BEIJING — China is willing to work with the European Union on boosting cooperation and responding to “global challenges,” its foreign ministry said on Wednesday, as the bloc faces potential U.S. tariffs on its shipments to the world’s largest economy.

China attaches great importance to EU ties and hopes the bloc will become a reliable cooperation partner, said Lin Jian, spokesperson at the Chinese ministry.

The EU’s trade chief said on Tuesday that the bloc wanted to engage swiftly with the United States over President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen forecast negotiations with Washington would be tough.

As transatlantic ties come under strain with Trump’s tariff threats, China hawks within the EU such as von der Leyen are showing signs of willingness to rethink the relationship between Beijing and Brussels, a bond that had been tested by trade tensions and China’s ties with Russia.

Speaking in Brussels on Tuesday, von der Leyen said the EU would keep “de-risking” its relationship with China but added that there was room to “find solutions” in their mutual interest and “find agreements” that could even expand trade and investment ties.

She did not give details on what those agreements could be.

In Davos, Switzerland, last month, von der Leyen also said both sides should find solutions of mutual interest.

In October, the EU imposed double-digit tariffs on China-made electric vehicles after an anti-subsidy investigation, in addition to its standard car import duty of 10%. The move drew loud protests from Beijing, which in return, raised market entry barriers for certain EU products such as brandy.
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WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday stopped U.S. engagement with the U.N. Human Rights Council, extended a halt to funding for the Palestinian relief agency UNRWA and ordered a review of the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO.

“It’s got great potential and based on the potential we’ll continue to go along with it, but they got to get their act together,” Trump told reporters. “It’s not being well run, to be honest and they’re not doing the job.

“A lot of these conflicts that we’re working on should be settled, or at least we should have some help in settling them. We never seem to get help. That should be the primary purpose of the United Nations,” the U.S. president said.

U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said, “From day one, U.S. support for the United Nations has saved countless lives and advanced global security.”

“The secretary-general looks forward to continuing his productive relationship with President Trump and the U.S. government to strengthen that relationship in today’s turbulent world.”

Trump said that he was not looking to take away money from the 193-member world body, though he complained that Washington had to pay a disproportionate amount.

Washington is the U.N.’s largest contributor – followed by China – accounting for 22% of the core U.N. budget and 27% of the peacekeeping budget. The U.N. has said the U.S. currently owes a total of $2.8 billion, of which $1.5 billion is for the regular budget. These payments are not voluntary.

UNRWA

Trump’s order on Tuesday was largely symbolic and mirrored moves he made during his first term in office, from 2017-2021.

Since taking office for a second term on Jan. 20, Trump has ordered the U.S. to withdraw from the World Health Organization and from the Paris climate agreement – also steps he took during his first term in office.

The U.S. was UNRWA’s biggest donor – providing $300 million-$400 million a year – but former President Joe Biden paused funding in January 2024 after Israel accused about a dozen UNRWA staff of taking part in the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian militants Hamas that triggered the war in Gaza.

The U.S. Congress then formally suspended contributions to UNRWA until at least March 2025. UNRWA provides aid, health and education services to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

The United Nations has said that nine UNRWA staff may have been involved in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack and were fired. A Hamas commander in Lebanon – killed in September by Israel – was also found to have had a UNRWA job. The U.N. has vowed to investigate all accusations made and repeatedly asked Israel for evidence, which it says has not been provided.

Human Rights Council

The first Trump administration also quit the 47-member Human Rights Council halfway through a three-year term over what it called chronic bias against Israel and a lack of reform. The U.S. is not currently a member of the Geneva-based body. Under Biden, the U.S. was re-elected and served a 2022-2024 term.

A council working group is due to review the U.S. human rights record later this year, a process all countries undergo every few years. While the council has no legally binding power, its debates carry political weight and criticism can raise global pressure on governments to change course.

Trump’s executive order on Tuesday also asks Secretary of State Marco Rubio to review and report back to him on international organizations, conventions, or treaties that “promote radical or anti-American sentiment.”

He specified that the U.N. Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) should be reviewed first because Washington had previously accused it of anti-Israel bias.
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Santorini, Greece — More Greek islands closed schools Tuesday as hundreds of earthquakes rattled the Aegean Sea, while a handful of hardy tourists enjoyed having Santorini’s stunning views to themselves.

