AFP USA

US President Donald Trump descends on Davos for a showdown with European leaders Wednesday as his bid to seize Greenland threatens to tear the transatlantic alliance apart.Trump — whose arrival in Davos was delayed when a “minor electrical issue” forced his presidential jet to turn back shortly after takeoff — mocked the Europeans a day before heading to the World Economic Forum over the fate of the autonomous Danish territory.But leaders gathered at the Swiss ski resort have closed ranks against Trump’s aggressive stance, with French President Emmanuel Macron vowing to stand against “bullies” and Canada’s Mark Carney warning of a “rupture, not a transition” to the US-led global order.The united stand drew a rebuke from Trump’s Treasury chief Scott Bessent, who told Europeans to “take a deep breath”.”Do not have this reflexive anger that we’ve seen and this bitterness,” Bessent told reporters in Davos hours before Trump’s arrival. “Why don’t they sit down, wait for President Trump to get here and listen to his argument,” he said.Trump, who was originally scheduled to give a speech to the annual gathering of the world’s economic and political elite at 2:30 pm (1330 GMT), will be about three hours late to Davos, Bessent said, after the president was forced to switch planes.Trump said he would have a number of meetings on Greenland at Davos, as his designs on the vast island open the biggest rift between Washington and Europe in decades.Asked how far he was prepared to go to acquire Greenland from Denmark, a fellow NATO member, Trump told reporters: “You’ll find out.”As he left the White House, the president admitted he had “no idea” how the trip to Davos would pan out.- ‘Rupture’ -Trump insists mineral-rich Greenland is vital for US and NATO security against Russia and China as a melting Arctic opens up and the superpowers jostle for strategic advancement.He has turned up the pressure by threatening tariffs of up to 25 percent on eight European countries for backing Denmark, prompting Europe to threaten countermeasures against the United States.Trump dismissed European threats to fire a trade “bazooka” at the United States.”Anything they do with us… all I have to do is meet it and it’s going to go ricocheting backward,” he said in an interview with News Nation.”But we’re not looking into that. We’ll probably be able to work something out, possibly even during the next few days,” he added.At Davos on Tuesday, Macron warned against US attempts to “subordinate Europe”, and blasted Trump’s tariff threats as “unacceptable.”France called Wednesday for a NATO exercise in Greenland, “and is ready to contribute to it”, Macron’s office said.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for her part warned that Trump risked plunging US ties with the European Union into a “downward spiral”.And Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney — who has sought to reduce his own country’s dependence on Washington since Trump called for it to become the 51st US state — won a standing ovation at Davos for his stance.”We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition,” Carney said of the US-led global system of governance.”Call it what it is: a system of intensifying great power rivalry where the most powerful pursue their interests using economic integration as coercion.”In his own Davos speech, the White House said Trump wanted to focus on the US economy amid a cost-of-living crisis that threatens his Republicans in the 2026 midterm elections.But the US president’s extraordinary assertion of US power on the world stage one year into his second term means Greenland will form the backdrop to the address.Greenland’s prime minister said Tuesday his tiny population of 57,000 must be prepared for military force.On Thursday, meanwhile, Trump is set to formally announce the first charter of his so-called “Board of Peace,” a body for resolving international conflicts with a $1-billion price tag for permanent membership.The board was originally conceived to oversee the rebuilding of Gaza, but a draft of the charter seen by AFP does not appear to limit its role to the occupied Palestinian territory.

