Des associations féministes alertent sur l’IA, “nouvelle ennemie des femmes”

Un collectif d’associations féministes qualifie, dans une tribune publiée mercredi, l’intelligence artificielle (IA) de “nouvelle ennemie des femmes”, épinglant les outils permettant de dénuder des corps et ceux véhiculant les “fantasmes les plus rétrogrades”. “Si la bataille de nos aînées portait sur le droit de disposer de leur corps face à des normes sociales oppressives, le combat contemporain s’étend aujourd’hui aux outils numériques, l’intelligence artificielle (IA) se révélant comme le nouvel ennemi des femmes”, dénoncent le Collectif féministe contre le viol, Osez le féminisme ! ou encore Women Without Violence International Foundation dans ce texte publié par Le Monde. “Ces technologies d’IA réinventent la domination masculine en s’appropriant l’image des femmes ou en modelant des femmes virtuelles à l’aune des fantasmes les plus rétrogrades”, ajoutent-elles. “Il est désormais possible de générer des images de femmes +sur mesure+, calibrées selon des critères précis (origine, ethnie, âge, morphologie, taille de la poitrine…), systématiquement sexualisées, soumises, réduites à l’état d’objet de fantasme”, dénoncent-elles. Pour le collectif, “ces pratiques marquent un retour en arrière, une régression vers des stéréotypes que les mouvements féministes combattent depuis des décennies. Pire, elles inventent une nouvelle forme de contrôle sur le corps des femmes, en s’appropriant leur image, en la déformant, et en la diffusant sans leur consentement”.Concernant le retrait de contenus intimes diffusés sans consentement, il ne s’agit pas d’une “question de faisabilité technique, mais de priorité politique”, estiment les associations. La publication de cette tribune survient dans le sillage du tollé provoqué par Grok, l’assistant d’IA du réseau social X, qui permet de dénuder des personnes réelles, notamment des femmes et des mineurs, à partir de photos ou vidéos.Sous le feu des critiques, Grok a désactivé sa fonctionnalité de création d’images pour les utilisateurs non payants, une mesure limitée qui a suscité l’indignation de plusieurs pays dont le Royaume-Uni ou encore la France. 

Morandini reste à l’antenne de CNews et envisage de saisir la justice européenne (chaîne et animateur à l’AFP)

Jean-Marc Morandini reste à l’antenne de CNews après la décision de la Cour de cassation qui a rendu définitive mercredi sa condamnation pour corruption de mineurs, et envisage de saisir la justice européenne, ont annoncé la chaîne et l’animateur à l’AFP.”Jean-Marc Morandini continue son combat pour la justice et il reste à l’antenne sur CNews”, dès ce jeudi à 10h30, a indiqué la chaîne dans une déclaration transmise à l’AFP.”Considérant comme particulièrement injuste le rejet de son recours par la Cour de Cassation et rappelant qu’il n’y a jamais eu le moindre geste déplacé, ni même à fortiori la moindre agression dans ce dossier, Jean-Marc Morandini et ses conseils étudient désormais la possibilité de saisir la Cour européenne des droits de l’Homme”, a pour sa part annoncé M. Morandini dans un communiqué distinct transmis à l’AFP.La Cour de cassation a rendu définitive mercredi sa condamnation pour corruption de mineurs, pour des messages de nature sexuelle envoyés à trois adolescents entre 2009 et 2016, en n’admettant pas son pourvoi.L’animateur de télévision de 60 ans avait été condamné le 21 mars 2025 à deux ans de prison avec sursis et 20.000 euros d’amende par la cour d’appel de Paris.Celle-ci a en outre prononcé contre M. Morandini une interdiction définitive d’exercer une profession en contact avec des mineurs et confirmé son inscription au fichier des auteurs d’infractions sexuelles.En première instance, en décembre 2022, le tribunal correctionnel de Paris avait condamné l’animateur à un an de prison assorti d’une période de sursis probatoire de deux ans. Jean-Marc Morandini avait fait appel et vu sa peine alourdie à l’issue de son second procès.Par ailleurs, cette figure du paysage audiovisuel français a également été condamnée en appel en janvier 2025 à 18 mois de prison avec sursis pour harcèlement sexuel à l’encontre d’un jeune comédien, six mois de plus que la peine prononcée en première instance.Dans cette autre procédure, l’animateur a aussi déposé un pourvoi en cassation qui n’a pas encore été examiné.

