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Keir Starmer joined European allies warning of a 'dangerous downward spiral' in Nato today after Donald Trump threatened a trade war over Greenland. A joint statement from Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK said they stood 'firmly behind' the 'principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity'. The president has shocked the military alliance by warning that opponents of an American takeover of the Danish territory will be hit with punitive tariffs from February 1. In a bombshell post on his social media site, Mr Trump said levies will start at 10 per cent - and potentially...

The EU has strengthened its energy security by cutting gas demand by over 20% between 2021 and 2024 and curbing gas imports from Russia. However, this progress masks a new vulnerability for the EU: Incentivising imports of US liquefied natural gas (LNG) has created a potentially high-risk new geopolitical dependency. Following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the EU has gradually reduced its reliance on Russian gas. The bloc’s imports of Russian gas (including pipeline gas and LNG) fell by 75% between 2021 and 2025. Despite this shift, Russia remains one of the EU’s largest gas suppliers. The EU...

Donald Trump’s attempt to bully his Nato allies into handing over Greenland by imposing tariffs is, even by his standards, a step too far. The President is used to getting what he wants — to use his own words, “the soft way or the hard way”. And with one eye on his historical legacy, Mr Trump seems determined to purchase or annex the Arctic island, even if in the process he unleashes a trade war and destroys the Atlantic alliance. Nothing can justify this exercise of raw power. The US already has a base in Greenland and could, if it...

Summary Industry calls on EU to consider never-before-used 'Anti-Coercion Instrument' Current tariff regime already costing German companies billions U.S. is Germany's top export destination BERLIN, Jan 18 (Reuters) - German industry reacted with anger on Sunday to U.S. President Donald Trump's planned use of tariffs to crank up the pressure on Denmark to sell Greenland, calling on Europe not to cave in to his demands.Trump's threat to implement a wave of increasing tariffs on European allies until the U.S. is allowed to buy the strategically important island derails a period of relative calm for businesses after Brussels and Washington agreed...

The return of hard-power politics is no longer a theoretical debate for Europe. From U.S. military action in Venezuela to President Donald Trump’s renewed pressure over Greenland, long-standing assumptions about a rules-based international order are being openly tested as geopolitical competition sharpens. Sir Robin Niblett, Distinguished Fellow at Chatham House, told TVP World’s On the Record that the Trump administration represents a fundamental break with decades of U.S. alliance policy. “This is a U.S. administration that believes in ‘might is right,’” Niblett said. “The view of President Trump himself is that alliances are sources of leverage, not sources of solidarity.”...

SNIP While many European leaders are still hoping they might be able to talk things out, discussions have essentially been futile so far. Europe has been hesitant to retaliate against the United States, in part because it relies on America for military technologies and support for NATO. But Brando Benifei, a member of the European Parliament and the chair of its delegation for U.S. relations, said that calculus may be shifting, in part because popular opinion in Europe has turned more critical of the U.S. “A lot of people are saying that we are clearly over a red line,” he...

A German politician has suggested that boycotting the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico could be a “last resort” in response to Donald Trump’s threats against Greenland. US President Donald Trump believes his country needs to acquire Greenland, the world's largest island, for national security reasons. The demands have been rejected by Greenland's leaders and by Nato member Denmark, of which the island is a semi-autonomous territory. Trump, meanwhile, has not ruled out using military force. In fact, Trump recently threatened to impose tariffs on countries that do not “go along” with his plan to annex...

Shoppers across the US are seeing higher charges at grocery store checkouts as a new phase of a carryout bag law tied to 2026 environmental goals takes effect, increasing the minimum fee for plastic bags statewide. Under the law, which took effect on January 1, retailers and restaurants must now charge at least 12 cents for each plastic film carryout bag, up from the previous 8-cent fee, according to the Washington State Department of Ecology. The minimum charge for paper carryout bags remains unchanged at 8 cents. The fee is part of legislation passed in 2020 aimed at reducing the...

Norwegian lawmakers reacted with shock and dismay over Venezuela opposition leader María Corina Machado’s decision to present U.S. President Donald Trump with her Nobel Peace Prize medal. “It’s completely unheard of,” Janne Haaland Matlary, a professor of international politics at the University of Oslo and former state secretary in the foreign affairs ministry, told public broadcaster NRK on Friday. She called Machado’s gesture “disrespectful” and “pathetic,” saying it undermined the value of the prize, which the Norwegian Nobel Committee awards annually. Raymond Johansen, a Norwegian lawmaker for the center-left Labour Party and former governing mayor of Oslo, said in a...

