker chased to North Atlantic

BY W.G. DUNLOP WITH JAVIER TOVAR IN CARACAS

  • The North Atlantic operation came despite Russia reportedly sending a submarine and other naval assets to escort the tanker.
  • The United States on Wednesday seized a Russia-linked oil tanker in the North Atlantic after pursuing it from off the coast of Venezuela, in an operation condemned by Moscow.
  • The North Atlantic operation came despite Russia reportedly sending a submarine and other naval assets to escort the tanker.
The United States on Wednesday seized a Russia-linked oil tanker in the North Atlantic after pursuing it from off the coast of Venezuela, in an operation condemned by Moscow.
Washington says the tanker is part of a shadow fleet that carries oil for countries such as Venezuela, Russia and Iran in violation of US sanctions, and seized it despite the ship being escorted by the Russian navy.
The vessel had thwarted an earlier attempt to board it last month near oil-rich Venezuela, where a US raid on Saturday toppled the country's authoritarian president, Nicolas Maduro -- a close ally of Moscow.
"The vessel was seized in the North Atlantic pursuant to a warrant issued by a US federal court," US European Command said in a statement on X, while Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth posted that the American blockade on Venezuelan oil was in full effect "anywhere in the world."
Russia's transport ministry criticized the seizure, saying "freedom of navigation applies in waters on the high seas."
Its foreign ministry urged Washington to allow the swift return of Russian crew members from the ship, but White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told journalists that they may be taken to the United States for prosecution.
The vessel, formerly known as the Bella-1, in recent weeks switched its registration to Russia, changed its name to the Marinera and the tanker's crew reportedly painted a Russian flag on the tanker.
Leavitt said Washington deemed the ship to be stateless.

US says will run Venezuela

The US military also announced a second sanctioned tanker had been seized in the Caribbean Sea, bringing the total number of ships Washington has taken control of since last month to four.
Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem posted on X that both vessels "were either last docked in Venezuela or en route to it," and included a video of armed US forces roping down from a helicopter onto an unidentified ship.
The North Atlantic operation came despite Russia reportedly sending a submarine and other naval assets to escort the tanker.
It had been heading to Venezuela before it evaded the US blockade, and has been under US sanctions since 2024 over alleged ties to Iran and Hezbollah.
Last weekend, US special forces snatched Maduro and his wife from Caracas and flew them to New York to face trial on drug charges.
Since then, Trump has said that the United States will run Venezuela and US companies will control its critical oil industry.
Brian Finucane, of the International Crisis Group, said the seizure of ships fitted the "overarching theme, both with respect to Venezuela and how this president approaches foreign policy in general, of taking the oil, quite literally in this case."
After criticism from lawmakers, Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted the United States had a plan for Venezuela, saying the White House was "not just winging it."
In Caracas, after several days of shuttered shops and intermittent public transport, the capital's streets were again busy Wednesday with pedestrians, street vendors, cars and motorbikes.
Trump said Tuesday that 30-50 million barrels of Venezuelan crude will be shipped to US ports, with the revenue -- perhaps more than $2 billion at current market prices -- placed under his personal control.
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright added Wednesday that Washington will control sales of Venezuelan oil indefinitely, while state oil company PDVSA said negotiations for the sale of crude to the United States were underway.
Leavitt said proceeds from the sale of Venezuelan crude will go to US-controlled accounts and then "will be dispersed for the benefit of the American people and the Venezuelan people."
Venezuela's interim president Delcy Rodriguez -- a long-time member of Maduro's inner circle -- has vowed cooperation with the United States amid fears that Trump could pursue wider regime change, and Leavitt said the country's decisions would now be "dictated" by Washington.
bur-wd/bgs