Attaque du 7-Octobre: Hachette rappelle des manuels parascolaires critiqués pour “révisionnisme”

Le groupe d’édition Hachette a rappelé mercredi trois manuels de révision parascolaires qualifiant de “colons juifs” les victimes de l’attaque du 7-octobre 2023 en Israël, une “falsification des faits” dénoncée par Emmanuel Macron et les organisations juives.Le président de la République a jugé “intolérable” que ces ouvrages de révision du baccalauréat “falsifient les faits” au sujet des “attentats terroristes et antisémites du Hamas du 7 octobre” 2023. “Le révisionnisme n’a pas sa place en République”, a-t-il ajouté sur le réseau social X.C’est la Ligue internationale contre le racisme et l’antisémitisme (Licra) qui avait alerté mardi soir sur ces manuels dans lesquels il est écrit: “En octobre 2023, à la suite de la mort de plus de 1.200 colons juifs lors d’une série d’attaques du Hamas, Israël décide de renforcer son blocus économique et d’envahir une grande partie de la bande de Gaza, entraînant une crise humanitaire de grande ampleur dans la région”.Il est “grave et inacceptable” de “qualifier les victimes de l’attentat du 7 octobre 2023 de +colons juifs+”, a réagi le ministre de l’Education Edouard Geffray.Hachette Livre a indiqué avoir décidé mardi soir de rappeler “avec effet immédiat” ces trois ouvrages de révision parascolaire destinés aux élèves de terminale en histoire-géographie, géopolitique et sciences politiques.Quelque 2.000 ouvrages étaient en cours de rappel chez les distributeurs mercredi en fin d’après-midi, a-t-on appris auprès du groupe d’édition.Son PDG Arnaud Lagardère a tenu “personnellement à présenter (ses) excuses auprès de tous ceux qui ont pu se sentir blessés à juste titre, auprès du corps enseignant, des parents d’élèves et des élèves eux-mêmes”.- “Falsification” -Le 7 octobre 2023, des commandos du mouvement islamiste palestinien Hamas ont lancé une attaque surprise sans précédent en Israël qui a entraîné la mort de plus de 1.200 personnes, en majorité des civils, selon un décompte de l’AFP basé sur des données officielles.En riposte, Israël a lancé une offensive dans la bande de Gaza, faisant plus de 70.900 morts en deux ans, d’après les chiffres du ministère de la Santé de Gaza, placé sous l’autorité du Hamas, jugés fiables par l’ONU.Un cessez-le-feu fragile est en vigueur depuis octobre.Yonathan Arfi, président du Conseil représentatif des institutions juives de France (Crif), a estimé que le “narratif” du texte incriminé constituait “une falsification de l’Histoire et une forme inacceptable de légitimation du terrorisme du Hamas, que cet ouvrage omet précisément de qualifier d’organisation terroriste”.”Plus grave encore que le militantisme révisionniste de l’auteur, cet extrait met en lumière l’endoctrinement passif des relecteurs qui auraient dû être pleinement et objectivement à leurs tâches”, a dénoncé Haïm Korsia, Grand rabbin de France, sur X.Hachette a annoncé qu’une enquête interne avait été “ouverte pour déterminer les raisons qui ont conduit à une telle erreur”.Prenant note de cette enquête, la Délégation interministérielle à la lutte contre le racisme, l’antisémitisme et la haine anti-LGBT+ (Dilcrah) a insisté sur le fait que, “dans un contexte de recrudescence alarmante de l’antisémitisme, une vigilance collective accrue est indispensable pour garantir une transmission fidèle des faits”.Les ouvrages mis en cause ont été publiés en 2024 et 2025 dans la collection “Objectif Bac”, qui permet “d’acquérir tous les savoirs et tous les savoir-faire indispensables pour réussir ses années lycée et les épreuves du Bac”, selon le site de l’éditeur. Ces ouvrages parascolaires ne sont pas des manuels dont le contenu est supervisé par le ministère de l’Éducation.Hachette, numéro un français de l’édition, passé sous le contrôle du milliardaire Vincent Bolloré fin 2023, a rappelé, dans le communiqué, “son engagement constant et infaillible dans la production d’ouvrages scolaires et parascolaires strictement respectueux des exigences de l’Éducation nationale”.

