Denmark’s King Frederik to visit Greenland, daily Sermitsiaq reports

Denmark’s King Frederik to visit Greenland, daily Sermitsiaq reports
Denmark's King Frederik will travel to Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory, on April 28, Greenlandic daily Sermitsiaq reported on Wednesday, citing the island's own government. (Reuters/File)
Short Url
Updated 23 April 2025

Denmark’s King Frederik to visit Greenland, daily Sermitsiaq reports

Denmark’s King Frederik to visit Greenland, daily Sermitsiaq reports
  • The visit to Greenland by Denmark’s head of state comes as US President Donald Trump seeks a takeover

COPENHAGEN: Denmark’s King Frederik will travel to Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory, on April 28, Greenlandic daily Sermitsiaq reported on Wednesday, citing the island’s own government.
The visit to Greenland by Denmark’s head of state comes as US President Donald Trump seeks a takeover by the United States of the minerals-rich and strategically important island.
Denmark has rejected Trump’s ambition and says only Greenlanders themselves can decide the territory’s future.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens Frederik-Nielsen will travel to Denmark on April 26, where he will meet with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, according to Sermitsiaq.
The king will travel to Greenland together with Nielsen when the prime minister returns to the island, according to the report.


Thai court suspends Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra over a leaked phone call

Updated 3 sec ago

Thai court suspends Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra over a leaked phone call

Thai court suspends Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra over a leaked phone call
BANGKOK: Thailand’s Constitutional Court suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra from office pending an investigation over a leaked phone call with a former Cambodian leader.
The judges voted unanimously Tuesday to take the petition accusing her of a breach of ethics, and voted 7 to 2 to suspend her from duty.
Paetongtarn has faced growing dissatisfaction over her handling of the latest border dispute with Cambodia, involving an armed confrontation on May 28 in which one Cambodian soldier was killed. The leaked phone call while she engaged in diplomacy over the border dispute set off a string of complaints and public protests.

Trump attacks Musk subsidies in spending bill row

Trump attacks Musk subsidies in spending bill row
Updated 16 min 52 sec ago

Trump attacks Musk subsidies in spending bill row

Trump attacks Musk subsidies in spending bill row
  • As lawmakers began voting on Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill", Musk accused Republicans of supporting "debt slavery"
  • President Trump responded by saying “without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa” on social media

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump once again targeted former aide Elon Musk on Tuesday, attacking the amount of government subsidies the entrepreneur is receiving, after the tech billionaire renewed criticism of the president’s flagship spending bill.
“Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far,” Trump said on social media.
“And without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa.”
Musk — who had an acrimonious public falling out with the president this month over the bill — reprised his sharp criticisms and renewed his calls for the formation of a new political party as voting got underway.
Trump responded by suggesting his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)-- which Musk headed before stepping down late May — train its sights on the SpaceX founder’s business interests.
“No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE,” the president said. “Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this? BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!“
Trump is hoping to seal his legacy with the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which would extend his expiring first-term tax cuts at a cost of $4.5 trillion and beef up border security.
But Republicans eyeing 2026 midterm congressional elections are divided over the package, which would strip health care from millions of the poorest Americans and add more than $3 trillion to the country’s debt.
As lawmakers began voting on the bill on Monday, Musk — the world’s richest person — accused Republicans of supporting “debt slavery.”
“All I’m asking is that we don’t bankrupt America,” he said on social media Tuesday. “What’s the point of a debt ceiling if we keep raising it?“
Musk has vowed to launch a new political party to challenge lawmakers who campaigned on reduced federal spending only to vote for the bill.
“VOX POPULI VOX DEI 80 percent voted for a new party,” he said.