Thousands of residents and seasonal workers have left the Cycladic Islands as hundreds of quakes up to magnitude 5 were recorded in the volcanic region since Friday. Ferry and commercial flight operators added services to accommodate departures.

The quakes have caused cracks in some older buildings but no injuries have been reported so far. On Tuesday, schools were shut on 13 islands, up from four the previous day. Santorini earlier canceled public events, restricted travel to the island and banned construction work in certain areas.

Efthimios Lekkas, head of the state-run Earthquake Planning and Protection Organization, said that the epicenter of earthquakes in the Aegean Sea was moving northward away from Santorini, emphasizing that there was no connection to the area’s dormant volcanoes.

“This may last several days or several weeks. We are not able to predict the evolution of the sequence in time,” Lekkas told state-run television.

In Santorini’s main town, Fira, the narrow, whitewashed streets along the island’s clifftops were deserted — a rare sight even in the offseason — except for small pockets of tour groups, many from Asian countries.

Joseph Liu, from Guangzhou in southern China, said that he had wanted to visit Santorini for years after seeing it in a documentary. He joined family and tour group members on a balcony deck typically used for high-end wedding receptions.

“This place is amazing, really beautiful. Just like I saw in the program: the mystery, the scenery,” he said. “The [group] leader told us about the earthquakes before we came so it was not a surprise.”

Retired police officer and ship worker Panagiotis Hatzigeorgiou, who has lived on Santorini for more than three decades, said that he has turned down offers to stay with relatives in Athens.

“Older residents are used to the earthquakes … But it’s different this time. It’s not the same to have earthquakes every 2-3 minutes. The main thing is not to worry,” he said, adding with a laugh: “Now we can listen to music alone and have coffee by ourselves.”

In Athens, government officials are continuing to hold daily high-level planning and assessment meetings with briefings from island officials.
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white house — Arms control advocates are hoping U.S. President Donald Trump’s fresh words of support for denuclearization will lead to talks with Russia and China on arms reduction.

U.S. negotiations with the Russians and Chinese on denuclearization and eventual agreements are “very possible,” according to Trump, who addressed the World Economic Forum a week ago in Davos, Switzerland.

“Tremendous amounts of money are being spent on nuclear [weapons], and the destructive capability is something that we don’t even want to talk about because you don’t want to hear,” he said. “It’s too depressing.”

Trump noted that in his first term, he discussed the topic with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“We were talking about denuclearization of our two countries, and China would have come along,” according to Trump. “President Putin really liked the idea of cutting back on nuclear [armaments], and I think the rest of the world — we would have gotten them to follow.”

Just months before leaving office, former U.S. President Joe Biden met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the APEC summit in Peru where both agreed that decisions regarding the use of nuclear weapons should remain under human control. That consensus was seen as a positive step after the Chinese, four months previously, suspended nuclear arms control talks with Washington to protest American arms sales to Taiwan.

The horror of nuclear attacks first became evident to many in the world through magazines in the West, which printed photographs of the radiation-burned survivors of the U.S. atomic attack on two Japanese cities in 1945 to end World War II. In subsequent years during the Cold War, U.S. government films captured the destructive force of test detonations in the Nevada desert, eventually prompting public demonstrations to “ban the bomb” and diplomacy to reduce or eliminate all nuclear weapons.

A major breakthrough occurred in 1987 with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) between the United States and the Soviet Union. It entered into full force the following year. By 1991, nearly 2,700 missiles had been dismantled. That was the first time the two nuclear superpowers achieved a reduction of such weapons rather than just limiting their growth.

Over the years, the Americans and the Russians lost their monopoly on nuclear weapons. Nine countries presently have nuclear arsenals, although Israel has never acknowledged possession of such weaponry.

The United States and Russia each have more than 5,000 nuclear warheads — 90% of the world’s total. The combined global force of all countries’ nuclear weapons could destroy the world many times over, according to arms control advocates.

The current New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), signed in 2010 by U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, set limits on the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads and delivery systems, while including on-site inspection and exchanges of data for verification.

The treaty expires in early February 2026, which adds urgency to Trump’s call for talks with Russia and China, according to Xiaodon Liang, senior analyst for nuclear weapons policy and disarmament at the Arms Control Association.