Russia’s interior minister met with top leaders of ally Cuba in Havana on Tuesday, a show of solidarity after US President Donald Trump warned that the island’s longtime communist government “is ready to fall.”Trump this month told Havana to “make a deal,” the nature of which he did not divulge, or pay a price similar to Venezuela, whose leader Nicolas Maduro was ousted by US forces in a January 3 bombing raid that killed dozens of people.Venezuela was a key ally of Cuba and a critical supplier of oil and money, which Trump has vowed to cut off. “We in Russia regard this as an act of unprovoked armed aggression against Venezuela,” Russia’s Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev told Russian state TV Rossiya-1 of the US actions after landing in Cuba.”This act cannot be justified in any way and once again proves the need to increase vigilance and consolidate all efforts to counter external factors,” he added.On Tuesday, Kolokoltsev met with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel who described the visit as having “enormous significance,” according to a statement from the Cuban government. The visit, the government said, showed Russia’s “understanding” of Cuba’s situation and “a willingness to help and cooperate.” Russia and Cuba, both under Western sanctions, have intensified their relations since 2022, with an isolated Moscow seeking new friends and trading partners since its invasion of Ukraine.Russia’s ambassador to Havana, Victor Koronelli, wrote on X Tuesday that Kolokoltsev was in Cuba “to strengthen bilateral cooperation and the fight against crime.”Cuba needs all the help it can get as it grapples with its worst economic crisis in decades and now the added pressure from Washington.Trump has warned that acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez will pay “a very big price” if she does not toe Washington’s line — specifically on access to Venezuela’s oil and loosening ties with US foes Cuba, Russia, China and Iran.The US chief of mission in Cuba, Mike Hammer, meanwhile, met the head of the US Southern Command in Miami on Tuesday “to discuss the situation in Cuba and the Caribbean,” the embassy said on X.The command is responsible for American forces operating in Central and South America that have carried out seizures of tankers transporting Venezuelan oil and strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats.- Soldiers killed -Cuba has been a thorn in the side of the United States since the revolution that swept communist Fidel Castro to power in 1959.Havana and Moscow were close communist allies during the Cold War, but that cooperation was abruptly halted in 1991 with the dissolution of the Soviet bloc.The deployment of Soviet nuclear missile sites on the island triggered the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, when Washington and Moscow came close to war.During his first presidential term, Trump walked back a detente with Cuba launched by his predecessor Barack Obama.Thirty-two Cuban soldiers, some of them assigned to Maduro’s security detail, were killed in the US strikes this month that saw the former Venezuelan leader taken away in cuffs to stand trial in New York.Kolokoltsev attended a memorial for the fallen men on Tuesday.

US President Donald Trump resumed his trip to the Davos forum in Switzerland early Wednesday after an electrical issue forced his presidential plane to return to its air base.Trump and his entourage changed planes at Joint Base Andrews just outside Washington and took off again shortly after midnight (0500 GMT), about two-and-a-half hours after his initial departure.The American president is on his way to the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he is expected to face off with European leaders over his bid to seize Greenland.Air Force One had returned to the base late Tuesday out of an abundance of caution, the White House said, due to what officials described as a “minor electrical issue.”Journalists traveling with Trump reported that lights in the cabin went out briefly after takeoff.With its classic blue and white livery, Air Force One is arguably the world’s most iconic plane and an instantly recognizable symbol of the US presidency.Trump has long been unhappy with the current Air Force One jets — two highly customized Boeing 747-200B series aircraft that entered service in 1990 under president George H.W. Bush.Last year, Trump said his administration was “looking at alternatives” to Boeing following delays in the delivery of two new 747-8 aircraft.In May, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth accepted a Boeing 747 that the Gulf emirate of Qatar offered to Trump for use as Air Force One.The jet — worth hundreds of millions of dollars — has raised huge constitutional and ethical questions, as well as security concerns about using an aircraft donated by a foreign power for use as the ultra-sensitive presidential plane.

US President Donald Trump’s plane was forced to return to an air base late Tuesday due to a “minor electrical issue” shortly after departing for Switzerland, the White House said.Air Force One returned to Joint Base Andrews out of an abundance of caution, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said. It landed shortly after 11:00 pm (0400 GMT).Journalists traveling with Trump reported that lights in the cabin went out briefly after takeoff.Trump and his entourage will switch to another plane and continue the trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, where the US president was expected to face off with European leaders over his bid to seize Greenland.With its classic blue and white livery, Air Force One is arguably the world’s most iconic plane and an instantly recognizable symbol of the US presidency.Trump has long been unhappy with the current Air Force One jets — two highly customized Boeing 747-200B series aircraft that entered service in 1990 under president George H.W. Bush.Last year, Trump said his administration was “looking at alternatives” to Boeing following delays in the delivery of two new 747-8 aircraft.In May, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth accepted a Boeing 747 that the Gulf emirate of Qatar offered to Trump for use as Air Force One.The jet — worth hundreds of millions of dollars — has raised huge constitutional and ethical questions, as well as security concerns about using an aircraft donated by a foreign power for use as the ultra-sensitive presidential plane.

