Author: staff

According to an assessment by the U.S. Geological Survey, Greenland “contains approximately 31,400 million barrels oil equivalent (MMBOE) of oil” and other fuel products, including around 148 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. “That’s the kind of reserves that if they were discovered in Saudi Arabia or Qatar, businesses would be jumping for joy,” said Ajay Parmar, a senior crude markets analyst with commodities intelligence firm ICIS. “Of course, given it’s in Greenland, there would be technical challenges putting in place the piping to extract it and get it around the world,” he said. “But there’s still a major commercial…

The Danish premier said last week that she had requested to speak to Trump but hadn’t yet heard back. At the time, she assured that there was “no reason to believe” Trump actually plans to invade Greenland. Frederiksen told Danish news outlet TV2 in an interview following her call with Trump that their conversation “confirmed” that “there is great American interest in Greenland.” The call did not appear to bring the issue to a conclusion, with both leaders agreeing to continued dialogue. Trump has not spoken publicly about the call, choosing instead to repost on social media the results of…

The statement added: “For the innocent Palestinians whose homes turned into a warzone overnight and the many who have lost their lives, this ceasefire must allow for a huge surge in humanitarian aid.” It also reiterated support for a two-state solution. The war has also been especially deadly for journalists, at least 165 of whom were killed covering the conflict, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.  Deputy editor of the Thomson Reuters Foundation Barry Malone paid tribute to the slain journalists after the cease-fire announcement, writing: “I’ll never forget the relentless bravery of Palestinian journalists — about 200 of…

The EU’s most recent FMD outbreak happened in 2011 in wild boar in Bulgaria. “The outbreak was managed under EU regulations, which included measures such as culling and a standstill on animal movements,” a spokesperson for the European Food Safety Agency told POLITICO, adding that no vaccination was needed. However, “while mortality rates in animals are generally low, the disease can lead to severe economic losses in production animals and disruption in the national and international trade,” the spokesperson added. A €5 billion problem In 2024, German meat exports reached almost €5 billion, but according to the Federal Ministry of…

Mariupol was besieged by the Russian army in May 2022, when the last soldiers defending the city’s Azovstal steelworks were evacuated. The Russian Defense Ministry also announced that 25 Russian servicemen had been returned from Ukraine and were being sent first to Belarus, where they will receive psychological and medical care and contact their families. In early January, Ukrainian ombudsman Dmitro Lubinets reported the existence of a preliminary agreement with the Russians for a systematic exchange of prisoners in 2025. Lubinets said the two countries will prioritize the return of captives who are seriously ill and wounded. “We will see…

Safety fears The alleged attack on a parliamentary worker is likely to renew debate over the safety of Westminster’s bars, which have been repeatedly criticized over an unhealthy drinking culture. A group of Labour MPs recently called for restrictions on the sale of alcohol on the parliamentary estate as part of a drive to modernize the working culture of the House of Commons.  The Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme — the U.K. parliament’s official complaints system — has described the “culture of drinking in Westminster” as a “frequent factor” in conduct-breaching incidents in the parliamentary bars. Jawad Raza from the FDA…

“Fico’s trip to Moscow was a disgrace for Slovakia,” Fico’s biggest political rival, Progressive Slovakia party leader Michal Šimečka, said in an interview with POLITICO. “But it’s part of a bigger story about a prime minister who doesn’t seem … interested in dealing with real problems that trouble people in Slovakia. Instead, he’s flying around the world meeting dictators.” Šimečka said the entire opposition wants Slovakia firmly anchored in the EU and NATO, and that the meeting between Fico and Putin had finally convinced them to act. “Slovakia is not just Robert Fico,” he added. “There is an enormous number…

Faced with accusations he’s putting the brakes on further aid to Ukraine, Scholz said tough conversations need to be had if the military support package — the largest yet from any ally — can be confirmed over the coming days. “I had suggested expanding [military aid] at some point,” Scholz said of Ukraine aid on the campaign trail this week. “But if you do that, you also have to say where the money is coming from.” Scholz, whose Social Democratic Party (SPD) is in third place in the polls with 15 percent support, said he’s against cutting pensions, local government finance…

Poland aims to spend 4.7 percent of GDP on defense this year, the highest in NATO. “The new Washington administration, once it sees how serious we are about this, will adopt a different approach, a more optimistic approach towards Ukraine,” Tusk predicted, adding: “If all the members of Europe and NATO spent as much as Poland for their defense we would be spending 10 times more than Russia.” He said the best security guarantees for Ukraine would be for the country to join NATO, although he acknowledged this would be “controversial.” Washington and key NATO members like Germany have balked…

BERLIN — Friedrich Merz, qui pourrait devenir le prochain chancelier allemand, s’est engagé à restaurer la compétitivité industrielle du pays en reléguant les politiques climatiques au second plan. Les politiques économiques de l’Allemagne ont été “presque exclusivement axées sur la protection du climat” sous le gouvernement d’Olaf Scholz, a déclaré Merz lors d’un discours de campagne prononcé lundi dans la ville industrielle de Bochum, à l’ouest du pays. “Je veux le dire clairement comme je le pense : nous allons et nous devons changer cela.” Le gouvernement de coalition de gauche, qui s’est effondré en novembre en raison de divergences…