Patagonia

3,000 tourists evacuated as Argentine Patagonia battles wildfires

  • "We evacuated more than 3,000 tourists" from the Puerto Patriada lake resort, along with a few dozen permanent residents, Ignacio Torres, the governor of Chubut province, said on Wednesday.
  • Argentine authorities have evacuated some 3,000 tourists from a sparsely populated Patagonian district ravaged by wildfires for days, officials said Wednesday.
  • "We evacuated more than 3,000 tourists" from the Puerto Patriada lake resort, along with a few dozen permanent residents, Ignacio Torres, the governor of Chubut province, said on Wednesday.
Argentine authorities have evacuated some 3,000 tourists from a sparsely populated Patagonian district ravaged by wildfires for days, officials said Wednesday.
Thousands of hectares of forest have been devoured since Monday in a part of Argentina still recovering a year on from its worst wildfires in three decades.
Hundreds of firefighters with backup from helicopters and six water-bombing planes were working to contain the flames whipped up by high temperatures, strong winds and severe drought conditions.
"We evacuated more than 3,000 tourists" from the Puerto Patriada lake resort, along with a few dozen permanent residents, Ignacio Torres, the governor of Chubut province, said on Wednesday.
He did not say where the visitors were from.
Torres said at least one of the fires was the result of arson, and announced a reward of 50 million pesos (about $33,000) for information on the culprits.
Besides Chubut, fires are also raging in the provinces of Neuquen, Santa Cruz and Rio Negro as well as southern Buenos Aires province, according to the Federal Emergency Agency. 
Nearly 32,000 hectares -- an area twice the size of Brussels -- was burnt in Argentine Patagonia in January and February last year, the peak of the Southern Hemisphere summer.
mry/lm/mlr/iv

conflict

US should topple Chechen leader after Maduro, Zelensky says

  • Let them carry out some sort of operation with, what's his name -- Kadyrov," Zelensky said.
  • The United States should pressure Russia by "carrying out some sort of operation" to remove Chechen head Ramzan Kadyrov from power, just like it did with Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday.
  • Let them carry out some sort of operation with, what's his name -- Kadyrov," Zelensky said.
The United States should pressure Russia by "carrying out some sort of operation" to remove Chechen head Ramzan Kadyrov from power, just like it did with Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday.
In comments to journalists, Zelensky said the operation to remove Maduro showed that Washington had the power to influence Moscow if it really wished, arguing that deposing Kadyrov would make Russian President Vladimir Putin "think twice" about his ongoing offensive on Ukraine.
US special forces snatched Maduro and his wife from Caracas last Saturday, shocking Washington's allies and drawing condemnation from Venezuela's partner Moscow.
Kadyrov, the leader of Russia's Muslim-majority region of Chechnya since 2007, is one of Putin's most vocal supporters and sent thousands of soldiers to fight in Ukraine.
"They need to put pressure on Russia. They have the tools, they know how. And when they really want to, they can find them," Zelensky said of the United States.
"Here's an example with Maduro. They carried out an operation... Everyone can see the result, the whole world can see. They did it promptly. Let them carry out some sort of operation with, what's his name -- Kadyrov," Zelensky said.
Kadyrov replied in a Telegram post, saying Zelensky "cowardly hinted that he would not mind standing aside and watching from a safe distance as someone else punished his offender".
"Save face and don't humiliate yourself. If you had a shred of masculinity in you, you would understand how humiliating your words and requests sound," he added, addressing the Ukrainian leader.
Hours after the US operation to capture Maduro, Zelensky had joked that Putin himself should also be targeted.
"If you can do that with dictators, then the United States knows what to do next," he said at a press conference in Kyiv over the weekend, laughing and smiling.
Ukraine, which has been battling a full-scale Russian invasion for almost four years, has long claimed its partners, including the United States, have not put enough pressure on the Kremlin to end the war.
Kadyrov, who has ruled Chechnya with an iron fist for almost two decades, has consistently advocated for Moscow to use the most extreme options in Ukraine -- even floating the idea of a nuclear strike.
bur-cad/jc/mmp/phz