The closed-door meeting comes as Trump has floated the idea of obtaining Greenland “one way or another.” Arctic Caucus co-Chairs Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Angus King (I-Maine) will meet on Wednesday with Danish Ambassador Jesper Møller Sørensen to reaffirm their opposition to President Donald Trump’s effort to acquire Greenland.The closed-door meeting comes as Trump has floated the idea of obtaining Greenland “one way or another” — rhetoric that has drawn sharp rebukes from Copenhagen and Nuuk. The idea of taking over the Danish territory has met resistance from some senior Republicans and outright opposition from Democrats.Murkowski said she would support...

Brussels doubles down on gender, diversity, and decarbonisation while Europe’s strategic and social problems are pushed aside. The European Commission has just made public its political priorities for 2026, and the result is hard to justify from any minimally realistic perspective. In an international context marked by war, geopolitical competition, energy insecurity, and internal social deterioration, Brussels has chosen to double down on an ideological agenda that appears utterly detached from the material reality facing Europeans. While much of the world is moving towards more pragmatic positions on foreign policy, defence, and economic sovereignty, the European Union insists on turning...

The prime minister added the government is "absolutely determined to take action" on the usage of Grok to generate inappropriate AI images and that if X doesn't act, "Ofcom has our full backing" during Prime Minister's Questions.

The European Union should raise a continental army of 100,000 soldiers and create a “European Security Council” because the “Pax Americana” is over and it would build “European Independence”, a top commissioner has said.The European Union wants to create a parallel defence structure replicating many of the roles presently carried by the NATO alliance, so said the bloc’s Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius at a Swiss military conference. While focussing on the Ukraine war and the perceived threat of Russia, the Commissioner also listed other threats or geopolitical changes that he said made it “even more clear that we need to...

President Donald Trump has renewed his push for the United States to acquire Greenland from Denmark, again prompting gasps and outrage from elected Democrats and European elites. But the historical record and geopolitical reality suggest that acquiring the island territory would be not only fair compensation for American involvement in Europe since the start of World War II, but also a critical check against encroaching Chinese and Russian influence in the Arctic.Trump’s latest quip that Greenland’s defense is “two dog sleds” has the global liberal media tripping over itself to “fact-check” this obvious hyperbole and declare Trump an evil imperialist....

In recent years (and more recently in the Trump era), strategic and international affairs experts have spent tons of ink and paper trying to predict what the world would be like without America. Diplomatic gurus, prestigious essayists, former political leaders, and reputable publishers have dedicated blood, sweat and money to warn of all the bad things that lay ahead for Europeans when Washington looked the other way, over their heads, or retreated into itself. Titles like "The Return of the Jungle" or "The End of the West" or "A World Without America" illustrate this trend. But we have to admit...

The principles of ‌international ​law apply to ‌everyone, including the United States, German Finance Minister ​and Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil said on Sunday, in reference to ‍President Donald Trump's threats ​to seize Greenland. "It is solely up to Denmark and ​Greenland ⁠to decide about Greenland's future. Territorial sovereignty and integrity must be respected," Klingbeil said ahead of his departure to Washington for a meeting of finance ministers from the Group of Seven ‌advanced economies.

@RupertLowe10 It looks like Starmer is seriously considering a ban on X. I will protest against this on the streets of London. I hope you will all join me.

The Government has urged online watchdog Ofcom to use its powers to block access to X, formerly Twitter, in a dramatic escalation in tensions with the tech billionaire Elon Musk. Technology Secretary Liz Kendall issued a statement telling the regulator that it had the “full support” of ministers to use its powers to block UK users from gaining access to the social media site.

Keir Starmer told his French and German counterparts that Nato must 'step up' operations in the Arctic today as they are frantically trying to stop Donald Trump seizing Greenland. The PM discussed the brewing row over US threats with Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz in a phone call. European leaders have backed Denmark in a dispute with Mr Trump that has sparked fears the military alliance could be torn apart. Sir Keir held a second call with the American president in just two days last night. Downing Street said he had argued that Europe was defending the Arctic from Russia...

The Prime Minister is planning to enter into a furious battle to win back left-wing support.Keir Starmer is preparing to blow up Britain's newly-found democratic sovereignty to decide its own laws, in order to pick a fight with Nigel Farage. The Prime Minister is reportedly planning brand new legislation that would return swathes of key decision-making powers back to Brussels as part of his ideological crusade to quietly reverse Brexit. The new legislation is set to give the EU the sole right to alter huge areas of British law such as food standards, animal welfare and the environment. However unlike...