Fifteen journalists among prisoners released from Venezuelan jails

Venezuela has freed 15 journalists, including a leading opposition figure, as the slow release of political prisoners begun after Nicolas Maduro’s ouster continues, activists said Wednesday.The administration of acting president Delcy Rodriguez has been releasing prisoners at a trickle over the past six days, in what it calls a goodwill gesture following Maduro’s capture by US special forces in Caracas on January 3.So far it has only released a fraction of the more than 800 political prisoners estimated to be languishing in the country’s penitentiaries. They include some Americans, a US State Department official confirmed on Tuesday, without saying how many.Roland Carreno, a journalist and opposition activist, was among a group of at least 15 reporters whose release was announced on Wednesday by a journalist union and a rights group.- Americans released -“We confirm the release of journalist Roland Carrebo. He had been imprisoned since August 2, 2024: 1 year, 5 months, and 12 days,” the National Union of Press Workers (SNTP) wrote on X.Carreno, who was imprisoned between 2020 and 2023 on terrorism charges, was detained again in August 2024 during protests over elections that Maduro was accused of stealing.Caracas said Tuesday it had freed 116 detainees so far, but the Foro Penal rights NGO said it has only been able to confirm about half that number.The US State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, called the release of Americans “an important step in the right direction by the interim authorities.”US President Donald Trump has hailed the releases, saying that he called off a second wave of strikes on Venezuela in light of the gesture.Many of those released were jailed for taking part in protests over the July 2024 elections, in which Maduro was declared the victor despite widespread allegations of vote-rigging.A number of Spanish and Italian citizens have also walked free from Venezuelan prisons in the past week.The United States had already secured freedom for some of its nationals in a deal with Maduro last year.- X access restored -Former deputy president Rodriguez assumed power after Maduro was captured by US forces along with his wife during air raids that left more than 100 dead, according to official figures. The couple were whisked to New York, where they were jailed while awaiting trial on drug trafficking charges.Domestically, Venezuelans regained one freedom on Tuesday — the ability to post on social media platform X, which had been a popular forum for them. It is once again accessible, more than a year after users were blocked by Maduro’s government.Rodriguez updated her profile’s bio — she served as vice president under Maduro — and wrote: “Let us stay united, moving toward economic stability, social justice, and the welfare state we deserve to aspire to.”Access remained spotty to the social media network owned by billionaire Elon Musk, who engaged in heated online exchanges with the ousted Venezuelan leader, until Maduro lashed out in retaliation for criticism of his contested 2024 election and shut X down altogether.Maduro’s X account was updated Tuesday with a photo of the deposed leader and his wife, Cilia Flores. “We want you back,” the post reads. burs-cb/dw

En plein Antarctique, une cave d’archives de glaces unique au monde ouvre ses portes

