US vice-president JD Vance to join talks on Greenland, Denmark says
US vice-president JD Vance will join tomorrow’s meeting between Danish and Greenlandic foreign ministers and US state secretary Marco Rubio, Danish foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen told reporters.
Speaking after a meeting of the Danish parliament’s foreign affairs committee, he said that JD Vance wanted to participate in the talks and will host them at the White House.
Rasmussen said that Denmark and Greenland requested the meeting to discuss in person the latest on Greenland after increasingly assertive comments from US officials, including US president Donald Trump, about their ambition to control the territory.
Defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen added that he would also meeting with the Nato secretary general Mark Rutte on Monday to discuss “issues regarding security in and around the Arctic,” and he will also be joined by Greenland’s foreign minister Vivian Motzfeldt.
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This morning in Nuuk, Greenland – in pictures
Miranda Bryant
Nordic correspondent
in Nuuk, Greenland
And here’s the latest from Nuuk, Greenland this morning, ahead of what looks like a few very busy days of political talks on Greenland.
Morning in Nuuk, Greenland ahead of crucial talks on the territory’s future Photograph: Miranda Bryant/The GuardianMorning in Nuuk, Greenland ahead of crucial talks on the territory’s future Photograph: Miranda Bryant/The GuardianShare
Danish, Greenlandic PM to give update on Greenland today ahead of key US talks
Miranda Bryant
Nordic correspondent
in Nuuk, Greenland
Ahead of Wednesday’s high stakes meeting between the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland in Washington with Marco Rubio and JD Vance, the Danish prime minister’s office has announced that she will deliver an update on the situation today.
Mette Frederiksen and the Greenlandic prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, will give a statement at 3pm Danish time in Copenhagen.
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Updated at 12.41 GMT
Marine Le Pen’s appeal against embezzlement conviction to begin
Angelique Chrisafis
in Paris
Elsewhere, the French far-right party leader Marine Le Pen will face a fresh trial on appeal on Tuesday over the embezzlement of European parliament funds in a case that will determine whether or not she can run in the 2027 presidential election.
Journalists work before the start of the appeal trial of French far-right leader Marine Le Pen at the Paris courthouse on the Île de la Cité, in Paris, France,. Photograph: Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters
Le Pen, 57, who leads the far-right, anti-immigration National Rally (RN), was considered to be a contender for next year’s election until she was barred from running for public office last March after being found guilty of an extensive and long-running fake jobs scam.
Le Pen appealed, alongside 10 of the 24 party members who were convicted last year, and now faces a new trial which will run until 12 February.
The verdict and sentence, expected before the summer, will determine Le Pen’s political future and whether she can make a fourth presidential attempt next year. If not, she would be replaced by her young protege and party president, Jordan Bardella, 30.
Bardella appears to have benefited from Le Pen’s legal drama. Polling by Verian for Le Monde and L’Hémicycle published over the weekend found that 49% of French people thought Bardella had the greatest chance of winning the election, compared with 18% for Marine Le Pen.
An Odoxa poll last autumn found that Bardella would win the presidency no matter who his opponent in the second round was.
Analysts have cautioned that, with candidates from across the political spectrum yet to be decided, it is too early for a clear picture of how the 2027 election race may shape up.
Le Pen has said she is innocent and still wants to lead France. She has attacked what she called a “tyranny of judges” who wanted to stop her running in a presidential race she said she could otherwise win.
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Greenlandic opposition doesn’t want confrontation with US
Miranda Bryant
Nordic correspondent
in Nuuk, Greenland
In Nuuk, Pele Broberg, leader of opposition party Naleraq, which came second in last year’s election, said the preferable outcome is to reach a deal with the US.
“They want to do a deal the easy way or the hard way: who wants the hard way? I don’t understand why that’s a subject. If there is a deal to be made great, but we haven’t heard about it, we have no clue what he is talking about. So that will be interesting after Wednesday.”
Broberg criticised the Greenlandic government’s decision to release a statement on Monday in which it said it would increase its efforts to ensure its defence took place “in the Nato framework” so soon before Wednesday’s meeting.
“I don’t know why they don’t just wait until that to see what is up and down with this,” he told the Guardian.
He also questioned the inclusion of the Danish foreign minister.
“It’s a little bit strange that it is not a meeting between the US and Greenlandic foreign ministers, but that the Danish foreign minister is in on that meeting. The reason why it doesn’t make sense for me is it has nothing to do with Danish foreign politics and everything to do with the Greenlandic peoples’ future.”
He accused Copenhagen of “using Nato and the Danish ownership of Greenland” to have a say in Greenland’s future. “It shows they are still not ready to actually let us go.”
He called on the governments to be open about what is said in the meeting to stop speculation.
“I hope they have a meeting where they go out with a press conference afterwards and say ‘this has been talked about’. ‘Offers of free association or not’, ‘offers of annexation or not’ or whatever they talked about.”