conflict

Venezuela's decisions to be 'dictated' by US, White House says

  • "We're continuing to be in close coordination with the interim authorities, and their decisions are going to continue to be dictated by the United States of America."
  • The United States has "maximum leverage" over Venezuela's interim authorities following the capture of Nicolas Maduro and will dictate decisions they make, the White House said Wednesday.
  • "We're continuing to be in close coordination with the interim authorities, and their decisions are going to continue to be dictated by the United States of America."
The United States has "maximum leverage" over Venezuela's interim authorities following the capture of Nicolas Maduro and will dictate decisions they make, the White House said Wednesday.
President Donald Trump will meanwhile meet with US oil executives on Friday to discuss plans for Venezuela's oil sector, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, days after the raid that toppled Maduro.
"We obviously have maximum leverage over the interim authorities in Venezuela right now," Leavitt told a briefing.
"We're continuing to be in close coordination with the interim authorities, and their decisions are going to continue to be dictated by the United States of America."
Trump has repeatedly said that the United States will "run" Venezuela following the capture of Maduro, despite having no forces on the ground there.
In reality, Washington appears to be relying on a naval blockade of Venezuelan oil exports, and the threat of potential further force, to ensure the cooperation of interim president Delcy Rodriguez.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted separately Wednesday, after criticism from lawmakers, that the United States did have a plan after overthrowing Venezuela's leader.
"The bottom line is, we've gone into great detail with them about the planning. We've described it to them. In fact, it's not just winging it," he told reporters after meeting lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
The US plan so far includes what Trump said on Tuesday was an agreement -- not confirmed by Caracas -- for Venezuela to hand over between 30 and 50 million of barrels of oil to the United States.
He has also said US oil companies will invest in Venezuela's crumbling facilities, though no company has yet made such pledges.
"The meeting is on Friday, and it's just a meeting to discuss, obviously, the immense opportunity that is before these oil companies right now," Leavitt told reporters.
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said earlier that Washington will control sales of Venezuelan oil "indefinitely." 
The United States is enforcing what it says is an blockade of Venezuela to stop any unauthorized oil exports, seizing an oil tanker in the North Atlantic on Wednesday after pursuing it from off the coast of Venezuela.
Leavitt insisted the oil tanker, which had claimed to be Russian-flagged, had been "deemed stateless after flying a false flag."
"This was a Venezuelan shadow fleet vessel that has transported sanctioned oil," she said, adding that the crew would be "subject to prosecution."
Moscow condemned the operation.
dk/des

history

Frenchwoman accused of libel over Nazi 'collaborator' family novel

BY ALEXANDRE MARCHAND

  • The narrator's mother -- who is described as a "fervent collaborator" and propagandist during the Nazi occupation of part of France from 1940 to 1944 -- was inspired by the writer's own mother, they argue.
  • A historian of the Nazi occupation of France was being sued Wednesday by her own relatives for alleged libel after she promoted her first novel as inspired by her family's history.  
  • The narrator's mother -- who is described as a "fervent collaborator" and propagandist during the Nazi occupation of part of France from 1940 to 1944 -- was inspired by the writer's own mother, they argue.
A historian of the Nazi occupation of France was being sued Wednesday by her own relatives for alleged libel after she promoted her first novel as inspired by her family's history.  
Cecile Desprairies, 68, says her debut novel "The Propagandist" -- published in English last year -- is inspired by her own childhood, but family members have accused her of lying and want the title removed from bookstores.
"It's a fact: I grew up in a collaborationist family. They all were -- to varying degrees," Desprairies said after the book came out in French in 2023.
She was not present in court on Wednesday, but a lawyer represented her.
In the novel, the narrator's family all have different names to those of the author's real-life relatives, but the plaintiffs -- the author's brother and another relative -- say they are clearly identifiable.
In a legal complaint against Desprairies and her publisher seen by AFP, they accuse her of libel against her mother, great-uncle and half-brother of her grandmother. 
Both deny the charges.
The narrator's mother -- who is described as a "fervent collaborator" and propagandist during the Nazi occupation of part of France from 1940 to 1944 -- was inspired by the writer's own mother, they argue.
The same goes for the great-uncle and half-brother of her grandmother, add the plaintiffs. They filed their complaint as direct descendants of the alleged victims, less than three months after the book's publication in French.
"The author's resentment toward the targeted individuals permeates the entire work, which is conceived as a genuine act of family vengeance," they said.
The plaintiffs argue the writer acted in "utter bad faith" and there is an "absence of evidence" for the alleged collaboration of their relatives with the Nazis.