The US Supreme Court hears arguments on Wednesday over President Donald Trump’s attempt to fire a Federal Reserve governor, a case which could have far-reaching consequences for the independence of the central bank.Trump sought in August to dismiss Fed governor Lisa Cook, a key official serving on the Fed’s interest rate-setting committee, accusing her of mortgage fraud. She denies the charges.The conservative-dominated Supreme Court barred Trump from immediately removing Cook, allowing her to remain in her post until it could hear the case contesting her dismissal.In a sign of the significance of the case and public support for Cook, Fed Chair Jerome Powell plans to personally attend Wednesday’s Supreme Court hearing, a source familiar with the matter told AFP.Powell’s expected appearance comes as the Trump administration intensifies its pressure campaign targeting the central bank, including the opening of a criminal investigation into the Fed chief.Earlier this month, Powell revealed that US prosecutors had launched an inquiry into him over an ongoing renovation of the Fed’s headquarters.Powell has dismissed the investigation as a politically motivated attempt to influence the central bank’s interest rate setting, and the heads of major central banks have thrown their support behind him.Trump’s bid to fire Cook, the first Black woman to serve on the central bank’s board of governors, and the probe into Powell are a dramatic escalation of the president’s efforts to control the Fed.Trump has repeatedly criticized the Fed for spurning his demands to slash interest rates more aggressively.By ousting Cook, the Republican president could potentially add another voice to the Fed’s board to try and shift interest rates in his favored direction.The case’s outcome could also determine if legal protections for the Fed — against political pressure — hold up, or if the president can take aim at members of the Fed’s leadership.Former Fed chiefs have recently warned that undermining central bank independence risks “highly negative consequences for inflation” and the functioning of economies.- ‘No cause exists’ -The Supreme Court has overwhelmingly sided with Trump since he returned to office, allowing mass firing of federal workers, the withholding of funds appropriated by Congress and racial profiling in his sweeping immigration crackdown.The court recently allowed Trump to fire members of other independent government boards, but created a carveout for the Fed in its ruling.Federal law says that Fed officials can only be removed for “cause,” which could be interpreted to mean malfeasance or dereliction of duty.”President Trump purported to fire me ‘for cause’ when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so,” Cook previously said in a statement.In his announcement that Cook would be removed, Trump pointed to a criminal referral from the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s director — a staunch ally of Trump — to the attorney general.The referral, Trump said, provided “sufficient reason” to believe that Cook might have made “false statements” on one or more mortgage agreements, allegedly claiming two primary residences, one in Michigan and another in Georgia.Cook has not been charged with a crime and the alleged false statements occurred before she was in her current position.Cook took office as a Fed governor in 2022 and was reappointed to the board in 2023.

The world is entering an era of “global water bankruptcy” with rivers, lakes and aquifers depleting faster than nature can replenish them, a United Nations research institute said on Tuesday.It argues that decades of overuse, pollution, environmental destruction and climate pressure had pushed many water systems so beyond the point of recovery that a new classification was required.”Water stress and water crisis are no longer sufficient descriptions of the world’s new water realities,” read a new report by the UN University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH).These terms were “framed as alerts about a future that could still be avoided” when the world had already moved into a “new phase”, it said.The report proposes the alternative term “water bankruptcy” — a state in which long-term water use exceeds resupply and damages nature so severely that previous levels cannot realistically be restored.This was reflected in the shrinking of the world’s large lakes, the report said, and the growing number of major rivers failing to reach the sea for parts of the year. The world has lost enormous proportions of wetlands, with roughly 410 million hectares — nearly the size of the European Union — disappearing over the past five decades.Groundwater depletion is another sign of this bankruptcy.Around 70 percent of major aquifers used for drinking water and irrigation show long-term declines with rising “day zero” crises — when demand exceeds supply — the “urban face” of this new reality.Climate change was compounding the problem, spurring the loss of more than 30 percent of the world’s glacier mass since 1970 and the seasonal meltwater relied upon by hundreds of millions of people.- ‘Be honest’ -The consequences were visible on every inhabited continent, but not every country individually was water bankrupt, UNU-INWEH director and report author Kaveh Madani told AFP.Madani said the phenomenon was a “warning” that a policy rethink was essential.Instead of approaching water scarcity as something temporary, governments must “be honest” and “file for bankruptcy today rather than delaying this decision”, he said.”Let’s adopt this framework. Let’s understand this. Let us recognise this bitter reality today before we cause more irreversible damages,” Madani added.The report draws on existing data and statistics and does not provide an exhaustive record of all water problems, but attempts instead to redefine the situation.It is based on a peer-reviewed report, soon to be published in the journal Water Resources Management, that will formally propose a definition of “water bankruptcy”.The report “captures a hard truth: the world’s water crisis has crossed a point of no return”, Tim Wainwright, chief executive of the WaterAid charity, wrote in a statement.Some scientists not involved in the report welcomed the spotlight on water but warned that the global picture varied considerably and a blanket declaration might overlook progress being made at a local level.