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Joint Danish, Greenlandic, Faroese talks planned for Wednesday
And in what is a rather curious coincidence, the Danish government has just announced that it will host the biannual talks and the meeting of the foreign, security and defence policy contact committee with the Faroese and the Greenlandic governments, erm, tomorrow.
The meeting will be attended by Greenland’s prime minister, Jens Frederik-Nielsen, alongside, obviously, the Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen.
“The three countries will have the opportunity to discuss the political and economic situation,” the government’s statement said.
The meeting will be effectively taking place in parallel to the US talks with JD Vance and Rubio.
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US vice-president JD Vance to join talks on Greenland, Denmark says
US vice-president JD Vance will join tomorrow’s meeting between Danish and Greenlandic foreign ministers and US state secretary Marco Rubio, Danish foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen told reporters.
Speaking after a meeting of the Danish parliament’s foreign affairs committee, he said that JD Vance wanted to participate in the talks and will host them at the White House.
Rasmussen said that Denmark and Greenland requested the meeting to discuss in person the latest on Greenland after increasingly assertive comments from US officials, including US president Donald Trump, about their ambition to control the territory.
Defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen added that he would also meeting with the Nato secretary general Mark Rutte on Monday to discuss “issues regarding security in and around the Arctic,” and he will also be joined by Greenland’s foreign minister Vivian Motzfeldt.
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Airports in central Europe report disruptions due to weather
Meanwhile, a number of airports in central and eastern Europe faced delays and disruptions due to difficult weather conditions this morning.
Budapest airport was temporarily closed as a precaution due to black ice and extreme icing, the airport said on Facebook.
Airports in Bratislava, Prague, and Vienna were also affected, Reuters added.
According to FlightRadar24’s disruption meter, Vienna has seen most disruption, with delays up to two hours of both arrivals and departures.
A slippery warning sign is pictured in Prague, the Czech Republic. Photograph: Xinhua/ShutterstockShare
EU tells Musk to fix ‘horrendous’ AI tool or face regulatory action
Lisa O’Carroll
The EU has warned Elon Musk’s X to urgently “fix” the “horrendous” AI tool allowing users to “undress” women and children or face urgent acton.
The blunt warning comes as the European Commission has extended a retention order sent to Elon Musk’s X last year to retain and preserve all internal documents and data related to Grok until the end of 2026, amid a global outcry over Grok-generated “undressed” images.
“X now has to fix its AI tool in the EU, and they have to do it quickly. If not, we will not hesitate to put the DSA to its full use to protect EU citizens,” the EU tech commissioner Henna Virkunnen said last night.
“X offering the use of Grok to create and share pictures of undressed women and children is horrendous,” she added in a post on X.
Governments and regulators from Europe to Asia are cracking down on sexually explicit content generated by Elon Musk’s xAI chatbot Grok on X, launching probes, imposing bans and demanding safeguards, in a growing global push to curb illegal material.
Separately, Malaysia’s communications regulator said on Tuesday it will take legal action against social media platform X due to concerns over user safety in relation to artificial intelligence feature Grok
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Danish consultations on Greenland ahead of crunch US talks
Meanwhile, the foreign affairs committee of the Danish parliament is scheduled to meet this morning to discuss the latest on Greenland as the US president, Donald Trump, shows no signs of losing interest in the territory.
Foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen will represent the government, as it consults on the issue ahead of tomorrow’s high-stake meeting with US state secretary Marco Rubio.
Meanwhile, a number of protests against the US policy are expected to be held later this week across Denmark, according to DR.
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Morning opening: ‘Russia must learn that cold will not help it win war,’ Zelenskyy says after Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure
Jakub Krupa
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia hit Ukraine overnight with “almost 300 attack drones” and 25 missiles as it continues to target energy infrastructure across the country, already suffering from extensive electricity and heat outages amid a harsh winter.
Emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Photograph: AP
Zelenskyy said the overnight attacks caused “extensive destruction of residential and civilian infrastructure” across the country, including in the capital Kyiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv and Donetsk.
Zelenskyy said that “several hundred thousand households” in the Kyiv region remain without power, and the situation “is not easy,” with temperatures as low as -12 Celsius this morning.
Firefighters extinguish a fire in destroyed building after Russian drone attack in Kyiv, Ukraine. Photograph: Global Images Ukraine/Getty Images
“As always, wherever Russia tries to destroy, Ukrainians support one another, and internal resilience is what is most needed right now,” he said.
Zelenskyy also added that “with no military purpose whatsoever, Russia lobbed missiles at a postal terminal in Korotych, Kharkiv region, killing 4 people.”
He said:
“Every such strike against life is a reminder that support for Ukraine cannot be stopped. Missiles for air defense systems are needed every day, and especially during winter.
The world can respond to this Russian terror with new assistance packages for Ukraine. We expect the acceleration of deliveries already agreed with America and Europe.
Russia must come to learn that cold will not help it win the war. Thank you to everyone who is helping.
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Updated at 09.25 GMT