“And because of that, this issue has to be at the top of the agenda, and having a signal that the president is concerned about this issue and thinking about it is very positive,” Liang told VOA.

Since a formal, comprehensive agreement could take years to negotiate — possibly spanning beyond the four years of the second Trump presidency — Liang suggests the U.S. president consider an “executive agreement” with Putin, an informal consensus or a series of unilateral steps to continue adhering to the numbers in New START for an indefinite period.

“That would be a stabilizing factor in this important bilateral relationship,” Liang added.

There are analysts who advocate a more aggressive tactic.

Trump should consider ordering a resumption of nuclear testing to demonstrate to America’s adversaries that the U.S. arsenal of weapons of mass destruction remains viable and as an act of resolve, writes Robert Peters, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank seen as having a dominant influence on Trump administration policies.

Peters also suggests that Trump might want to withdraw from the 1963 Test Ban Treaty made with Moscow and “conduct an above-ground test either at the Nevada National Security Site or in the Pacific Ocean over open water, where nuclear fallout can be minimized” to stave escalatory moves by an adversary to the United States.

The Heritage Foundation did not respond to multiple requests from VOA to interview Peters.

Moscow is not known to have conducted any sort of test causing a nuclear chain reaction, known as criticality, since 1990. Two years later, the United States announced it would no longer test nuclear weapons, although subcritical simulations continue. The other nuclear nations have followed suit except North Korea, which last triggered a nuclear test explosion in 2017.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on Tuesday moved up the hands of its “Doomsday Clock” by one second to 89 seconds to midnight, meant to signify the peril from weapons of mass destruction and other existential threats.

“We set the clock closer to midnight because we do not see positive progress on the global challenges we face, including nuclear risk, climate change, biological threats and advances in disruptive technology,” said Daniel Holz, a physics professor at the University of Chicago, just after the hands of this year’s clock were unveiled at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

While the Doomsday Clock is merely symbolic, Liang at the Arms Control Association sees it as an annual important ritual highlighting the risks to Americans and everyone else posed by the world’s nuclear arsenals.

“It is a good tool for bringing this to more people’s attention, and you can’t blame Americans for having so many other issues on their plate. And having this [clock] as a reminder, I think, is an effective communications tool,” Liang said.

At the Doomsday Clock ceremony, VOA asked former Colombian President and Nobel laureate Juan Manuel Santos what he viewed as the biggest hurdle to Trump, Putin and Xi making progress on denuclearization.

“The biggest challenge, in my view, is for them to understand that they should sit down and talk about how the three of them can take decisions to save their own countries and the whole world,” he said.

Liang compared the situation to U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s call to Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, which led Washington and Moscow to pull back from the brink of nuclear war.

That resolution turned the hands of the Doomsday Clock the following year back to 12 minutes to midnight in recognition of the Americans, Soviets and British banning nuclear testing in the atmosphere, in space and under water.

It has been several years since the United States engaged in any denuclearization negotiations. Those working-level talks in 2019 in Sweden between the first Trump administration and North Korean officials did not yield any agreement, with Pyongyang’s chief negotiator, Kim Myong Gil, telling reporters that the Americans had raised expectations with promises of flexibility but would not “give up their old viewpoint and attitude.”

The State Department spokesperson at the time, Morgan Ortagus, said in a statement the two countries could not be expected to “overcome a legacy of 70 years of war and hostility on the Korean Peninsula in the course of a single Saturday,” but such weighty issues “require a strong commitment by both countries. The United States has that commitment.”
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned an early Thursday morning Russian drone strike that killed at least nine people as a “terrible tragedy.”

The drone, which struck an apartment building in the city of Sumy in northeastern Ukraine, also injured 13 people, according to regional authorities.

“This is a terrible tragedy, a terrible Russian crime. It is very important that the world does not stop putting pressure on Russia for this terror,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram.

Police said the search-and-rescue operation had concluded after 19 hours.

Three elderly couples were among those killed, and an 8-year-old child was among those wounded. The child’s mother was killed in the attack.

“[Russian President Vladimir] Putin claims to be ready for negotiations, but this is what he actually does,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on social media.

Russia launched 81 drones at Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian military said Thursday. The attacks damaged businesses and homes around the country, according to the military.