'Rot-riddled family romance'

The book received rave revues when it came out in English last year.
The Financial Times called the novel "a harrowing but elegantly constructed rot-riddled family romance", while the New Yorker described it as "a deeply personal act of expiation".
Desprairies has argued that since she wrote a novel and not a historical essay, some fiction is allowed.
"Most of the protagonists I was able to draw inspiration from were dead, so there's a liberation of speech," she told French television in 2023.
She added that "fiction was the only way to account for an era, for its relationship to the past and to history".
She says she found a Nazi propaganda poster in the attic of the family home, and sent a scanned copy to the judiciary, according to the complaint.
But the plaintiffs said the poster bears the same tear marks as one conserved at a Paris library, a copy of which can be downloaded.
She has also sent the judiciary a photograph of three people she said included her mother on a mountain in winter, arguing it showed "clear attachment to the sports values advocated by the Reich".
Desprairies has a new novel published by another publisher, titled "La Fille du Doute" ("The Daughter of Doubt") coming out in French next week.
amd/ah/as/jj

US

Dogsleds, China and independence: Facts on Greenland

BY CAMILLE BAS-WOHLERT

  • "It's important that Donald Trump understands that there are not Russian and Chinese ships along the coast of Greenland," Jacobsen said.
  • US President Donald Trump has stepped up his designs on taking over Denmark's autonomous territory Greenland, but questions abound about why he has taken an aggressive stance when the US already has extensive access to the Arctic island. 
  • "It's important that Donald Trump understands that there are not Russian and Chinese ships along the coast of Greenland," Jacobsen said.
US President Donald Trump has stepped up his designs on taking over Denmark's autonomous territory Greenland, but questions abound about why he has taken an aggressive stance when the US already has extensive access to the Arctic island. 
Trump has insisted the US needs Greenland for national security reasons.
What does Denmark's defence agreement with the US on Greenland say? What investments have Denmark made in Greenland? Do China and Russia pose a real threat? What does Greenland's independence movement say? 
Here are answers to those four key questions.

US military presence

In 1941, at the height of World War II, occupied Denmark authorised the United States to build and operate military bases on Greenland, Denmark's then-colony in the Arctic, for as long as the conflict would last in a bid to protect the American continent.
By the end of the war, the US had 15 military bases in Greenland. Today there remains just one, the Pituffic air base on the northwestern coast, which US Vice President JD Vance visited in March.
Greenland's location is highly strategic, lying on the shortest route for missiles between Russia and the United States. It is therefore a crucial part of the US anti-missile shield.
Home to 57,000 people, Greenland "is an important part of the US national security protection," Marc Jacobsen, Arctic expert at the Royal Danish Defence College, told AFP.
"The United State may increase their military presence in Greenland, but that's already possible under the existing accord," he said.
Since 1951, a Danish agreement with the United States -- revised in 2004 -- gives the US military practically carte blanche to do what it wants on Greenlandic territory, as long as it informs Denmark and Greenland in advance.
"The Government of the United States will consult with and inform the Government of the Kingdom of Denmark, including the Home Rule Government of Greenland, prior to the implementation of any significant changes to United States military operations or facilities in Greenland," Article 3 of the accord states.

Danish investments in security

Trump has argued that Denmark has failed to ensure the security of Greenland, which measures 2.2 million square kilometres (849,424 square miles), or about a fifth of the size of the entire European continent.
In the past year, Copenhagen has beefed up its investments in Greenland. In 2025, it allocated 1.2 billion euros to security in the region, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen recalled on Monday.
And not just to buy dogsleds, contrary to what Trump claimed.
Yes, the Sirius patrol, tasked with defending a huge, largely uninhabited swathe of the island in the northeast measuring 972,000 km2, travels across the ice by dogsled. The patrol consists of 12 soldiers and some 70 dogs.
But to defend the entire territory, 81 percent of which is covered in ice, the Danish military has invested in five new Arctic vessels, an air radar alert system, as well as drones and sea patrol planes.
A subsea telecoms cable between Greenland and Denmark will also be built. Two cables already link the island to Iceland and Canada.