Russia’s interior minister began a visit to ally Cuba on Tuesday, a show of solidarity after US President Donald Trump warned that the island’s longtime communist government “is ready to fall.”Trump this month warned Havana to “make a deal,” the nature of which he did not divulge, or pay a price similar to Venezuela, whose leader Nicolas Maduro was ousted by US forces in a January 3 bombing raid that killed dozens of people.Venezuela was a key ally of Cuba and a critical supplier of oil and money, which Trump has vowed to cut off. “We in Russia regard this as an act of unprovoked armed aggression against Venezuela,” Russia’s Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev told Russian state TV Rossiya-1 of the US actions after landing in Cuba.”This act cannot be justified in any way and once again proves the need to increase vigilance and consolidate all efforts to counter external factors,” he added.The Russian embassy in Havana said the minister would “hold a series of bilateral meetings” while in Cuba.Russia and Cuba, both under Western sanctions, have intensified their relations since 2022, with an isolated Moscow seeking new friends and trading partners since its invasion of Ukraine.Cuba needs all the help it can get as it grapples with its worst economic crisis in decades and now added pressure from Washington.Trump has warned that acting President Delcy Rodriguez will pay “a very big price” if she does not toe Washington’s line — specifically on access to Venezuela’s oil and loosening ties with US foes Cuba, Russia, China and Iran.On Tuesday, Russia’s ambassador to Havana, Victor Koronelli, wrote on X that Kolokoltsev was in Cuba “to strengthen bilateral cooperation and the fight against crime.”The US chief of mission in Cuba, Mike Hammer, meanwhile, met the head of the US Southern Command in Miami on Tuesday “to discuss the situation in Cuba and the Caribbean,” the embassy said on X.The command is responsible for American forces operating in Central and South America that have carried out seizures of tankers transporting Venezuelan oil and strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats.- Soldiers killed -Cuba has been a thorn in the side of the United States since the revolution that swept communist Fidel Castro to power in 1959.Havana and Moscow were close communist allies during the Cold War, but that cooperation was abruptly halted in 1991 with the dissolution of the Soviet bloc.The deployment of Soviet nuclear missile sites on the island triggered the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, when Washington and Moscow came close to war.During his first presidential term, Trump walked back a detente with Cuba launched by his predecessor Barack Obama.Thirty-two Cuban soldiers, some of them assigned to Maduro’s security detail, were killed in the US strikes that saw the Venezuelan strongman whisked away in cuffs to stand trial in New York.Kolokoltsev attended a memorial for the fallen men on Tuesday.