In the southern region of Odesa, the attack damaged a grain warehouse and a hospital, according to the governor.

Meanwhile, James Anderson, a British man who was captured while fighting on the Ukrainian side in Russia’s Kursk region, will face terrorism and mercenary charges, Russian state investigators said Thursday.

Russia announced in November that it had captured Anderson.

Also, the review and 90-day freeze on U.S. foreign aid means Ukrainian aid groups that rely on U.S. funding are being forced to cut services.

Zelenskyy said U.S. military assistance to Ukraine was not affected by U.S. President Donald Trump’s freeze on foreign aid, but the Ukrainian president still expressed concern about the funding pause.

Some information for this report came from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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Russian disinformation narratives about illicit organ harvesting and biological experiments in Ukraine have no basis in fact. Russia intentionally distorts Ukrainian law intended to support vital medical procedures.
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Brussels, Belgium — The EU promised Thursday an “action plan” to help the bloc’s beleaguered auto sector, as it held talks with industry leaders who have sounded the alarm over emissions fines and Chinese competition. 

The European Union is under pressure to help a sector that employs 13 million people and accounts for about seven percent of the bloc’s GDP, as it seeks to revamp the continent’s lagging competitiveness. 

“The European automotive industry is at a pivotal moment, and we acknowledge the challenges it faces. That is why we are acting swiftly to address them,” EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said, promising an “action plan” by early March.  

Chaired by the European Commission president, the so-called “strategic dialogue” brought together carmakers, suppliers, civil society groups and trade unions. 

Representatives of 22 industry “players” including Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes and Renault, were in attendance, the commission said. 

The get-together comes as the commission embarks on a pro-business shift, with firms complaining its focus on climate and business ethics has resulted in excessive regulations. 

On Wednesday, it unveiled a blueprint to revamp the bloc’s economic model, amid worries that low productivity, high energy prices, weak investments and other ills are leaving the EU behind the United States and China. 

The car industry has been plunged into crisis by high manufacturing costs, a stuttering switch to electric vehicles (EV) and increased competition from China. 

Announcements of possible job cuts have multiplied. Volkswagen plans to axe 35,000 positions across its German locations by 2030. 

Emissions fines 

Carmakers have been calling for “flexibility” on the steep emission fines they could face in 2025 — something the bloc’s new growth blueprint said should be in the cards. 

“Penalizing immediately the industry, financially, is not a good idea, because the industry is in trouble and… has to restructure itself, which will cost a lot of money,” Patrick Koller, CEO of French parts producer Forvia, said ahead of the meeting. 

“When you look back, we have heavy industries which disappeared from Europe completely, because of lack of competitiveness.”  

To combat climate change, the EU introduced a set of emission-reduction targets that should lead to the sale of fossil-fuel-burning cars, being phased out by 2035. 

About 16 percent of the planet-warming carbon dioxide (CO2) gas released into the atmosphere in Europe comes from cars’ exhaust pipes, the EU says. 

As of this year, carmakers have to lower the average CO2 emitted by all newly sold vehicles by 15 percent from 2021 levels, or pay a penalty — with tougher cuts further down the road, according to advocacy group Transport & Environment. 

The idea is to incentivize firms to increase the share of EVs, hybrids and small vehicles they sell compared to, for instance, diesel-guzzling SUVs.  

But some manufacturers complain that is proving harder than expected as consumers have yet to warm to EVs, which have higher upfront costs and lack an established used-vehicle market. 

“We want to stick to the objective… but we can smoothen the way,” von der Leyen said on Wednesday.  

Critics say lifting the fines would unfairly penalize producers who have invested to comply and remove a key incentive to speed up electric transitions.  

Sales and tariffs

EV sales slid 1.3 percent in Europe last year, accounting for 13.6 percent of all sales, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), an industry group. 

A senior EU official said incentives for businesses to buy electric are an option.  

“Company fleets” account for more than half of new cars purchased in Europe, the official said.  

The 27-nation bloc could also seek to improve a patchy charging network, modernize grids to allow for faster charging, bring down energy costs, cut regulations and loosen China’s grip on battery production, analysts say. 

Meanwhile, the market share of Chinese electric cars has ballooned in the EU, to reach 14 percent in the second quarter of 2024.  

