Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, has urged Washington to stop threatening a “historically close ally,” after President Donald Trump suggested Copenhagen cannot properly manage and protect the island from Russian and Chinese threats. Greenland is an autonomous territory within Denmark.

“We do need Greenland, absolutely. We need it for defense,” Trump told The Atlantic on Sunday, noting that it was up to others to decide the wider implications of US military action in Venezuela.

In response, Frederiksen said “the US has no right to annex any of the three countries in the Danish Kingdom.”

“I would therefore strongly urge the US to stop the threats against a historically close ally and against another country and another people who have very clearly said that they are not for sale,” she told the media.

Trump first proposed buying Greenland in 2019, a plan swiftly rejected by Copenhagen and Greenland’s authorities. Since returning to office last year, he has revived the idea, even hinting at the possible use of force.

Denmark has responded by strengthening Arctic defenses and expanding military and civilian monitoring, viewing the pressure as a direct threat to its sovereignty.

“You know what Denmark did basically, to boost up security in Greenland? They added one more dog sled,” Trump told journalists aboard Air Force One later in the day, claiming that the island is “surrounded by Russian and Chinese ships” and that Copenhagen can’t handle the “threat.”

“We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security. And the European Union needs us to have it, and they know it,” he stated, adding, “let’s talk about Greenland in 20 days.”

Tensions over Greenland have continued to rise in recent weeks. In December, Trump appointed Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, who has openly backed incorporating Greenland into the US, as a special envoy to the autonomous territory, prompting Copenhagen to summon the US ambassador for an explanation.

After the US launched a controversial military operation in Venezuela on Sunday, a former Trump administration official, Katie Miller, suggested in a cryptic social media post that Washington will “soon” take over Greenland.

A New Year’s Eve celebration at a popular Swiss ski resort bar ended in tragedy when a fire, likely ignited by sparklers on top of champagne bottles, tore through the crowded basement venue, killing at least 40 people.

Swiss authorities confirmed Friday that preliminary evidence points to “sparkler candles or sparklers placed on bottles of champagne that were moved too close to the ceiling” as the cause of the blaze at Le Constellation bar in the upscale Alpine resort of Crans-Montana.

The fire broke out around 1:30am on January 1, 2026, as the bar was packed with young revelers celebrating the New Year.

Witnesses described a chaotic scene where a “show” involving the sparklers quickly turned deadly.

Photos and videos shared online show at least six bottles with lit sparklers being held aloft by staff and patrons. In one of the photos, a woman is seen sitting on another’s shoulders with the bottles, waving them too high, apparently hitting the ceiling.

The flames ignited acoustic foam panels lining the bar’s low wooden ceiling. Officials are investigating whether this material, used for soundproofing, contributed to the fire’s ferocity.

The fire spread within seconds, according to witnesses. Patrons in the basement nightclub rushed toward a narrow staircase and a single main door, causing a crowd surge. Some resorted to smashing windows to escape.

The process of formally identifying the deceased victims has been slow and challenging. Many bodies were so severely burned that they are unrecognizable, and personal items like wallets were destroyed by the flames.

Officials have stated that this work will take several days as they must be “100% sure” before informing families. Authorities are now relying on DNA analysis and dental records to make positive identifications.

Many of the 119 injured victims remain hospitalized and have been described as “still fighting for their lives.” The scale of injuries overwhelmed local medical facilities, as many of the burns sustained require highly specialized, resource-intensive care from entire teams of specialists.

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Elon Musk has indicated his intention to bankroll Republican candidates in the midterm elections later this year, saying that the US will cease to exist if the Democrats reclaim power in the Congress.

On Friday, Tesla and SpaceX CEO commented on a post on X by a conservative influencer, who claimed that “Musk is reportedly going all-in funding Republicans to help President [Donald] Trump take back full control in the November midterms.”

The world’s richest man responded to the message by warning that “America is toast if the radical left wins.”

The Democrats “will open the floodgates to illegal immigration and fraud. Won’t be America anymore,” Musk wrote.

Axios reported last month, citing informed sources, that Musk had recently written “big checks” to the Republicans to be used during congressional races, with plans to donate even more throughout 2026.

The Republicans have suffered a series of losses to Democrats in special elections last year, including in states traditionally considered their strongholds. Support for Trump has been on decline since he started his second term, with the Economist/YouGov’s poll earlier this week suggesting that the president has ended the year with 39% approval and 56% disapproval rating.

