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Greenland allies vow action if Trump moves to seize world’s largest island
European leaders, including in France and Germany, have announced they are working on a plan in the event the United States follows through on its threat to take over Greenland as tensions soar.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told France Inter radio on Wednesday that while nations want to act if the US moves to seize Greenland from an ally, Denmark, they want to do so “together with our European partners”.
“I myself was on the phone with the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday. He discarded the idea that what just happened in Venezuela could happen in Greenland,” Barrot said.
On Saturday, the United States – using fighter jets, attack helicopters, and special forces – abducted Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, bringing him to New York City to be tried for alleged drug trafficking.
US President Donald Trump’s decision to greenlight the abduction of Maduro led to widespread condemnation and fear that Greenland, which the president has previously said should be part of Washington’s security apparatus, could be forcibly taken.
But since then, European allies have rallied behind Greenland’s sovereignty, saying the country belongs to its people.
Johannes Koskinen, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Finland’s parliament, called for the issue to be raised within NATO.
“[Allies should] address whether something needs to be done and whether the United States should be brought into line in the sense that it cannot disregard jointly agreed plans in order to pursue its own power ambitions,” he said.
Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart, Vivian Motzfeldt, requested an urgent meeting with Rubio to discuss the situation.
“We would like to add some nuance to the conversation,” Rasmussen wrote in a social media post. “The shouting match must be replaced by a more sensible dialogue. Now.”
Denmark has warned that any move to take Greenland by force would mean “everything would stop”, including NATO and 80 years of close security links.
Greenland’s government will join a meeting between Rubio and Danish officials next week following renewed US claims on the Arctic island, its foreign minister said on Wednesday.
The European Union will support Greenland and Denmark when needed and will not accept violations of international law no matter where they occur, European Council President Antonio Costa said.
“On Greenland, allow me to be clear: Greenland belongs to its people. Nothing can be decided about Denmark and about Greenland without Denmark or without Greenland,” Costa said in a speech.
“The European Union cannot accept violations of international law – whether in Cyprus, Latin America, Greenland, Ukraine, or Gaza. Europe will remain a firm and unwavering champion of international law and multilateralism.”
Greenland – the world’s largest island, with a population of 57,000 people – is located between Europe and North America. Since 2019, during Trump’s first term, the president has raised the idea of controlling Greenland, saying it would benifit US security.
So far, Trump has not ruled out using force to take the island.
Rubio told reporters on Wednesday that Trump’s intention is to buy Greenland. “That’s always been the president’s intent from the very beginning.”
House US House Speaker Mike Johnson said he hasn’t heard talk of sending the military into Greenland and the US is “looking at diplomatic channels”.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump and his national security team have “actively discussed” the option of buying Greenland.
“He views it in the best interest of the United States to deter Russian and Chinese aggression in the Arctic region. And so that’s why his team is currently talking about what a potential purchase would look like,” Leavitt told reporters.
Neither Leavitt nor Rubio ruled out the use of force. But Leavitt said, “The president’s first option, always, has been diplomacy.”
[Aljazeera]
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to Navanethem “Navi” Pillay.
The committee’s announcement of the 125th Nobel Peace Prize, made on Friday in Oslo, said the prestigious award would go to the South African jurist for her work to promote peace and international law.
The committee said in a statement that Pillay, a former United Nations rights chief, had been instrumental in ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are prosecuted.
“At a time of existential challenges – including more wars and conflicts than the world has seen in a long time – international law is no longer just a supplement to peace and security. It is an absolute necessity,” the statement read.
Committee chair Jorgen Watne Frydnes said the system of international law was “under tremendous pressure” and its institutions were “under attack”. It is judges, he continued, “who guard the thin red line between order and chaos”.
Prosecuting crimes against humanity
A South African of Indian Tamil origin, the 85-year-old Pillay was the first woman to start a law practice in Natal, in 1967.
She acted as a defence lawyer for Nelson Mandela, who previously won the peace prize, and other anti-apartheid activists, and was the first woman of colour to serve on South Africa’s High Court.
She later served on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court, and as UN high commissioner for human rights.
The committee highlighted her role in establishing that rape and sexual violence can be constituted as a crime against humanity and genocide, during her time on the Rwanda tribunal.
She chaired the UN Independent International Commission of inquiry on the occupied Palestinian territory, which concluded last year that Israel committed genocide in Gaza.
“We concluded that the State of Israel is responsible for the commission of four genocidal acts in Gaza with the specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza, as such,” she declared in a presentation to the UN General Assembly.
She also declared Israel’s president, prime minister and former defence minister had “incited the commission” of genocide.
She currently sits on the International Court of Justice in the case in which Myanmar stands accused of genocide.
Verification
Reacting to the award, Pillay said she thought at first it must be a joke. “Being a lawyer and a judge, I still want to verify this,” she remarked.
“The last thing I did is the delivery of the report on Gaza, naming what’s happening there as genocide,” she continued. “One of the main reactions to that report is paying tribute to me for my courage. And you can imagine how surprised I was, why would you need courage to speak the truth?” she added.
The prize, which is worth 12 million Swedish crowns ($1.2m), will be presented in Oslo on December 10, on the anniversary of the death of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who founded the awards in his 1895 will.
Four other awards were also announced earlier this week, for medicine, physics, chemistry and literature.
The Nobel committee received nominations for 287 candidates for this year’s peace prize. Other contenders included the International Space Station, emergency teams in Sudan, children’s advocates in Ukraine and two top international courts.
United States President Donald Trump has long coveted the prize and repeatedly said he deserves it, despite his ongoing war on Iran.
Last year’s winner, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, handed her medal to Trump after the US deposed former President Nicholas Maduro.
Pillay joked that she might share her prize with the US leader.
“If you clap a little bit more I may share this prize with Trump,” she said in a video posted on social media by the Secretary General of Amnesty International that showed Pillay being applauded after the announcement of the award.
[Aljazeera]
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Showers above 100 mm are likely at some places in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central, Uva and Southern provinces and in Anuradhapura district
WEATHER FORECAST FOR 08 OCTOBER 2026
Issued at 05.30 a.m. on 08 October 2026 by the Department of Meteorology
Misty conditions can be expected at some places in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central and Uva provinces and in Galle and Matara districts during the early hours of the morning.
Showers or thundershowers will occur in the most part of the island after 1.00 p.m. Heavy showers above 100 mm are likely at some places in Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central, Uva and Southern provinces and in Anuradhapura district.
The general public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damage caused by temporary localized strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.
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2026 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Navi Pillay
Showers or thundershowers will occur in most part of the island after 1.00 p.m.
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