Author: PolitCens

LONDON — A London judge on Friday rejected a U.S. mother’s challenge to be extradited to Colorado to face murder charges in the deaths of two of her young children.

Judge John Zani said in Westminster Magistrates Court that it would now be up to the British Home Secretary to order Kimberlee Singler returned to the United States.

Singler, 36, is accused of two counts of first-degree murder in the December 2023 shooting and stabbings of her 9-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son, and one count of attempted murder in the knife slashing of her 11-year-old daughter. She also faces three counts of child abuse and one count of assault.

Singler’s attorney had argued that sending her back to the U.S. would violate European human rights law, in part, because she faces a sentence of life in prison without parole in Colorado if convicted of first-degree murder. Such a sentence would be inhumane because it offers no prospect for release even if she is rehabilitated, attorney Edward Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald said that despite an option for a Colorado governor to commute her sentence at some point, it was “political suicide” to do so.

Experts for the defense had originally said that a life sentence had never been commuted in Colorado. But prosecutors later found that Governor John Hickenlooper in 2018 commuted life sentences of five men convicted of murder.

The defense countered that three of those sentences were not life without parole and two were for men who committed their crime between the ages of 18 and 21, which is sometimes considered a mitigating factor at sentencing because of their relative youth.

“This defendant, Kimberlee Singler, has no real prospect of release no matter what progress she makes” behind bars, Fitzgerald said.

Prosecutor Joel Smith said the judge only had to consider if there is a mechanism that could allow Singler to be freed someday.

“Prospect of release — that is not your concern,” Smith told the judge at a hearing in December.

Zani said in his ruling that there was an option in Colorado to release an inmate serving a life sentence.

“I am satisfied that the defendant has failed to vault the hurdle necessary in order to succeed in the challenges raised,” the judge said.

Fitzgerald said he planned to appeal.

Singler has denied that she harmed her children. She told police that her ex-husband had either carried out the killings or hired a hitman.

Singler had superficial knife wounds and was initially treated as a victim.

But that changed when her surviving daughter, who initially said she had been attacked by an intruder, told police her mother tried to kill her.

After her daughter changed her story, police sought to arrest Singler on Dec. 26, but she had fled. She was found four days later in London’s posh Chelsea neighborhood and arrested.

The girl told police that her mother gave the children milk with a powdery substance to drink and told them to close their eyes as she guided them into a sibling’s bedroom, prosecutors said.

Singler cut her neck and, as the girl begged her to stop, she slashed her again. The girl said her mother had a gun.

“The defendant told her that God was telling her to do it and that the children’s father would take them away,” Smith said at a previous hearing.

Police found Aden Wentz, 7, and Elianna “Ellie” Wentz, 9, dead when they entered the Colorado Springs apartment on Dec. 19. They had been shot and stabbed.

Although Singler blamed her husband, authorities said he had a solid alibi backed up by GPS records that showed he had been driving a truck at the time of the killings.
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NICOSIA, CYPRUS — Experts from the U.S. Air Force are looking at ways to upgrade Cyprus’ premier air base for use as a humanitarian staging post in future operations in the Middle East, a Cypriot official told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Cyprus, which is only 184 kilometers from the Lebanese capital, Beirut, has acted as a transit point for the repatriation of foreign nationals fleeing conflict in the Middle East and beyond on numerous occasions in the past. It has also served as a transit point for humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Experts from the 435th Contingency Response Group based out of Ramstein, Germany, will spend the next few days at Andreas Papandreou Air Force Base to assess the upgrade needed to accommodate a wide array of U.S. air assets and other forces.

A key priority is to ensure air traffic safety in and around the base, which abuts the island’s second-largest civilian airport, the official said. The base’s location makes it easy to transfer evacuees onto civilian aircraft at the adjacent airport for their trip home.

The official spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he’s not authorized to speak publicly about the details of the experts’ visit.

Air traffic safety would need to be enhanced through new high-tech installations, including state-of-the-art radar, to ensure the independent operation of civilian and military aircraft at safe distances.

“The Americans are very specific on safety issues and want to make some upgrades to further improve the base’s safety,” the official said.

Other essential upgrades include expanding both the base itself and the runway to accommodate more transport and fighter aircraft. Hardened shelters to protect those air assets are also envisioned.

