Good morning.
Donald Trump and his advisers are looking at “a range of options” in an effort to acquire Greenland, noting in a White House statement on Tuesday that using the US military to do so is “always an option”.
“President Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority of the United States, and it’s vital to deter our adversaries in the Arctic region. The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the US military is always an option at the commander in chief’s disposal,” the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said.
How are the US’s European allies responding? In a show of solidarity on Tuesday, the leaders of France, Germany, the UK and other countries issued a joint statement with the prime minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, urging the US to respect its sovereignty. They said Arctic security was a top priority for Nato, a defense alliance that includes the US and Greenland. “Greenland belongs to its people,” the statement said.
Trump claims Venezuela ‘turning over’ $2bn in oil to US
Trump has said Venezuela would be “turning over” $2bn worth of Venezuelan crude to the US, a negotiation that would divert supplies from China while helping Venezuela avoid deeper oil production cuts.
“This Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States!” Trump posted on Truth Social. Venezuelan government officials and the state company PDVSA did not comment.
What would a deal of this kind signify? Top Venezuelan officials have called Maduro’s capture a kidnapping and accused the US of trying to steal the country’s vast oil reserves. However, Tuesday’s agreement is a strong sign that the government is responding to Trump’s demand that it open up to US oil companies or risk more military intervention.
Israel pushes ahead with vast illegal settlement in heart of West Bank
Israel is moving to start construction on a vast illegal settlement in the heart of the West Bank, designed to “bury the idea of a Palestinian state”.
The Israel Land Authority in mid-December quietly posted a tender for construction of 3,401 homes in the “E1” project, which will sever the north and south of the occupied West Bank for Palestinians, and further cut off East Jerusalem.
The tender, first reported by the Guardian, lays out terms for companies to bid for part of the work, with a deadline for submissions in mid-March.
Why is Israel advancing now? For years, construction was blocked by the US and Israel’s European allies. But the Israeli far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who is a settler, said last year that Trump had dropped longstanding US opposition to the E1 plan.
What effect would starting construction have? Critics and supporters agree that moving tens of thousands of Israeli settlers into a triangle of occupied land between Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Ramallah would critically damage efforts to reach a two-state solution.
In other news …
Congressional Republicans were largely silent on the fifth anniversary of the January 6 insurrection on Tuesday, even as Democrats sought to use the occasion to condemn Trump.
The California Republican congressman Doug LaMalfa has died aged 65. It cuts the Republican’s House majority to 218-213.
In the UK, the health of prisoners affiliated with the banned direct action group Palestine Action has deteriorated alarmingly, supporters say, as their hunger strike continues.
Britain and France have said they are ready to deploy troops to Ukraine after a peace deal, a significant new commitment that has been discussed for months.
Authorities said safety officers had not inspected for five years the bar that caught fire in a Swiss ski resort on New Year’s Eve. Forty mainly young people died, and more than 100 were injured.
Stat of the day: Justice department has released less than 1% of Epstein files, filing reveals
The Department of Justice has released less than 1% of the Epstein files, a court filing has revealed, as Democrats step up criticism of the Trump administration’s “lawlessness” for keeping records under seal. The department conceded that only 12,285 documents out of 125,575 pages have been published so far.
Well actually: Frequent nosebleeds – what causes them and is it normal?
If you frequently experience nosebleeds, you may come to regard them as nothing more than a messy inconvenience. Yet even though most nosebleeds are mild and benign, they should not happen “if everything inside the nose is healthy”, says Dr Patricia Loftus, an otolaryngologist at the University of California, San Francisco. Here’s what experts say.
Don’t miss this: Dolly, Dreamgirls and Daniel Radcliffe – the biggest Broadway shows of 2026
The year 2025 was a major inflection point for Broadway, with New York theater finally rebounding to pre-pandemic levels with $1.89bn in tickets sold. But with a record box office came record ticket prices, as Hollywood stars such as Denzel Washington and George Clooney commanded high sums. This year feels relatively less Hollywood-y, though no less starry. Here are 12 of the most anticipated Broadway shows in 2026.
Climate check: Pesticide industry ‘immunity shield’ stripped from US appropriations bill
In a setback for the pesticide industry, Democrats have succeeded in removing a rider from a congressional appropriations bill that would have helped protect pesticide makers from being sued and could have hindered state efforts to warn about pesticide risks. “I just drew a line in the sand and said this cannot stay in the bill,” Chellie Pingree, a Democratic representative, said. “There has been intensive lobbying by Bayer. This has been quite a hard fight.”
Last Thing: Parisians ski down snowy Montmartre slope amid Europe’s cold snap – video
Most of Europe has been gripped by an Arctic air mass pulling temperatures well below the seasonal average this week. In a snow-blanketed Paris, crowds gathered for winter sports near the Sacré Coeur in Montmartre, with some people skiing down the slopes. “It had been my dream for a while,” one said. “I thought, it’s now or never.”
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