Brussels has imposed extra import tariffs on China-made electric vehicles of up to 35.3 percent after concluding Beijing’s state support was unfairly undercutting European automakers. 

The move was opposed by Germany and other EU members, and it is the object of a lawsuit by BMW, Tesla and several Chinese automakers.             
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The Russian lawmaker attributed to Trump a quote from a deepfake video created by Ukrainian bloggers and shared on the Telegram messaging platform.
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Russian disinformation narratives about illicit organ harvesting and biological experiments in Ukraine have no basis in fact. Russia intentionally distorts Ukrainian law intended to support vital medical procedures.
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Nuuk, Greenland — The road south from Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, runs out at the tip of a blizzard-scoured peninsula stretching into the Labrador Sea. Icebergs drift beyond the sea ice toward the open ocean, carved off the glacier some 100 kilometers away at the head of the Nuup Kangerlua fjord.

Locals call this spot “the edge of the world.”

For local Inuit artist and researcher Vivi Vold, it is a place of spiritual power, somewhere she comes to connect with nature – intrinsic to her Greenlandic identity. 

“It reminds me that I am Inuk, that I am Greenlandic… when I am in doubt and want to reconnect with myself and my Greenlandic identity, I find solace in nature,” Vold told VOA.

In her work, Vold researches Inuit “ways of knowing” and how they differ from Western concepts.

“I sense that there is more pride now than earlier. The pride has always been there, but it seems like now there is more acceptance of it. Everything I do as a researcher is about the land and the nature; hunting, the climate, and the way we think,” she said.

Greenlandic pride

A resurgence in indigenous pride can be felt across Greenlandic society. The eyes of the world are on this Arctic island, thanks largely to U.S. President Donald Trump.  

In Greenlandic politics and media, in the pubs and coffee bars, and on social media, the conversation is about the island’s future. There is excitement – but also trepidation.

President Trump has repeatedly said that America needs to take control of Greenland from Denmark for, in his words, “international security.”

“I do believe Greenland, we’ll get, because it really has to do with freedom of the world… And you know what, the people don’t like the way they’ve been treated by Denmark. They don’t like the way they’ve been treated by Denmark and they do like us,” Trump told reporters Saturday on Air Force One.

Meanwhile, Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, attempted to build European solidarity in the face of the challenge posed by Trump’s comments Tuesday, visiting Berlin, Paris and NATO headquarters in Brussels in the space of a single day. Local media reported that France offered to send troops to Greenland in a show of unity with Copenhagen, but the offer was turned down.

A poll released on Wednesday, commissioned by the Danish Berlingske newspaper and the Sermitsiaq newspaper in Greenland, suggested that 85% of Greenlanders do not want to be part of the United States, with 6% in favor and 9% undecided.

However, almost half of respondents said they saw an opportunity with Trump’s interest in Greenland, with the other half seeing it as a threat.

The poll did not ask respondents whether they wanted to break ties with Denmark and become independent. A 2019 survey suggested that more than two-thirds of the Greenlanders want independence at some point in the future.

Danish colonization

A statue of the Norwegian-Danish missionary Hans Egede stands over the capital Nuuk. Greenlanders have lived under varying degrees of Danish rule ever since he landed here in 1721.

In recent years, the statue has been daubed with graffiti calling for its removal and for Greenland’s independence from Denmark. Nevertheless, in a 2020 poll, 62% of Greenlanders voted to keep the statue in place.

Greenland’s government is now largely autonomous and pushing for full independence. Under the terms of an agreement with Denmark, the territory has a right to hold a referendum on the issue.

“Things are changing in the world. We don’t know yet. But we need to have that discussion in Greenland without the outside world requiring us to give an answer to the end goal,” said Naaja Nathanielsen, Greenland’s minister for resources, business, justice and gender equality.

“We need to be able to discuss amongst ourselves how will independence look like, what kind of welfare do we want, what kind of democracy, what kind of institutions should guard it, what kind of constitution. We want those debates for ourselves,” she told VOA.

Independence challenges

Could Greenland stand on its own? Just 57,000 people inhabit the island’s 2.1 million square kilometers. Denmark pays an annual grant of around $800 million dollars, which makes up half the Greenland government’s revenue.

Trump may balk at the cost, said Marc Jacobsen, a researcher at the Royal Danish Defense College in Copenhagen.