Musk used to be a close ally of Trump during the 2024 election race, cashing out $290 million and becoming the campaign’s top donor. After taking office, the president made him the head of the newly-created federal cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Musk’s relations with Trump ruptured in June over the president’s flagship “big, beautiful bill,” which significantly expanded federal spending. The billionaire, who stepped down as head of DOGE amid the rift, called the legislation a “disgusting abomination,” accused the president of ties with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and mulled the creation of his own party to undermine the Republicans. Trump labeled the Tesla and SpaceX CEO “crazy.”

They appeared to have mended ties in recent months, with Trump filmed patting Musk on the arm during a White House dinner in November. According to Axios, the two now speak on the phone “occasionally.”

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The US attack on Venezuela further proves that the post-World War II world order is breaking down, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Saturday.

Just hours earlier, US forces conducted air strikes on the oil-rich South American country and captured its president, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife. Both have been brought back to the US and charged with drug trafficking conspiracy – allegations that Maduro has long denied, arguing that Washington was after regime change and Venezuelan resources.

President Donald Trump has said that with Maduro deposed, the US will “run” Venezuela and secure its oil industry.

“The US military action in Venezuela is further evidence of the breakdown of the world order created after World War II,” Fico said in a statement published on social media.

“International law does not apply, military force is used without a UN Security Council mandate, and everyone who is big and strong does whatever they want in promoting their own interests,” he said.

Fico added that as a leader of a small country, he rejects this sort of “subversion of international law,” as he rejected the US invasion of Iraq, “the non-recognition of Kosovo as a sovereign state,” the “use of Russian military force in Ukraine,” as well as the assessment of the situation in Gaza.

The Slovak prime minister said he wondered how the EU would formally react to the US attack, which he said “deserves condemnation.”

“Either it will condemn the use of US military force in Venezuela and be consistent with its stance on the war in Ukraine, or it will remain, as usual, hypocritically self-righteous.”

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas urged “restraint” in a post on X on Saturday, calling for adherence to the UN Charter.

Meanwhile, China and Russia have strongly condemned the US attacks.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has called the strikes and Maduro’s capture an “unacceptable infringement on the sovereignty of an independent state,” and called on Washington to release the Venezuelan president.

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Venezuela’s Supreme Court ordered Vice President Delcy Rodriguez to assume the role of interim president after Nicolas Maduro was kidnapped by US forces from Caracas and flown to New York to face criminal charges.

In a Saturday ruling, the court’s Constitutional Chamber said Rodriguez would assume the office “to guarantee continuity of government,” adding it would initiate a legal discussion to determine the framework needed to ensure the “continuity of the State,” the “administration of government,” and the “defense of sovereignty” in the face of Maduro’s “forced absence.”

Rodriguez, 56, a lawyer born in Caracas, has been vice president since 2018. She held a succession of senior posts under the late Hugo Chavez and Maduro, including foreign minister. At the moment of Maduro’s abduction on Saturday, she was also the oil-rich country’s Minister of Petroleum. The official, who has been widely viewed as a staunch Maduro ally, has been the target of US and EU sanctions.

The US captured Maduro to put him on trial for drug trafficking and weapons-related charges in an unprecedented raid on Caracas on Saturday. US President Donald Trump has since claimed that Washington would “run” Venezuela until a transition.

Rodriguez has fired back, demanding that the US immediately release Maduro, while stressing that Venezuela “will never return to being the colony of another empire” and “never return to being slaves.” 

At the same time, she said that, in principle, Caracas is ready to move towards “respectful relations” with Washington. Trump said earlier that Rodriguez had spoken with Secretary of State Marco Rubio by phone and appeared willing to work with Washington.

Rodriguez has also talked to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who “expressed firm solidarity with the Venezuelan people in the face of armed aggression.”

Venezuela’s leadership has repeatedly denied accusations that it is connected with the drug trade, arguing that the charges coming from the US only serve as a pretext for regime change.

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US President Donald Trump has threatened Colombia with military action similar to last week’s raid on Venezuela.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump said Colombia is “run by a sick man,” referring to President Gustavo Petro, whom he labeled a “drug leader.” The US president suggested that Petro, whom he sanctioned last year, could be removed from power too.

“Colombia is very sick… run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States. And he’s not going to be doing it very long, let me tell you,” Trump stated. Asked directly whether the US would launch a military operation against the country, he replied: “It sounds good to me.”

Petro responded sharply in a series of posts on X, urging Trump to “stop slandering” and calling on Latin American nations to unite or risk being “treated as servants and slaves.”

