Norway opens mission in Greenland

TT

Published 13.19

 

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Nuuk Mayor Avaaraq Olsen during a meeting in March. Photo: Lise Åserud/NTB/TT

Norway is opening a consulate general in Nuuk. The decision is described as part of the Arctic NATO countries' new strategy.

The Norwegian mission in Greenland is being established to strengthen cooperation with Greenlandic authorities, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap) said at a press conference on Friday.

- Among other things, on maritime issues, he said according to the NTB news agency.

According to Støre, the seven Arctic countries in NATO - Norway, Sweden, Denmark (through Greenland), Canada, the USA, Finland and Iceland - have drawn up a new strategy regarding the Arctic. He emphasizes the strategic importance of the Arctic and the northern regions for Norway.

The announcement comes at a time of increased focus on security in the Arctic, after US President Donald Trump said he wanted to take control of Greenland from Denmark.

EU majority: Collect deportees outside the EU

TT

Published 10.25

 

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen are pushing for a tougher migration policy in the EU. Archive photo. Photo: Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP/TT

Sweden and 18 other EU countries are jointly supporting the establishment of camps for deportees outside the EU.

In a letter to the ongoing EU summit, the countries praise the agreement recently reached on a new return regulation with stricter rules for people who do not have the right to stay in the EU. Not least, this includes the possibility of setting up what are called return hubs – places outside the EU where deportees who, for various reasons, cannot be sent back to their home countries can be collected.

"We urge willing member states to seek such solutions and engage with willing partners. We also urge the Commission to support member states in their efforts," says the letter, which was drafted at the initiative of Italy and Denmark.

The major countries Germany, France and Spain are notably absent from the signatories.

South Korea: Trump now wants to focus on North Korea

TT

Published 10.50

 

South Korean President Lee Jae-Myung in conversation with US President Donald Trump during this week's G7 meeting in Évian-les-Bains, France. Photo: Thibault Camus/AP/TT

After the agreement with Iran, the US president now wants to focus on North Korea, claims the South Korean president.

- It's time to turn attention to the North Korea issue, Donald Trump is said to have told his South Korean counterpart Lee Jae-Myung during this week's G7 meeting in France.

Lee says he responded by condemning the current sanctions against North Korea.

- I told him that sanctions and pressure are ineffective, Lee tells reporters in Seoul.

According to Lee, this is a consequence of the increased military cooperation between North Korea and Russia.

On Sunday, Trump posted – without further explanation – a photo of himself and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, taken during their meeting in Singapore in 2018. It has fueled speculation that Trump’s next focus after Iran will be the closed nuclear power on the Korean Peninsula.

EU base opens “diplomatic channel” to Moscow

TT

Published 00.48

 

EU Council President António Costa on the left, next to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Photo: Omar Havana/AP/TT

EU Council President António Costa has opened a “diplomatic channel” to Russia – but stresses that it is not about negotiations.

According to an EU representative, Costa told the heads of state and government of the member states at Thursday evening’s summit that he had given the order for the “canal construction”.

"The goal is to be ready, when the right situation arises, to defend the EU's interests. What we are talking about are short contacts without exchanges of substance and no negotiations," it says in a dispatch to EU correspondents in Brussels.

Italy and Trump in dispute: “Felt sorry for her”

TT

Published 14.01

 

Trump and Meloni side by side at the G7 summit in France earlier this week. Photo: Thibault Camus/AP/TT

Italy's foreign minister cancels his visit to the US. This comes after a statement from President Donald Trump angered Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

“Donald Trump's serious and offensive words against Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni offend all of Italy,” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani writes on X, where he announces that the visit is being canceled.

Meloni says he is stunned by Trump's comments to Italian La7. According to a transcript, Trump said that Meloni “wanted so much to have a picture” with him at this week's G7 summit and that he agreed to it because he “felt sorry for her.”

According to Meloni, this is not true.

“Neither I nor Italy ever beg,” she says in a video clip on X.

The previously good relationship between Trump and Meloni soured after she defended Pope Leo XIV against Trump’s criticism in April.

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