“I’m not really sure if they are aware of what the cost is to keep a high living standard in Greenland with the welfare system as we know from the Nordic states. So, in comparison with the Inuit in Alaska or for instance [the indigenous people] in Puerto Rico, it’s a different living standard in Greenland. And that comes with a cost,” he told VOA.

There are hopes that the global attention now focused on Greenland will unlock investment to exploit its vast mineral wealth, which includes graphite, uranium and valuable rare earth metals.

“The problem is pretty much that they are staying there at the moment because nobody’s investing in getting them out,” said Ulrik Pram Gad, an expert on Greenland’s mineral wealth at the Danish Institute for International Studies.

“And that’s not a question of Greenlanders not wanting it or Denmark not allowing it. It’s a question of the only supply chains that exist concerning many of these resources are in China. And the Western world, you might say, cannot present a credible business model to the private companies that would in principle be able to use these materials.”

Tourism

A new international airport opened in November, making access to Nuuk much easier. International flights currently depart for Denmark, Canada and Iceland – but United Airlines is due to begin direct flights from New York later this year.

Greenland’s stark beauty is attracting more tourists.

“The international airport in Nuuk has opened up; there will be another one in Ilulissat where the fantastic ice-shelf glacier is. So there are opportunities for growth in tourism. There’s really a lot of desire for relations not just to the U.S., but to Canada, to Iceland, to Europe, to everybody. And if this turns into that, I think many Greenlanders will be happy,” Pram Gad told VOA.

For now, fishing is Greenland’s biggest industry by far, making up around 85% of total exports. It is deeply entwined with the Greenlandic way of life.

Jesper Jacobsen runs a fishing cooperative in Nuuk. In the depths of the January winter, customers drop in to buy cod and halibut, along with duck and reindeer meat brought in by local hunters. Whale, bear and walrus are sometimes available.

“We have fish and we have natural resources,” Jacobsen said. “And the Americans could pay a lot of money to rent the northern part of Greenland. They could use it for their military. Then we will have our independence because the Americans will pay a lot to rent the northern part of Greenland,” he told VOA.

“Make Greenland Great Again”

A ‘Make America Great Again’ or MAGA hat hangs in Jacobsen’s office, given by Donald Trump Jr.’s entourage when the U.S. president’s son visited Greenland in early January.

The visit continues to cause a stir. YouTubers arrived in the wake of the younger Trump’s visit, handing out U.S. dollars and hats bearing the slogan ‘Make Greenland Great Again.’ Some locals criticized the social media stunt. Others welcomed the attention.

“I don’t want to be a part of Denmark. I don’t like [the] Danish. They took children and they colonized us,” said 20-year-old student Hans Louis Petersen, proudly showing off his “Make Greenland Great Again” baseball cap.

Scandals

Petersen referenced a 1950s social experiment run by the Danish state, where Greenlandic children were taken to Denmark, sometimes without the full understanding of their parents. Many struggled to re-integrate when they returned.

Separately, in recent years it emerged that Danish doctors in the 1960s and 70s had implanted IUD contraceptive devices in Inuit women and girls without their permission, allegedly to limit population growth. A group of 67 Greenlanders is currently seeking $6.3 million in compensation from the Danish state. An investigation into the program is expected to be published later this year.

The scandals have further fueled the campaign for independence.

“I think there is a lack of understanding of the impact of these cases in Greenland,” said Greenlandic Minister Naaja Nathanielsen. “It’s not ancient history, it’s current history. We right now have women, men, families that are directly affected by the actions of the Danish state in the past. It’s traumatizing and some of them have not been able to become mothers.”

“This is not some cases that should be solved in a courtroom. They should be solved politically and with the proper amount of respect and understanding and assuming responsibility for the hurt inflicted on the Greenlandic people. And it’s absolutely necessary for us to move forward,” Nathanielsen told VOA.

Outside forces are building pressure on the government. The island’s prime minister, Mute B. Egede, has repeated the same message when questioned on Trump’s aim to take control of the territory.

“We have said very precisely that Greenland, and us in this country, do not want to be Americans. We don’t want to be Danes either,” Egede said in a televised debate on January 20. 

