Page 20 - International News

'Hands off Greenland' protests erupt in Denmark against Trump's threats

Trump has repeatedly said Greenland is vital to US national security because of its strategic Arctic location and mineral resources, and has not ruled out the use of force to acquire it

India in touch with Iran over consular access for 16 detained sailors

In a statement, the mission said it was informed in mid-December about the detention of the vessel by Iranian authorities, with 16 Indian crew members on board

China cuts US debt holdings to 17-year low, shifts reserves to gold

China has reduced its US Treasury holdings to a 17-year low as part of the continued diversification of its forex reserves towards gold and overseas equity investments amid unsettling ties with Washington. China's holdings of US treasuries fell to USD 682.6 billion in November last year, down from USD 688.7 billion in October, the lowest since 2008, according to data released by the US Department of the Treasury on Thursday. Beijing's move to trim its US holdings came as the foreign ownership of the US debt hit a record high, with Japan and the UK scaling up their holdings, according to the data. Japan's holdings rose by USD 2.6 billion to USD 1.2 trillion, while the UK's pool rose by USD 10.6 billion to USD 888.5 billion. China holds the world's largest forex reserves totalling USD 3.3579 trillion at the end of December 2025, according to the official media reports here. Observers say the reduction of US holdings by China is part of its continued efforts to adjust its strategic .

As more Chinese youth live alone, new app bluntly asks: 'Are you dead?'

Today, China has over 100 million households with only one person, according to an annual report from the National Bureau of Statistics of China in 2024

Trump warns of invoking Insurrection Act as Minnesota protests grow

The 1807 law allows the president to use regular military troops on US soil for domestic law enforcement. It was last invoked during the 1992 riots in Los Angeles

US imposes sanctions on Iranian officials accused of protest crackdown

The US is imposing new sanctions on Iranian officials accused of repressing protests against Iran's theocratic government. The Treasury Department on Thursday targeted the secretary of the Supreme Council for National Security for allegedly calling for violence against protesters. The sanctions also affect 18 people and companies involved in a shadow banking network linked to Iranian financial institutions. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the US supports the Iranian people's call for freedom and justice. The sanctions block access to US assets and business, but they are mostly symbolic as many targets lack US funds.

EU leaders Antonio Costa, Ursula von der Leyen to be Republic Day guests

Top European Union leaders Antonio Costa and Ursula von der Leyen will be the chief guests at India's 77th Republic Day celebrations, the Ministry of External Affairs announced on Thursday. Costa and von der Leyen will undertake a three-day visit to India beginning January 25 and the two sides are expected to announce firming up of the much awaited India-EU trade pact during their trip. India and the European Union (EU) have been strategic partners since 2004. The bilateral ties have expanded and deepened across a wide range of areas, particularly following the historic visit of EU College of Commissioners to India in February last year, the ministry said. At the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, European Council President Antonio Luis Santos da Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will be on a state visit to India from January 25 to 27, it said. The MEA said the two European leaders will be the chief guests at the 77th Republic Day celebrations.

Ukraine defence minister says 200,000 deserted as 2 million dodged draft

Wide-scale desertions and 2 million draft-dodgers are among a raft of challenges facing Ukraine's military as Russia presses on with its invasion of its neighbour after almost four years of fighting, the new defence minister said Wednesday. Mykhailo Fedorov told Ukraine's parliament that other problems facing Ukraine's armed forces include excessive bureaucracy, a Soviet-style approach to management, and disruptions in the supply of equipment to troops along the about 1,000-kilometre front line. We cannot fight a war with new technologies but an old organisational structure, Fedorov said. He said the military had faced some 200,000 troop desertions and draft-dodging by around 2 million people. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed 34-year-old Fedorov at the start of the year. The former head of Ukraine's digital transformation policies is credited with spearheading the the army's drone technology and introducing several successful e-government platforms. His appointment was part

Pakistan signs deal with Trump-linked crypto firm on $1 stablecoin

The announcement represents one of the first publicly announced tie-ups between World Liberty, a crypto-based finance platform launched in September 2024, and a sovereign state

Greenland to be largest US land acquisition, if Trump has his way

Trump has based his fixation on Greenland, which has been part of the Danish Kingdom for over 300 years, on reasons of "national security"