Dans une longue cave creusée dans l’Antarctique, plusieurs personnes s’affairent à entreposer des dizaines de caisses de glaces de montagnes provenant d’Europe, un “sanctuaire” inauguré mercredi et destiné aux générations futures de scientifiques prêts à percer les mystères du passé.Long de 35 mètres, haut et large de 5 mètres, ce tunnel creusé sous 9 mètres de neige a accueilli de la glace des montagnes européennes en décembre, quelques semaines avant l’inauguration officielle de ce “sanctuaire d’archives glaciaires” niché à 3.200 mètres d’altitude.Les dernières caisses, d’environ un mètre de long pour 40 cm de large, ont été déposées mercredi en direct dans ce lieu, le premier du genre dans le monde, à l’occasion d’une conférence en ligne avec des journalistes du monde entier.”C’est un très grand jour pour nous, puisqu’en fait ça fait dix ans quasiment qu’on travaille sur ce projet”, se réjouit Anne-Catherine Ohlmann, directrice de la fondation Ice Memory à l’origine de l’initiative, à l’occasion d’un entretien avec l’AFP. – -52 degrés -Les premières glaces à élire domicile dans cette cave à environ -52 degrés sont celles du Col du Dôme dans le Massif du Mont Blanc, dont un échantillon a été foré en 2016, et du sommet du Grand Combin, dans les Alpes suisses, visité l’an dernier.Cette glace d’1,7 tonne a été entreposée dans des caisses réfrigérées à -20 degrés et transportée à bord d’un brise-glace italien entre octobre et décembre, le temps de traverser les mers et les océans depuis l’Europe jusqu’au pôle Sud. D’autres suivront bientôt, Ice Memory ayant déjà participé à plusieurs forages notamment dans le Caucase, les Andes, et au Tadjikistan dans le massif du Pamir, où à 5.810 mètres de haut deux carottes d’environ 105 mètres chacune ont été prélevées en septembre, alors en présence d’un journaliste de l’AFP.Grâce à des forages de cylindres profonds, ces couches de glaces compactées pendant des siècles, peut-être des millénaires, peuvent renseigner sur les chutes de neige, les températures, l’atmosphère et les poussières du passé.”Imaginez un chercheur asiatique en 2090 qui découvre une substance servant d’indicateur nouveau et précis de l’activité de la mousson. Il pourrait la mesurer dans une carotte de glace et remonter dans le temps”, a détaillé Thomas Stocker, physicien du climat et président de la Fondation Ice Memory, au cours de la conférence.- Des siècles avant la fonte -La station franco-italienne Concordia où se trouve ce sanctuaire est aujourd’hui très préservée du réchauffement climatique et de la fonte des neige, à 1.000 km des côtes et avec des températures qui n’augmentent pas, précise la fondation Ice Memory. “On estime qu’on a encore a minima des décennies, voire des siècles avant que ça n’arrive à un point où nos carottes vont fondre”, affirme Anne-Catherine Ohlmann, à la tête de du projet lancé en 2015 notamment par le CNRS, l’université Ca’ Foscari de Venise, et l’Institut suisse Paul Scherrer, et financé par la Fondation Prince Albert II.De quoi constituer une réserve alors que des milliers de glaciers disparaîtront chaque année au cours des prochaines décennies du fait du réchauffement climatique d’origine humaine, a encore conclu en décembre une étude dans la revue Nature Climate Change.L’année 2025 a par ailleurs été la troisième année la plus chaude jamais enregistrée dans le monde, ont annoncé mercredi l’observatoire européen Copernicus et l’institut américain Berkeley Earth, pour qui 2026 devrait rester à des niveaux historiquement hauts.”Nous sommes engagés dans une course contre la montre pour sauver ce patrimoine avant qu’il ne disparaisse à jamais”, a dit Carlo Barbante, climatologue italien et vice-président de la Fondation Ice Memory, au cours de la conférence mercredi.Tout en se félicitant de cette “première mondiale”, Anne-Catherine Ohlmann affirme que la fondation “a besoin (…) des nations, on a besoin des agences des Nations Unies pour nous relayer, voire prendre en charge cette gouvernance à très long terme”.”Cette partie gouvernance est plus délicate puisque aujourd’hui, on fait le constat qu’il n’y a aucun cadre juridique dans lequel on peut s’inscrire”, poursuit-elle, affirmant que “tout ça reste ouvert”.

