Foreign News
Germany and France warn Trump over threat to take over Greenland

Germany and France have warned Donald Trump against threatening Greenland, after the US president-elect refused to rule out using military force to seize Denmark’s autonomous territory.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said “the principle of the inviolability of borders applies to every country… no matter whether it’s a very small one or a very powerful one”.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said “there is obviously no question that the European Union would let other nations of the world attack its sovereign borders”.
On Tuesday, Trump reiterated his desire to acquire Greenland, saying that the Arctic island was “critical” for national and economic security.
He has repeatedly expressed an interest in buying Greenland, having mooted the idea in 2019, during his first term as president.
Denmark, a long-time US ally, has made clear that Greenland is not for sale and that it belongs to its inhabitants.
Greenland’s prime minister, Mute Egede, is pushing for independence from Denmark, but he too has made clear the territory is not for sale. He was visiting Copenhagen on Wednesday.
Chancellor Scholz said there was a “certain incomprehension” about statements coming from the incoming US administration.
“The principle of the inviolability of borders applies to every country no matter whether that’s in the east or the west.”
Denmark is a member of the US-led Nato alliance, as are Germany and France.
Scholz stressed that “Nato is the most important instrument for our defence and a central of the transatlantic relationship”.
Speaking earlier on Wednesday, Jean-Noël Barrot told France Inter radio: “If you’re asking me whether I think the United States will invade Greenland, my answer is no.
“Have we entered into an era that sees the return of the survival of the fittest? Then the answer is yes.
“So, should we allow ourselves to be intimidated and overcome with worry, clearly not. We must wake up, build up our strength,” the French foreign minister added.
Germany and France are the two leading members of the EU, often described as its main driving force.
However, it is difficult to imagine how the EU might prevent any potential attack. It has no defensive capabilities of its own and most of its 27 member states are part of Nato.
Trump made the remarks at a free-wheeling news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, less than two weeks before he is sworn in for his second term as president on 20 January.
Asked if he would rule out using military or economic force in order to take over Greenland or the Panama Canal, Trump said: “No, I can’t assure you on either of those two.
“But I can say this, we need them for economic security.”
(BBC)
Foreign News
Argentina canal turns bright red, alarming residents

A canal in a suburb of Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires turned bright red on Thursday, alarming local residents.
Pictures and videos show the intensely coloured water flowing into an estuary, the Rio de la Plata, which borders an ecological reserve.
Local media reports suggest the colour may have been caused by the dumping of textile dye, or by chemical waste from a nearby depot.
The Environment Ministry said in a statement that water samples had been taken from the Sarandí canal to determine the cause of the colour change.
By late afternoon the colour of the water had lost some of its intensity, the AFP news agency reported.
Residents have claimed that many local companies dispose of toxic waste in the waterway, which runs through an area of leather processing and textile factories some 10km (6 miles) from the centre of the capital.
A resident, a woman called Silvia, told local news channel C5N that although it is has turned red now, “other times it was yellow, with an acidic smell that makes us sick even in the throat”. “I live a block from the stream. Today, it has no smell. There are not many factories in the area, although there are warehouses.”
Another resident, Maria Ducomls, told AFP industries in the region dump waste in the water, and said she had seen it coloured differently in the past – “bluish, a little green, pink, a little lilac, with grease on top”.
[BBC]
Foreign News
Trump sanctions International Criminal Court, calls it ‘illegitimate’

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order sanctioning the International Criminal Court, accusing it of “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel”.
The measure places financial and visa restrictions on individuals and their families who assist in ICC investigations of American citizens or allies.
Trump signed the measure as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was visiting Washington.
Last November, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in Gaza, which Israel denies. The ICC also issued a warrant for a Hamas commander.
A White House fact sheet circulated earlier on Thursday accused the Hague-based ICC of creating a “shameful moral equivalency” between Hamas and Israel by issuing the warrants at the same time.
Trump’s executive order said the ICC’s recent actions “set a dangerous precedent” that endangered Americans by exposing them to “harassment, abuse and possible arrest”.
“This malign conduct in turn threatens to infringe upon the sovereignty of the United States and undermines the critical national security and foreign policy work of the United States government and our allies, including Israel,” the order said.
It adds that “both nations [the US and Israel] are thriving democracies with militaries that strictly adhere to the laws of war”.
The US is not a member of the ICC and has repeatedly rejected any jurisdiction by the body over American officials or citizens.
Foreign News
India ‘engaging with US’ after shackled deportees spark anger

India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar has told parliament the government is working with the US to ensure Indian citizens are not mistreated while being deported.
His statement came a day after a US military flight brought back 104 Indians accused of entering the US illegally.
One of the deportees told the BBC they had been handcuffed throughout the 40-hour flight, sparking criticism.
But Jaishankar said he had been told by the US that women and children were not restrained. Deportation flights to India had been taking place for several years and US procedures allowed for the use of restraints, he added.
Deportation in the US is organised and executed by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“We have been informed by ICE that women and children are not restrained,” Jaishankar said.
He added that according to ICE, the needs of deportees during transit, including for food and medical attention, were attended to and deportees could be unrestrained during bathroom breaks.
“There has been no change from past procedure,” he added.
However Jaspal Singh, one of the deportees on the flight that landed in Amritsar city in the state of Punjab on Wednesday, told BBC Punjabi that he was shackled throughout the flight.
“We were tortured in many ways. My hands and feet were tied after we were put on the plane. The plane stopped at several places,” he said, adding that he was unshackled only after the plane landed in Amritsar.

The US has not given further details of how deportees were treated on the flight. Officials have said that enforcing immigration laws is “critically important to the national security and public safety of the United States” and it was US policy to “faithfully execute the immigration laws against all inadmissible and removable aliens”.
The US border patrol chief posted video showing deportees in shackles, saying the deportation flight to India was the “farthest deportation flight yet using military transport”.
President Donald Trump has made the mass deportation of undocumented foreign nationals a key policy. The US is said to have identified about 18,000 Indian nationals it believes entered illegally.
Trump has said India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi had assured him that the country would “do what’s right” in accepting US deportations.
In his statement on Thursday, Jaishankar said all countries had an obligation to take back their nationals who had entered other countries illegally. They often faced dangerous journeys and inhumane working conditions once they had reached their destinations, he said.
Fraudulent Indian travel agencies are known to take huge sums of money from people desperate to travel abroad for work, and then make them undertake dangerous journeys to avoid being caught by immigration officials.
Jaspal said he had taken a loan of 4m rupees ($46,000; £37,000] to travel to the US, a dangerous journey that took months and during which he saw bodies in the jungle of other migrants who had died on the route.
[BBC]
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