Chinese and Russian presence

A recent report by Denmark's military intelligence service said Russia, China and the United States were all vying to play "a greater role" in the Arctic.
Greenland has untapped rare earth deposits and could be a vital player as melting polar ice opens up new shipping routes.
In August 2025, two Chinese research vessels were observed operating in the Arctic, north of the US and Canada, about 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) north of Greenland.
"It's important that Donald Trump understands that there are not Russian and Chinese ships along the coast of Greenland," Jacobsen said.
China is also virtually absent from Greenland's economy.
The semi-public company Shenghe Resources is a majority shareholder in Australian mining group Energy Transition Minerals, which wants to develop a rare earths deposit in southern Greenland. That project is currently halted, however.
In addition, China was blocked from investing in new airports in Greenland.
"The Greenlandic government had shortlisted a big Chinese state-owned company for providing technical support for building new airports eight years ago, but Denmark and the US offered to finance the airports on the condition that the Chinese contractor was not selected," Jesper Willaing Zeuthen of the University of Aalborg told AFP.

Road to independence

Greenland's capital Nuuk and Copenhagen have repeatedly said that the territory is not for sale and that only Greenland can decide its future. 
It is currently governed by a coalition that has no plans to seek independence from Denmark in the immediate future.
The Naleraq party, which wants swift independence and which came second in Greenland's legislative elections in March, is not in government. 
While some of its members want to bypass Denmark and negotiate directly with the United States, the party's official stance is that "Naleraq does not want Greenlanders to become American. Just as we do not want to be Danish."
A year ago, 85 percent of Greenlanders said they opposed joining the United States, according to a poll published in the Danish and Greenlandic press.
cbw/ef/po/jj

winter

Europe faces transport chaos as cold snap toll rises

  • - Black ice warning - More than 100 flights were cancelled on Wednesday at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport and 40 more at the French capital's other main hub, Orly.
  • Snow, ice and high winds brought transport chaos to swathes of Europe for a third day on Wednesday, with hundreds of flights cancelled and passengers stranded. 
  • - Black ice warning - More than 100 flights were cancelled on Wednesday at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport and 40 more at the French capital's other main hub, Orly.
Snow, ice and high winds brought transport chaos to swathes of Europe for a third day on Wednesday, with hundreds of flights cancelled and passengers stranded. 
Airports in Paris and Amsterdam were the worst affected, with the Dutch authorities saying more than 1,000 travellers had been forced to spend the night at Schiphol, one of Europe's busiest hubs. 
Seven people have died in weather-related accidents as the continent reels from the most bitter cold snap of the winter so far. 
Hungary's interior ministry said on Wednesday that a woman had died after a car skidded on ice and crashed into another vehicle, adding to five people killed in France and one in Bosnia since the winter freeze descended on Monday.
With snowfall continuing on Wednesday, skiers and snowboarders enjoyed hurtling down the steep hills of the Montmartre district in Paris. 
But the cold snap came as a bitter shock to the French capital's many homeless people.
Guinean teenager Boubacar Camara, who is sleeping in a tent on the city's outskirts, told AFP he had "no choice but to keep on going".
"You just have to stay strong, make sure you don't die, you know," said the 19-year-old. "We can't do anything about the cold -- I'm not used to this at all."
Hundreds of schools were closed for a third day across Scotland, and English authorities were warning of a snowstorm across parts of the country in the coming days.

Black ice warning

More than 100 flights were cancelled on Wednesday at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport and 40 more at the French capital's other main hub, Orly.
Almost half of  mainland France was on alert for heavy snow and black ice, and lorries were banned from the roads in some areas, forcing truckers off the road while waiting for permission to get going again.
"It's better to be here than stuck on the road," said driver Carle Bruno, who managed to get to a roadside service station in the northern port city of Le Havre to wait out the weather.
In the Netherlands, Schiphol Airport said more than 700 flights had been cancelled so far and warned that the number was likely to increase.
Brussels Airport confirmed 40 cancellations on Wednesday, and Budapest Airport in Hungary said 20 flights had been cancelled overnight.
Andras Vaszko, a meteorologist at the Hungarian national weather service HungaroMet, told AFP it was the heaviest snow in the capital for 15 years.
Forecasters said temperatures could fall to -20C in some places in Hungary, and in neighbouring Austria the mercury plummeted even further to -24C in the Alps overnight.