French publisher withdraws school books over ‘Jewish settler’ reference

French publisher Hachette said Wednesday it was recalling three textbooks for high-school children which refer to the Israeli victims of the October 7, 2023 attacks on the country as “Jewish settlers”.The worst attack in Israeli history saw militants from the Palestinian armed group Hamas kill around 1,200 people in settlements close to the Gaza Strip and at a music festival.The revision manuals for final-year students refer to all the victims as “Jewish settlers” — a term usually used to describe Israelis living on illegally occupied Palestinian land.”In October 2023, following the death of more than 1,200 Jewish settlers in a series of Hamas attacks, Israel decided to tighten its economic blockade and invade a large part of the Gaza Strip, triggering a large-scale humanitarian crisis in the region,” they state.French President Emmanuel Macron criticised them as “intolerable”. He said they were a “falsification of the facts” that amounted to “revisionism” in a post on the social media platform X.Yonathan Arfi, head of the French Jewish group Crif, said the text amounted to “a falsification of history and an unacceptable legitimisation of terrorism by Hamas, which this work notably fails to describe as a terrorist organisation”.The chairman of Hachette, Arnaud Lagardere, issued a statement to “personally offer my apologies to all those who may rightly have felt hurt, to the teaching staff, to the parents of students, and to the students themselves”.The company, France’s biggest publisher, has launched an internal investigation and is recalling an estimated 2,000 copies of the manuals. Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, with 251 people were taken hostage, including 44 who were dead, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Authorities in Gaza estimate that more than 70,000 people have been killed by Israeli forces during their bombardment of the territory since, while nearly 80 percent of buildings have been destroyed or damaged, according to UN data.Israeli forces have killed at least 447 Palestinians in Gaza since a ceasefire took effect in October, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.jri-fff-slb-adp/jj

US pulls some personnel from Qatar as Iran warns of response to attack

Iran warned the United States on Wednesday that it was capable of responding to any attack, as Washington appeared to be pulling personnel out of a base that Iran targeted in a strike last year.The tensions between the two foes, who have had no diplomatic relations since the Islamic revolution of 1979, come after President Donald Trump warned Tehran it could face action over a crackdown on protests that a rights group said had left at least 3,428 people dead.Rights groups say that under the cover of a more than five-day internet blackout, Iranian authorities are carrying out their most severe repression in years of protests that have openly challenged the theocratic system that has ruled Iran since the revolution.The head of the judiciary vowed fast-track trials for people arrested over the protests as fears grew that the authorities would make extensive use of capital punishment as a tool of repression.In Tehran, authorities held a funeral ceremony for more than 100 members of the security forces and other “martyrs” killed in the demonstrations, which authorities have accused protesters of using to wage “acts of terror”.Some personnel have been asked to depart the Al Udeid US military base in Qatar, two diplomatic sources told AFP on Wednesday, with the Gulf state saying “regional tensions” were behind the move.In June, Iran targeted the Al Udeid base in response to American strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.Ali Shamkhani, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned Trump that the strike on the base had demonstrated “Iran’s will and capability to respond to any attack”.The US embassy in Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, told its personnel on Wednesday to act with caution and avoid military installations.Trump on Tuesday said in a CBS News interview that the United States would act if Iran began hanging protesters.”We will take very strong action if they do such a thing,” he said. “When they start killing thousands of people — and now you’re telling me about hanging. We’ll see how that’s going to work out for them,” Trump said.- ‘Unprecedented level of brutality’ -Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said on a visit to a prison holding protest detainees that “if a person burned someone, beheaded someone and set them on fire then we must do our work quickly”, in comments broadcast by state television.Iranian news agencies also quoted him as saying the trials should be held in public, and said he had spent five hours in a prison in Tehran to examine the cases.Footage broadcast by state media showed the judiciary chief seated before an Iranian flag in a large, ornate room in the prison, interrogating a prisoner himself. The detainee, dressed in grey clothing and his face blurred, is accused of taking Molotov cocktails to a park in Tehran.Monitor Netblocks said in a post to X on Wednesday that the internet blackout had now lasted 132 hours.Some information has trickled out of Iran, however. New videos on social media, with locations verified by AFP, showed bodies lined up in the Kahrizak morgue just south of the Iranian capital, with the corpses wrapped in black bags and distraught relatives searching for loved ones.In the face of the crackdown and communications blackout, evidence of protest activity has sharply diminished.The US-based Institute for the Study of War said the authorities were using an “unprecedented level of brutality to suppress protests”, and noted that reports of protest activity on Tuesday were at a “relatively low level”.A high-ranking Iranian official told journalists on Wednesday that there had been no new “riots” since Monday, drawing a distinction between previous cost-of-living protests and the more recent demonstrations.”Every society can expect protests, but we will not tolerate violence,” he said. – ‘Crush and deter dissent’ -Iranian prosecutors have said authorities would press capital charges of “waging war against God” against some detainees. According to state media, hundreds of people have been arrested.State media has also reported on the arrest of a foreign national for espionage in connection with the protests. No details were given on the person’s nationality or identity.The US State Department on its Persian-language X account said 26-year-old protester Erfan Soltani had been sentenced to be executed on Wednesday.”Concerns are mounting that authorities will once again resort to swift trials and arbitrary executions to crush and deter dissent,” Amnesty International said.The Norway-based Hengaw rights group, which has closely followed his case, said it had no new information about his fate as it was unable to contact the family due to the communications blackout.Iranian security forces have killed at least 3,428 protesters in their crackdown, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) NGO said Wednesday, adding that more than 10,000 people had also been arrested.The group’s director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam condemned the “mass killing of protesters on the streets in recent days”, while IHR warned that the new figure represented an “absolute minimum” for the actual toll.Asked about the number of deaths, another government official said Wednesday that “we do not have any number yet”, adding victims were still being identified.At Wednesday’s funeral ceremony in Tehran, thousands of people waved flags of the Islamic republic as prayers were read out for the dead outside Tehran University, according to images broadcast on state television.”Death to America!” read banners held up by people attending the rally, while others carried photos of Khamenei.