US pulls some staff from military bases amid Iran's threat of strikes

The US has started pulling some personnel from its military bases in West Asia as tensions with Iran grow and diplomatic contacts between both nations collapse, sparking fears of a wider conflict

Trump says 'anything less' than US control of Greenland is 'unacceptable'

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that American control of the island was necessary to counter the influence of Russia and China

Zubeen Garg drowned, was intoxicated and without life jacket: S'pore police

Garg, 52, was with a yacht party on September 19, 2025 and initially wore a life jacket but removed it and later declined to put on a second one offered to him

Iran warns neighbours of strikes on US bases if Washington intervenes

The three diplomats told Reuters that some personnel had been advised to leave the US military's Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar by Wednesday evening

Bill and Hillary Clinton decline to testify in House Epstein investigation

Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton say they will refuse to comply with a congressional subpoena for them to testify in an investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. The Clintons are slamming a Republican-controlled committee's attempts as legally invalid as GOP lawmakers prepare contempt of Congress proceedings against them. In a letter released on social media Tuesday, the Clinton's tell the chair of the House Oversight Committee, Republican Rep. James Comer, he's on the cusp of a process literally designed to result in our imprisonment. Comer says he'll begin contempt of Congress proceedings next week. It potentially starts a complicated and politically messy process that Congress has rarely reached for. No one's accusing the Clintons of any wrongdoing. We just have questions," Comer told reporters after Bill Clinton did not show up for a scheduled deposition at House offices Tuesday. He added, Anyone would admit they spent a lot of time ...

Scott Adams, creator of 'Dilbert', dies at 68 after battle with cancer

Scott Adams, whose popular comic strip Dilbert captured the frustration of beleaguered, white-collar cubicle workers and satirised the ridiculousness of modern office culture until he was abruptly dropped from syndication in 2023 for racist remarks, has died. He was 68. His first ex-wife, Shelly Miles, announced the death Tuesday on a livestream posted on Adams' social media accounts. He's not with us right anymore, she said. Adams revealed in 2025 that he had prostate cancer that had spread to his bones. Miles had said he was in hospice care in his Northern California home on Monday. I had an amazing life, the statement said in part. I gave it everything I had. At its height, Dilbert, with its mouthless, bespectacled hero in a white short-sleeved shirt and a perpetually curled red tie, appeared in 2,000 newspapers worldwide in at least 70 countries and 25 languages. Adams was the 1997 recipient of the National Cartoonist Society's Reuben Award, considered one of the most prestigio

US designates 3 Muslim Brotherhood brances as foreign terrorist groups

President Donald Trump's administration has made good on its pledge to label three Middle Eastern branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organisations, imposing sanctions on them and their members in a decision that could have implications for US relationships with allies Qatar and Turkiye. The Treasury and State departments announced the actions Tuesday against the Lebanese, Jordanian and Egyptian chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood, which they said pose a risk to the United States and American interests. The State Department designated the Lebanese branch a foreign terrorist organisation, the most severe of the labels, which makes it a criminal offense to provide material support to the group. The Jordanian and Egyptian branches were listed by Treasury as specially designated global terrorists for providing support to Hamas. These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters' violence and destabilisation ..

Meta seeks to ramp up Ray-Ban smart glasses output to meet demand

The partners have also discussed going further to establish the capability of producing more than 30 million units, should demand justify such a move

JD Vance to host US-Denmark-Greenland talks in Washington this week

Denmark's foreign minister said Tuesday that US Vice President JD Vance will host a meeting with him and his Greenlandic counterpart in Washington this week as tensions spiral over the Trump administration's desire for control of Greenland. The vast Arctic island is a semiautonomous territory of Denmark, a NATO ally of the US. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his counterpart from Greenland, Vivian Motzfeldt, had been widely expected to meet on Wednesday with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, though the meeting hadn't officially been confirmed. Lokke Rasmussen told reporters after a meeting of the Danish parliament's foreign policy committee on Tuesday that Vance had expressed a wish to take part and that he will host the meeting at the White House, with Rubio in attendance. Neither the White House nor Vance's office responded immediately to emails and text messages seeking comment. Lokke Rasmussen, a former Danish prime minister, has been foreign minister since 20

US FDA asks drugmakers to drop suicide warnings on weight-loss drugs

The FDA had reached similar conclusion following a preliminary review in 2024, but had acknowledged at the time that it could not rule out a small risk because of limited data