The exchange follows growing outrage over Washington’s unprecedented military operation to seize Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, which the Trump administration says was needed to bring the Venezuelan president to trial on drug trafficking charges. Caracas rejects this explanation as a pretext for regime change. Media reports say at least 80 people, both military and civilian, were killed in the raid. Maduro, who has denied all allegations, was abducted and forcibly flown to the US along with his wife.

The raid has drawn condemnation from the Global South, while China slammed the abduction as a violation of international law. Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay, and Spain have issued a joint statement warning that America’s action has set “an extremely dangerous precedent” for regional security.

Trump justified the raid by invoking the 19th-century Monroe Doctrine, which designates Latin America as Washington’s sphere of influence, while asserting that the US is now “in charge” of Venezuela. He told reporters that Saturday’s military intervention was not about regime change or resources but securing “peace on Earth,” particularly in the Western Hemisphere. He went on to warn that the US could strike again if Caracas “doesn’t behave.”

Besides Colombia and Venezuela, Trump has also ramped up rhetoric against other countries in the region, claiming Cuba “is ready to fall” due to the loss of Venezuelan oil revenue and threatening Mexico with possible military intervention, saying the country “has to get their act together because [drugs] are pouring through Mexico and we’re going to have to do something.”

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The capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by the US threatens to throw the world back into an era of “chaos and injustice,” the Russian ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, has said.

Washington’s raid on the Latin American nation has demonstrated the world order the US wants to build, the diplomat told an emergency session of the UN Security Council on Monday, adding that it “horrifies even the staunchest Atlanticists.”

The US attacked the oil-rich South American country on Saturday, abducting Maduro and his wife, taking them to a US warship from which they were subsequently flown to New York. They appeared in court on charges of drug-trafficking conspiracy on Monday – to which the Venezuelan president declared “I am a decent man!” before entering a not-guilty plea.

Maduro had previously warned that Washington was seeking to get its hands on Venezuela’s natural resources. US President Donald Trump stated on Sunday that Washington seeks to “run” the Latin American nation so that “we can take advantage of the economics of what they have.”

Nebenzia condemned the US actions as “international banditry.” The US’ open pursuit of “hegemonistic ambitions in Latin America” and its desire to gain “unlimited control over natural resources” only contribute to a resurgence of neo-colonialism and imperialism, he said.

The world must stand united in rejecting Washington’s belligerent foreign policy, Nebenzia said, warning that “the bell is already tolling” for each UN member state and the future of the organization itself.

Ignoring the threat posed by the US to the system of international relations would mean condoning the violation of international law, as well as disregard for “civilized” conduct on the international stage.

Russia – along with other BRICS nations – had already strongly condemned the US actions. Moscow called for Maduro’s immediate release and expressed solidarity with the people of Venezuela.

Reactions from the West have been far more muted. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas urged “restraint,” calling for adherence to the UN Charter. A follow-up joint statement signed by all EU member states except Hungary neither condemned nor supported the US actions.

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US military strikes on Venezuela were meant to provide cover for the capture of President Nicolas Maduro, who is expected to face trial on criminal charges on American soil, US Senator Mike Lee has said, citing US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The comments followed overnight explosions and reports of warplanes buzzing the capital city of Caracas. Later in the day, US President Donald Trump announced that American special forces had carried out a military operation and that Maduro, along with his wife, had been taken into custody and flown out of the country. Venezuelan authorities condemned the strikes as “grave military aggression.”

In a post on Saturday, Lee said that he had talked with Rubio on the phone, stating that “he informed me that Nicolas Maduro has been arrested by US personnel to stand trial on criminal charges in the United States.”

“The kinetic action we saw tonight was deployed to protect and defend those executing the arrest warrant,” the Republican senator added, noting that Rubio “anticipates no further action in Venezuela now that Maduro is in US custody.”

Meanwhile, Rubio himself republished his July 27 post in which he said that Maduro “is not the president of Venezuela” and that his government is not legitimate, while claiming that the Venezuelan leader is in charge of a major drug cartel.

Maduro has long denied such allegations, claiming the US was using them as a pretext for military aggression and in order to topple his government.

US Attorney General Pamela Bondi announced that Maduro and his wife had been indicted in New York and charged with “narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machineguns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machineguns and destructive devices against the United States.” 

The strikes and capture represent the first US intervention in South America of its kind since the 1989 invasion of Panama. The US has long accused Maduro’s government of involvement in international drug trafficking, which the country’s leadership vehemently denies.