“We are Greenlanders. We will stand firmly as Greenlanders and cooperate with the West. We will also cooperate with other countries in the world,” he added.
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BEIJING — Lunar New Year festivals and prayers marked the start of the Year of the Snake around Asia and farther afield on Wednesday — including in Moscow.

Hundreds of people lined up in the hours before midnight at the Wong Tai Sin Taoist temple in Hong Kong in a bid to be among the first to put incense sticks in the stands in front of the temple’s main hall.

“I wish my family will be blessed. I hope my business will run well. I pray for my country and wish people peace. I hope this coming year is a better year,” said Ming So, who visits the temple annually on the eve of the Lunar New Year.

The holiday — known as the Spring Festival in China, Tet in Vietnam and Seollal in Korea — is a major festival celebrated by diaspora communities around the world. The snake, one of 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac, follows the just-ended Year of the Dragon.

The pop-pop-pop of firecrackers greeted the new year outside Guan Di temple in Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, followed by lion dances to the rhythmic beat of drums and small cymbals.

Ethnic Chinese holding incense sticks in front of them bowed several times inside the temple before sticking the incense into elaborate gold-colored pots, the smoke rising from the burning tips.

Many Chinese who work in bigger cities return home during the eight-day national holiday in what is described as the world’s biggest annual movement of humanity. Beijing, China’s capital, has turned into a bit of a ghost town, with many shops closed and normally crowded roads and subways emptied out.

Traditionally, Chinese have a family dinner at home on New Year’s Eve and visit “temple fairs” on the Lunar New Year to watch performances and buy snacks, toys and other trinkets from booths.

Many Chinese take advantage of the extended holiday to travel both in the country and abroad. Ctrip, an online booking agency that operates Trip.com, said the most popular overseas destinations this year are Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, the United States, South Korea, Macao and Vietnam.

Russians cheered, waved and took smartphone photos of a colorful procession with drummers, costumed dancers and large dragon and snake figures held aloft that kicked off a 10-day Lunar New Year festival in Moscow on Tuesday night.

The Chinese and Russian governments have deepened ties since 2022, in part to push back against what they see as U.S. dominance of the world order.

Visitors shouted “Happy New Year” in Russian and expressed delight at being able to experience Chinese food and culture in Moscow, including folk performances and booths selling snacks and artwork.
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U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that America needs to take control of Greenland from Denmark for, in his words, “international security.” But as Henry Ridgwell reports from the Arctic island, the global attention is driving a desire among many native Greenlanders to determine their own political future.
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BELGRADE — Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic on Tuesday announced his resignation, becoming the highest ranking official to leave since anti-corruption protests spread across the country. 

Belgrade has seen daily anti-government protests since a roof collapsed in November at a railway station in Novi Sad, Serbia’s second-largest city, killing 15 people. 

Protesters including students, teachers and other workers have turned out in their thousands, blaming the disaster on corruption within the government of President Aleksandar Vucic. 

“I opted for this step in order to reduce tensions,” Vucevic told a news conference on Tuesday, announcing his intention to resign. He said the mayor of Novi Sad will also resign. 

“With this we have met all demands of the most radical protestors.” 

Vucevic has been the head of the ruling center-right Serbia Progressive Party since 2023. 
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State Department — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with his British counterpart, Foreign Secretary David Lammy, on Monday to discuss a range of pressing global issues and joint initiatives aimed at promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific that is secure and stable.

“They affirmed the depth of the U.S.-UK Special Relationship and the crucial nature of our partnership in addressing issues like the conflict in the Middle East, Russia’s war against Ukraine, and China’s malign influence,” State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement.

The U.K. government said that Lammy and Rubio look forward to meeting in person soon.

“They both welcomed the opportunity for the UK and the US to work together in alignment to address shared challenges including the situation in the Middle East, Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine, the challenges posed by China and the need for Indo-Pacific security,” the British statement read.

The call between Rubio and Lammy came amid a report by The Guardian that China’s Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, is expected to visit Britain next month for the first U.K.-China strategic dialogue since 2018.

In Beijing, Chinese officials did not confirm Wang’s plans to visit the U.K. but noted what they described as “sound and steady growth” in relations between the two countries.

“China and the U.K. are both permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and major economies in the world,” Mao Ning, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, stated during a briefing on Monday. She added it is in the common interest of the two countries to enhance strategic communication and deepen political mutual trust.