Oil prices extend gains on Iran worries

Oil prices rose further Wednesday on the political instability in major crude producer Iran and the possibility of a US intervention, which also helped push safe-haven gold to a new record high while weighing on the dollar.Wall Street’s main stock indices fell despite US retail sales posting a higher-than-expected 0.6 percent increase in November and several major US banks beating earnings expectations.”Things are looking a little softer at the moment, reflecting a heightened sense of uncertainty in the air,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.”Some of that uncertainty revolves around the path of monetary policy after this morning’s economic data worked against the notion of needing to cut rates again soon,” he noted.Recent data has indicated the US economy continues to hum, the labour market has not seen a major degradation and inflation is holding at a moderate level above the US Federal Reserve’s target.The Fed has tipped it would probably wait to make further cuts in interest rates, and most investors expect it will likely hold off for several months.O’Hare also pointed to traders waiting for a possible US Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday on the legality of US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.A ruling against the government would prove a temporary setback to its economic and fiscal plans, though officials have said that tariffs can be reimposed by other means.Meanwhile, China said its trade last year reached a “new historical high”, surpassing 45 trillion yuan ($6.4 trillion) for the first time.Global demand for Chinese goods has held firm despite a slump in exports to the United States after Trump hiked tariffs.Other trade partners more than filled the gap, increasing Chinese exports overall by 5.5 percent in 2025.”We expect this resilience to continue through 2026,” said Zichun Huang, China economist at Capital Economics.Much attention among traders remained on Iran, with Tehran warning it was capable of responding to any US attack, as Washington appeared to be pulling personnel out of a base that Iran targeted in a strike last year.”Traders are closely watching the political unrest in Iran and possible US intervention, which could threaten disruption to the country’s… oil production,” said Helge Andre Martinsen, senior energy analyst at DNB Carnegie.In European stocks trading London set a fresh all-time high thanks to gains in mining stocks, but Frankfurt and Paris slid lower. Asian stock markets mostly gained.Tokyo shares jumped by 1.5 percent while the yen slumped to its lowest value since mid-2024 amid media reports that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi planned to hold an election as soon as February 8.Takaichi’s cabinet — riding high in opinion polls — has approved a record 122.3-trillion-yen ($768 billion) budget for the fiscal year from April 2026.She has vowed to get parliamentary approval as soon as possible to address inflation and shore up the world’s fourth-largest economy.”We are seeing a shift in sentiment that could see European and Asian equities gain ground on their US counterparts,” said Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets.On the corporate front, British energy giant BP revealed a write-down of up to $5 billion linked to its energy transition efforts that will be reflected in the company’s upcoming annual results.Its share price traded lower most of the day but closed the day with a gain of 1.5 percent.- Key figures at around 1630 GMT -Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.8 percent at $65.96 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.7 percent at $61.35 per barrelNew York – Dow: DOWN 0.1 percent at 49,124.17 pointsNew York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.7 percent at 6,917.81New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 1.1 percent at 23,440.38London – FTSE 100: UP 0.5 percent at 10,184.35 (close)Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.2 percent at 8,330.97 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.5 percent at 25,286.24 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.5 percent at 54,341.23 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.6 percent at 26,999.81 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.3 percent at 4,126.09 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1656 from $1.1643 on TuesdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3448 from $1.3426Dollar/yen: DOWN at 158.25 yen from 159.15 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 86.66 pence from 86.71 penceburs-rl/cw