'Calm prevails'

Britain also saw temperatures plunging, with the authorities warned some rural communities in Scotland could be "cut off" by snow.
The Eurostar rail service connecting London with continental European cities was also disrupted again on Wednesday, with passengers facing cancellations and delays.
The Balkans region has been hit by heavy snow and floods in recent days and thousands were still without power in Serbia after a snowstorm tore down power lines on Tuesday.
The Albanian port city of Durres was hit by torrential downpours on Tuesday that inundated hundreds of homes and forced around 200 people to flee, though officials said conditions were easing on Wednesday.
Nordic countries were also facing snow-related chaos, with officials in eastern Sweden warning that power cuts were "likely" because of heavy snowfall.
Trams were suspended in the western city of Gothenburg, and the authorities in the wider region warned people not to drive and stay at home if possible.
burs-jxb/sbk

Greenland

Could Trump's desire for Greenland blow up NATO?

BY MAX DELANY

  • "The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilising the US military is always an option," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday. 
  • The White House has said President Donald Trump is discussing options including military action to take Greenland -- despite a warning from Denmark that an attack would spell the end of NATO. But how high really is the risk that Trump's desire for the territory might end up sinking an alliance that has underpinned Western security for over seven decades?
  • "The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilising the US military is always an option," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday. 
The White House has said President Donald Trump is discussing options including military action to take Greenland -- despite a warning from Denmark that an attack would spell the end of NATO.
But how high really is the risk that Trump's desire for the territory might end up sinking an alliance that has underpinned Western security for over seven decades?
The answer depends on whether Trump is really planning to make a move and if the spectre of military force is just a bluff to exert pressure.
Here's how the situation could break down:

US ups threats 

In the wake of his military intervention in Venezuela, Trump set off alarm bells in Europe by repeating his insistence that he wants to take control of Greenland. 
The mineral-rich semi-autonomous territory -- part of Washington's long-standing NATO ally Denmark and home already to a US military base -- has been in Trump's sights since his first term in office. 
But this time around his administration has ramped up its rhetoric by insisting that "acquiring Greenland is a national security priority". 
"The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilising the US military is always an option," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday. 
That came despite a warning from Danish premier Mette Frederiksen an attack on a NATO ally would end the alliance -- and a show of support for Copenhagen from key European leaders.

Military route?

While Trump was willing to deploy US military might against long-standing foe Venezuela, using force against a close ally like Denmark is a different ball game. 
French President Emmanuel Macron said he couldn't "imagine a scenario" under which Washington would violate Danish sovereignty. 
Any US military action against Greenland would effectively tear NATO apart.
Its Article Five pledge that members will defend each other if attacked is meant to deter threats from outside -- and the idea of its key power would turn on an ally was seen as inconceivable.
Under an existing agreement with Denmark, the United States could already station more troops Greenland if it wants. 
Officials at NATO have repeatedly played down the prospect Trump could invade -- but admit that with the US leader they can never be sure.
"We don't believe he would -- there is no need -- the US can get any access they want from Denmark," a senior NATO diplomat told AFP, speaking as others on condition of anonymity. 
"But given the persistent rhetoric, we can't be entirely sure."
So far there has been no sign of the sort of military buildup witnessed around Venezuela and some US officials have been pressing other options. 
US media reported Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers Trump wants to buy Greenland rather than attack it -- and the hope from NATO is that diplomacy will win out. 
"I hope the Danes, the Greenlanders and the Americans will sit around a fire somewhere and an outcome will be reached," a second NATO diplomat said. 

NATO steers clear

So far NATO as an organisation has tried to stay out of the Greenland issue. 
"I don't think this issue will ever be brought up in a NATO framework in order to avoid any divisions," a third NATO diplomat said. 
With Russia's war raging in Ukraine, European members are desperate not to jeopardise US involvement in helping to shield them from Moscow. 
Alliance chief Mark Rutte has tried to deflect US interest by emphasising joint efforts to bolster security in the Arctic against threats from Russia and China, a key justification by Trump for wanting Greenland.  
"The Danes are totally fine if the US would have a bigger presence than they have now," Rutte told CNN. "We have to make sure that the Arctic stays safe." 
While the alliance takes a backseat, some more bullish European members may try to be more assertive. 
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Paris was talking to Germany and Poland to come up with a plan for a possible response.
There are fears though that just by raising the prospect of attacking an ally -- or pressuring it to cede territory -- the United States may have already damaged NATO. 
"No one has any interest in a quarrel within NATO, except our enemies," said Belgian defence minister Theo Francken. 
"I'm convinced initiatives will be taken in the coming days, behind the scenes or in the open, to resolve this situation."
del/raz/jj

conflict

UN accuses Israel of West Bank 'apartheid'