Russia takes full control of Ukraine’s Luhansk region, Russian backed official says

Russia takes full control of Ukraine’s Luhansk region, Russian backed official says
Updated 26 min 13 sec ago

Russia takes full control of Ukraine’s Luhansk region, Russian backed official says

Russia takes full control of Ukraine’s Luhansk region, Russian backed official says
  • Ukraine says that Russia’s claims to Luhansk and other areas of what is internationally recognized to be Ukraine are groundless and illegal

MOSCOW: Russia has taken full control of Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region, more than three years after President Vladimir Putin ordered thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, the Russian-backed head of the region told Russian state television.
Luhansk, which has an area of 26,700 square km (10,308 square miles), is the first Ukrainian region to fall fully under the established control of Russian forces since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.
Putin in September 2022 declared that Luhansk — along with the partially controlled Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions — was being incorporated into Russia, a step Western European states said was illegal and that most of the world did not recognize.
“The territory of the Luhansk People’s Republic is fully liberated — 100 percent,” Leonid Pasechnik, who was born in Soviet Ukraine and is now a Russian-installed official cast by Moscow as the head of the “Luhansk People’s Republic,” told Russian state television.
There was no immediate confirmation from the Russian defense ministry, or comment from Ukraine.
Ukraine says that Russia’s claims to Luhansk and other areas of what is internationally recognized to be Ukraine are groundless and illegal, and Kyiv has promised to never recognize Russian sovereignty over the areas.
Russia says the territories are now part of Russia, fall under its nuclear umbrella and will never be returned.
Luhansk was once part of the Russian empire but changed hands after the Russian Revolution. It was taken by the Red Army in 1920 and then became part of the Soviet Union in 1922 as part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Along with neighboring Donetsk, Luhansk was the crucible of the conflict which began in 2014 after a pro-Russian president was toppled in Ukraine’s Maidan Revolution and Russia annexed Crimea, with Russian-backed separatist forces fighting Ukraine’s armed forces in both Luhansk and Donetsk.
Russia controls nearly 19 percent of what is internationally recognized to be Ukraine, including Luhansk, plus over 70 percent of the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, and fragments of the Kharkiv, Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk regions.


Greenland has a message for the rest of the world: Come visit

Greenland has a message for the rest of the world: Come visit
Updated 41 min 30 sec ago

Greenland has a message for the rest of the world: Come visit

Greenland has a message for the rest of the world: Come visit
  • Whale watching tours, excursions to the iconic puffin island and guided charters through remote settlements are just the beginning of what Greenland has to offer visitors

NUUK: Greenland has a message for the rest of the world: We’re waiting for you.
“Come visit Greenland,” said Nukartaa Andreassen, who works for a water taxi company in the capital city, Nuuk. “Learn about it, learn about us. We love to have you. We love to tell our stories and our culture.”
The mineral-rich Arctic island is open for tourism. Whale-watching tours, excursions to the iconic puffin island and guided charters through remote settlements are just the beginning of what Greenland has to offer visitors. Locals want to show what makes the island unique beyond a recent diplomatic dustup with US President Donald Trump.
“Our goal and mission is to present and be the ambassadors of Greenland,” said Casper Frank Møller, the chief executive of Nuuk-based tour guide company Raw Arctic, “and to show what beauty you can experience while you’re here.”
The tourism industry is expected to see a boom this year following the launch of a new route between Nuuk and Newark, New Jersey. The inaugural flight June 14 was the first direct travel from the US to Greenland by an American airline.
Traveling to Greenland
Before the direct flight, air passengers departing from the US needed a layover in Iceland or Denmark to reach Greenland. The change benefited travelers like Doug Jenzen, an American tourist who was on the United Airlines plane from New Jersey.
“I came with the purpose of exploring some of the natural sites around the world’s largest island, hoping to support things like ecotourism and sustainable travel while supporting the local economy,” Jenzen said.
Cruise ships can already dock on the island but they bring less money to businesses catering to tourists because passengers sleep and usually eat on board.
Some 150,000 tourists visited Greenland in 2024, according to Naaja Nathanielsen, Greenland’s business minister.
“We really want to grow the tourism sector. It’s a very good fit for many in Greenland,” Nathanielsen added. “Tourism is about good vibes. It’s about sharing culture, sharing history. It’s about storytelling. And as Inuit, that’s very much part of our heritage.”
The Trump effect