Wang is expected to attend the Munich Security Conference between Feb. 14 and 16, making it likely that his visit to the U.K. will take place either before or after the event.

In the past, U.S. Secretaries of State have typically attended the high-profile annual gathering at the Munich Security Conference.

The State Department has not responded to VOA’s inquiry about whether Rubio plans to hold talks with Wang during the conference.

Last week, the State Department outlined U.S. policy toward China under President Donald Trump’s administration. 

“Strategic competition is the frame through which the United States views its relationship with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The United States will address its relationship with the PRC from a position of strength in which we work closely with our allies and partners to defend our interests and values,” the State Department said on Jan. 20.
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Around 50 survivors joined world leaders Monday at the site of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz in Poland, on the 80th anniversary of its liberation in World War II – marked around the world as International Holocaust Memorial Day. Henry Ridgwell reports.
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WASHINGTON — On Jan. 22, Donald Trump — just two days after being inaugurated for his second term as U.S. president — again called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate an end to the “ridiculous” war with Ukraine, but this time he added a threat.

“If we don’t make a ‘deal,’ and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.

The following day, Trump told reporters that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had told him he’s ready to negotiate an end to the war. In an interview with Fox News aired that same day, Trump said Zelenskyy is “no angel” and “shouldn’t have allowed this war to happen.”

Does the new U.S. administration have sufficient economic leverage over Russia to force it to make peace, or at least talk about peace?

According to Konstantin Sonin, John Dewey distinguished service professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and former vice rector of Moscow’s Higher School of Economics, the U.S. has economic leverage, but some of its levers are clearly weaker than others.

“Russia’s trade with the U.S. is very small — less than $3 billion a year,” he told Danila Galperovich of VOA’s Russian Service. “Accordingly, even if any opportunity for U.S. companies to trade with Russia is completely closed, the damage to Russia will be small. There is an opportunity to strengthen secondary sanctions — that is, additional pressure, first of all, on China, on India, on other countries, so that they more strictly comply with the primary sanctions.

“There is also an opportunity to continue what [former U.S. President Joe] Biden did with sanctions against the Russian shadow tanker fleet,” Sonin added, referring to vessels that Russia uses to sell oil and evade Western sanctions.

“This requires great international cooperation, but, in principle, it can be done,” said Sonin.

Economist Vladislav Inozemtsev, a special adviser to the Russian Media Studies Project at MEMRI, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, and director of the Moscow-based Center for Post-Industrial Studies, also stressed the significance of secondary sanctions on countries that do business with Russia.

“Trump can somehow influence other countries so that they do not buy Russian products,” Inozemtsev told VOA. “For example, let’s say he can say that if India buys Russian oil, then the United States will impose 15% duties on all goods from India. This would have the most radical consequences. [I]f… countries trading with Russia are getting serious problems in the United States for all their products, then I think that this will be a very sobering moment. If it is possible to impose a virtually complete trade blockade through U.S. sanctions, then these will be devastating sanctions, of course.”

Sonin said that, over the longer term, deregulating oil production internationally would reduce world oil prices and thereby hinder Moscow’s ability to finance its military operations against Ukraine.

“Trump is famous for his good relations with Saudi Arabia, although they are unlikely to be so good that they will reduce oil prices at his request,” he said. “But nevertheless, it is possible to work towards lowering oil prices, which even without sanctions will reduce Russian income.”

Trump spoke with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a Jan. 22 telephone call.

Still, Sonin said that economic levers, in and of themselves, cannot force Putin to do anything. “I would say that the most direct impact is still the supply of more powerful weapons to Ukraine. I do not know to what extent Trump wants to do this, but he mentioned it, and, in principle, it is possible to supply Ukraine with more powerful weapons in larger quantities.”

Inozemtsev, however, said that Putin, who has not previously changed his behavior in response to ultimatums, could do so this time.

“Trump is a person whose degree of radicalism and unpredictability corresponds to Putin’s,” he said. “Here, perhaps, it would be better for Putin to change his mind a bit. If Trump offers him: ‘Vladimir, let’s go, we’ll meet there, sit down at the negotiating table, bring your team, I’ll bring mine, and we’ll agree on something, we’ll discuss it for a day or two, but the issue needs to be resolved,’ I think Putin will go.”
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