Denmark, Greenland in crunch White House talks as Trump ups pressure

Denmark and Greenland’s top diplomats held high-stakes talks at the White House on Wednesday, with President Donald Trump warning it was “vital” for the United States to take control of the Arctic island.Shortly before the meeting with US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Denmark announced it was immediately boosting its military presence in strategic Greenland.Footage from CNN showed Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt arriving at the White House campus, while AFP journalists saw Rubio and Vance heading into the talks.Trump’s escalating threats over Greenland — a vast and sparsely populated autonomous territory belonging to NATO ally Denmark — have deeply shaken transatlantic relations.The 79-year-old Republican insisted ahead of the talks that NATO should support the US effort to take control of Greenland, saying it was crucial for his planned Golden Dome air and missile defense system.”NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES. Anything less than that is unacceptable,” he wrote on his Truth Social network.”IF WE DON’T, RUSSIA OR CHINA WILL, AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!” added Trump.Vance, who slammed Denmark as a “bad ally” during a visit to Greenland last year, is known for a hard edge, which was on display when he publicly berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office last February.”If the US continues with, ‘We have to have Greenland at all cost,’ it could be a very short meeting,” said Penny Naas, a senior vice president at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a Washington think tank.Trump has derided recent Danish efforts to increase security for Greenland as amounting to “two dogsleds.” Denmark says it has invested almost $14 billion in Arctic security.Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen sought to further ease US concerns on Thursday, telling AFP his country was boosting its military presence in Greenland and was in talks with NATO allies.The Danish defense ministry then announced that it would do so “from today,” hosting a military exercise and sending in “aircraft, vessels and soldiers.”Swedish officers were joining the exercise at Denmark’s request, Stockholm said.- ‘Big problem’ -Denmark’s Rasmussen said ahead of the meeting that he was hoping to “clear up certain misunderstandings.” But it remains to be seen if there is a chance of de-escalating the situation.Greenland’s leader said Tuesday that the island prefers to remain part of Denmark, prompting Trump to say “that’s going to be a big problem for him.”Shortly after the White House talks, a senior delegation from the US Congress — mostly Democrats, but with one Republican — will visit Copenhagen to offer solidarity.Trump has appeared emboldened on Greenland — and on what he views as the US backyard as a whole — since ordering a deadly January 3 attack in Venezuela that removed president Nicolas Maduro.The White House has said that military action against Greenland remains on the table.Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an attack on a NATO ally would end the alliance that has been the bedrock of Western security since World War II.It is a founding member of NATO and its military joined the United States in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the latter to much criticism. An agreement with Denmark currently allows the United States to station as many soldiers as it wants on Greenland. It also has a “space base” at Pituffik in northern Greenland.Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen meanwhile said ahead of the Washington talks that “Greenland does not want to be part of the United States.”But Trump has been insistent that he wants to acquire Greenland wholesale, repeatedly insisting on what he calls the threat of a takeover by Russia or China. The two rival powers have both stepped up activity in the Arctic, where ice is melting due to climate change, but neither claims Greenland, which is home to 57,000 people.