Greenland gained worldwide attention when Trump earlier this year announced he wanted to take control of the semiautonomous Danish territory, through a purchase or possibly by force.
Denmark, a NATO ally, and Greenland have said the island is not for sale and condemned reports of the US gathering intelligence there.
Despite the diplomatic tension, Frank Møller of Raw Arctic sees an upside.
“It has kind of put Greenland on the world map. And it’s definitely a situation that Raw Arctic has used to our advantage,” he said.
Still, beefing up the tourism industry should happen at a pace that prioritizes the voices and comfort levels of the roughly 56,000 people on the island, he added.
Andreassen, of Nuuk Water Taxi, agreed.
“It’s very important for me to tell my own story. Because I always feel like when I meet new people, I always introduce a whole Greenland,” she said. “It’s important for me to show our own culture, our own nature. Not by television, not by other people from other countries.”
‘Unforgettable moment’

In June, Pinar Saatci, a 59-year-old Turkish tourist, saw several whales breach the ocean surface during a boat tour.
“It’s very exciting to be here, at the other part of the world, so far away from home,” she said. “It’s a very exciting and unforgettable moment.”
Risskov Rejser has visited Greenland several times through her travel company for Danish travelers. But she is worried about the impact of a tourist invasion.
“For me, the worst thing would be if mass tourism starts and people come here, and sort of look upon the Greenland people as if they were a living museum,” she said. “It has to be done in a respectful way and you have to consider what the consequences are.”


Trump to visit ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ migrant detention center

Trump to visit ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ migrant detention center
Updated 01 July 2025

Trump to visit ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ migrant detention center

Trump to visit ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ migrant detention center
  • Florida, the southeastern state, announced last week that it was constructing the site at an estimated cost of $450 million dollars

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump will attend Tuesday’s official opening of a migrant detention center dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” that has been built in a reptile-filled Florida swamp.
Critics of Trump’s harsh immigration crackdown have called the idea inhumane, while environmental protesters oppose its construction in a national park.
But the White House has openly embraced the nickname comparing it to the notorious former Alcatraz prison on an island in San Francisco Bay — which Trump incidentally also wants to reopen.
“There is only one road leading in, and the only way out is a one-way flight. It is isolated and surrounded by dangerous wildlife and unforgiving terrain,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday.
Asked if the scaly-skinned predators were a “design feature,” Leavitt replied: “When you have illegal murderers and rapists and heinous criminals in a detention facility surrounded by alligators, yes I do think that’s a deterrent for them to try to escape.”
While Trump administration officials routinely highlight the targeting of violent criminals, many migrants without any charges have also been swept up in the crackdown.
Florida, the southeastern state governed by conservative Republican Ron DeSantis, announced last week that it was constructing the site at an estimated cost of $450 million dollars.
It sits on an abandoned airfield in the heart of a sprawling network of mangrove forests, imposing marshes and “rivers of grass” that form the Everglades conservation area.
The Everglades National Park is particularly known as a major habitat for alligators, with an estimated population of around 200,000. They can reach up to 15 feet in length when fully grown.


Attacks by alligators on humans are relatively rare in Florida.
Across the entire state there were 453 “unprovoked bite incidents” between 1948 and 2022, 26 of which resulted in human fatalities, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
But authorities have played up the risk.
“If people get out, there’s not much waiting for them, other than alligators and pythons,” Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said recently as he described the detention camp.
He also described the site as a “low-cost opportunity to build a temporary detention facility, because you don’t need to invest that much in the perimeter.”
The White House’s Leavitt said it would be a 5,000-bed facility, but Florida authorities have said it would house about 1,000 “criminal aliens.”
Trump’s administration is playing up “Alligator Alcatraz” as it drums up support for a huge tax and spending bill that the president is trying to push through Congress this week.
The “One Big Beautiful Bill” contains funding for Trump’s immigration crackdown including an increase in places in detention centers.
“I can’t wait for it to open,” Trump’s immigration czar Tom Homan told reporters on Monday when asked about “Alligator Alcatraz. “We’ve got to get the Big Beautiful Bill passed — the more beds we have, the more bad guys we arrest.”
The deportation drive is part of a broader campaign of harsh optics on migration, including raids in Los Angeles that sparked protests against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.