Netflix shares fell more than five percent on Tuesday as the streaming entertainment giant said it expected revenue to be essentially flat in the current quarter after years of growth.Netflix posted profit of $2.4 billion on revenue of $12 billion in the final three months of last year, and forecast taking in $12.1 billion in revenue this quarter.Shares were down more than 4 percent to $83.07 in after-market trades.Netflix is focused on improving its core business by increasing the variety and quality of shows and films and also strengthening its ad business, co-chief executive Ted Sarandos said during a streamed earnings interview.The streaming giant aims to double revenue from its ad business to $3 billion this year, according to Netflix chief financial officer Spencer Neumann.”The top line numbers generally look pretty healthy,” Gabelli Funds portfolio manager John Belton said of Netflix earnings report, noting that an updated subscriber number topping 325 million showed solid membership growth last year.Sarandos touted a strong lineup of shows, including upcoming new seasons of “Bridgerton” and “One Piece,” as well as a deal to stream the coming World Baseball Classic to viewers in Japan.- Warner Brothers saga -The earnings report came as Netflix presses a bid to buy television and film titan Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD).”Big picture, we just saw a tremendous and achievable opportunity in bringing these two businesses together,” Netflix co-chief executive Greg Peters said on the earnings call.Netflix on Tuesday revised the terms of the proffered deal to make it all-cash and to provide WBD shareholders with more certainty about the transaction, the company said in a release.The revision is expected to enable a shareholder vote on the deal, backed by WBD’s board, by April of this year. “The WBD board continues to support and unanimously recommend our transaction, and we are confident that it will deliver the best outcome for stockholders, consumers, creators and the broader entertainment community,” Sarandos said in a release.”The acquisition will also significantly expand US production capacity and investment in original programming, driving job creation and long-term industry growth.”Paramount Skydance said earlier this month that it has filed a lawsuit against WBD as it presses an unwelcome bid to buy the CNN-parent company.Paramount’s suit seeks to compel the WBD board to provide certain information to shareholders that it argues will cast its offer in a more favorable light.The suit, and a letter to WBD shareholders by Paramount Skydance chief executive David Ellison, are moves in a saga spanning several months.Television and film titan WBD put out word in late October that it was open to acquisition offers, with its board subsequently accepting a bid by streaming giant Netflix.WBD formally rejected an offer from Paramount Skydance for the entire company.The Netflix offer favored by the board does not include buying WBD television properties such as CNN and Discovery, which would belong to a newly created and publicly traded company called Global Networks if the deal is sealed.”We are committed to seeing our tender offer through,” Ellison said in the letter to WBD shareholders.”If WBD calls a special meeting ahead of its annual meeting to vote on the Netflix Agreement, Paramount will solicit proxies against such approval.”

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday that the US‑led global system of governance is enduring “a rupture,” defined by great power competition and a “fading” rules‑based order.Carney delivered his stirring speech to political and financial elites at the World Economic Forum, a day before US President Donald Trump was set to address the gathering in Davos, Switzerland.Since entering Canadian politics last year, Carney has repeatedly warned that the world was not going to return to a pre‑Trump normal.He re‑affirmed that message on Tuesday, in a speech that did not name Trump but offered an analysis of the president’s impact on global affairs.”We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition,” Carney said.He noted that Canada had benefited from the old “rules‑based international order,” including from “American hegemony” that “helped provide public goods: open sea lanes, a stable financial system, collective security, and support for frameworks for resolving disputes.”A new reality has set in, Carney said.”Call it what it is: a system of intensifying great power rivalry where the most powerful pursue their interests using economic integration as coercion.”– ‘On the menu’ –In an apparent warning against efforts to appease major powers, Carney said countries like Canada can no longer hope that “compliance will buy safety.””It won’t,” he said.”The question for middle powers, like Canada, is not whether to adapt to this new reality. We must. The question is whether we adapt by simply building higher walls — or whether we can do something more ambitious.””Middle powers must act together, because if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu,” Carney said.”Great powers can afford for now to go it alone. They have the market size, the military capacity, and the leverage to dictate terms. Middle powers do not.”Carney delivered his Davos speech after Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper reported that the Canadian military has developed a model response to a US invasion.Citing two unnamed senior government officials, the paper said the Canadian response model centers on insurgency‑style tactics, like those used in Afghanistan by fighters who resisted Soviet and later US forces.After Trump’s 2024 election and in the early months of his new term, he repeatedly referred to the US’s northern neighbour as the 51st state and said a merger would benefit Canada.Trump’s annexation talk has eased in recent months, but overnight he posted an image on his social media platform of a map showing Canada and Venezuela covered in the US flag, implying a full American takeover of both countries.The Davos meeting has been overshadowed by Trump’s threats to enforce US control over Greenland, with the president vowing that his plan for the autonomous Danish territory was irreversible.”Canada stands firmly with Greenland and Denmark and fully supports their unique right to determine Greenland’s future,” Carney said.