BY NINA LARSON

  • "This is a particularly severe form of racial discrimination and segregation, that resembles the kind of apartheid system we have seen before."
  • The United Nations on Wednesday said decades-long discrimination and segregation of Palestinians by Israel in the West Bank were intensifying, and called on the country to end its "apartheid system".
  • "This is a particularly severe form of racial discrimination and segregation, that resembles the kind of apartheid system we have seen before."
The United Nations on Wednesday said decades-long discrimination and segregation of Palestinians by Israel in the West Bank were intensifying, and called on the country to end its "apartheid system".
In a new report, slammed by Israel, the UN rights office said "systematic discrimination" against Palestinians across the occupied Palestinian territories had "drastically deteriorated" in recent years.
"There is a systematic asphyxiation of the rights of Palestinians in the West Bank," UN rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement.
"Whether accessing water, school, rushing to hospital, visiting family or friends, or harvesting olives –- every aspect of life for Palestinians in the West Bank is controlled and curtailed by Israel's discriminatory laws, policies and practices," he added.
"This is a particularly severe form of racial discrimination and segregation, that resembles the kind of apartheid system we have seen before."
A number of independent experts affiliated with the UN have described the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories as "apartheid" but this marks the first time a UN rights chief has applied the term.
Israel's diplomatic mission to the UN in Geneva slammed the report's "absurd and distorted accusations of racial discrimination" against Israel, charging it exemplified the UN rights office's "inherently politically driven fixation ... on vilifying Israel".

Mounting settler violence

The report said the Israeli authorities "treat Israeli settlers and Palestinians residing in the West Bank under two distinct bodies of law and policies, resulting in unequal treatment on a range of critical issues".
"Palestinians continue to be subjected to large-scale confiscation of land and deprivation of access to resources," it added.
This had led to "dispossessing them of their lands and homes, alongside other forms of systemic discrimination, including criminal prosecution in military courts during which their due process and fair trial rights are systematically violated". 
Turk demanded Wednesday that Israel "repeal all laws, policies and practices that perpetuate systemic discrimination against Palestinians based on race, religion or ethnic origin".
The discrimination was compounded by continuing and escalating settler violence, in many cases "with the acquiescence, support and participation of Israel's security forces", the rights office said.
More than 500,000 Israelis currently live in settlements in the West Bank, occupied since 1967 and home to around three million Palestinians.
Violence has risen in recent years, surging especially since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack, which triggered the Gaza war.
Since the start of the war, Israeli troops and settlers have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians in the West Bank, including many militants as well as dozens of civilians, according to an AFP tally based on figures from the Palestinian health ministry.
According to official Israeli figures, at least 44 Israelis, both soldiers and civilians, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or Israeli military operations in the same period.

'Almost complete impunity'

Since the Gaza war began, Israeli authorities had also "further expanded the use of unlawful force, arbitrary detention and torture", the report said.
Increased "repression of civil society and undue restrictions on media freedoms (and) severe movement restrictions" had also characterised "an unprecedented deterioration of the human rights situation" in the West Bank, it said.
There had also been rapid expansions of settlements, considered illegal under international law, even as unlawful killings of Palestinians were taking place "with almost complete impunity", the report warned.
Of the more than 1,500 killings of Palestinians that took place between the start of 2017 and September 30 last year, Israeli authorities had opened just 112 investigations, resulting in only one conviction, it pointed out.  
The report said it had found "reasonable grounds to believe that this separation, segregation, and subordination is intended to be permanent... to maintain oppression and domination of Palestinians".
This, it stressed, amounts to a violation of an international anti-racism convention, "which prohibits racial segregation and apartheid".
The UN rights office on Wednesday urged Israel to end its "unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory, including by dismantling all settlements and evacuating all settlers, and to respect the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination".
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