The Cyprus government agreed to the air base upgrade assessment following the recent deployment of a U.S. Marine contingent at the base. The Marines, who were equipped with V-22 Osprey tiltrotor military transport and cargo aircraft, were on stand-by in the event of a swift evacuation of US citizens from nearby Lebanon during Israel’s strikes against Hezbollah targets late last year.

Deputy government spokesman Yannis Antoniou told the state broadcaster Thursday that any use of the base by the forces of the U.S. or other nations would require prior Cyprus government approval. He insisted the air base would not act as a forward base for military strike operations against targets in the region.

“We’ve shown interest in working with (US. Forces) because we consider this to serve the vital interests of the Cyprus Republic,” Antoniou said, adding that in their report, the USAF experts will offer an estimate of the upgrade costs and which percentage of those the US government would be willing to cover.

Bilateral relations between European Union member Cyprus and the U.S., especially in terms of military cooperation, have grown significantly over the last few years following a pledge by Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides to affirm the ethnically divided country’s “clear Western orientation.”

A manifestation of those ties was last week’s directive by former President Joe Biden that allows Cyprus to buy arms from the U.S. government and get surplus American military equipment.

The Cypriot government noted the development as a tangible acknowledgment of Cyprus’ reliability as a U.S. partner in the region.
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WASHINGTON — U.S. immigration agents rounded up undocumented migrants as well as American citizens in a raid of a Newark, New Jersey, worksite on Thursday that the city’s mayor said involved detaining a military veteran and violations of the people’s rights.

The raid in New Jersey’s most populous city, hailed in the past by Mayor Ras Baraka for its “sanctuary” policies protecting migrants, follows President Donald Trump’s pledge to deport millions of immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally.

Trump issued a raft of executive orders after taking office on Monday that aim to clamp down on illegal immigration. He has taken steps to punish officials who resist enforcement of his sweeping crackdown.

In a raid of a business establishment in Newark, outside New York City, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents failed to produce a warrant as they detained “undocumented residents as well as citizens,” Baraka said in a statement.

“One of the detainees is a U.S. military veteran who suffered the indignity of having the legitimacy of his military documentation questioned,” Baraka said.

In a statement, an ICE spokesperson said that agents “may encounter U.S. citizens while conducting field work and may request identification to establish an individual’s identity as was the case during a targeted enforcement operation at a worksite today in Newark.”

The spokesperson said that ICE was investigating the incident.

Baraka said the raid had violated the citizens’ rights under the U.S. Constitution.

“Newark will not stand by idly while people are being unlawfully terrorized,” he said.

Neither Baraka nor ICE identified the business raided by name.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said on X that the Trump administration arrested 538 people Thursday, describing all of them as “illegal immigrant criminals.” She said they included members of a Venezuelan prison gang and people convicted of sex crimes.

Leavitt did not provide more details.

A range of studies by academics and think tanks have shown that immigrants do not commit crime at a higher rate than native-born Americans. Other studies find that immigrants in the U.S. illegally also do not commit crimes at a higher rate.

Sanctuary cities

Baraka, the Newark mayor, is one of the first local officials in the U.S. to issue a statement on a specific raid following the start of Trump’s immigration crackdown.

In 2017, he signed an executive order cementing Newark’s sanctuary status and was a vocal opponent of Trump’s immigration policies during the president’s first term.

Of the estimated 11 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally or with temporary status in 2022, about 44% lived in states with “sanctuary” laws that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

That figure does not include those in sanctuary cities and counties in places without a statewide law, such as New Mexico.

U.S. media outlets reported that federal law enforcement and ICE agents had arrested nearly 500 undocumented migrants wanted for outstanding crimes in sanctuary cities, including some from New York and New Jersey. The reports cited ICE officials who said the arrests took place Tuesday and Wednesday. 
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After U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, appointments scheduled for the asylum process through the CBP One application were canceled.  

Click here for the full story in Spanish.
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WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order related to AI to “make America the world capital in artificial intelligence,” his aide told reporters in the White House’s Oval Office.

The order sets a 180-day deadline for an Artificial Intelligence Action Plan to create a policy “to sustain and enhance America’s global AI dominance in order to promote human flourishing, economic competitiveness, and national security.”

Trump also told his AI adviser and national security assistant to work to remove policies and regulations put in place by former President Joe Biden.

Trump on Monday revoked a 2023 executive order signed by Biden that sought to reduce the risks that artificial intelligence poses to consumers, workers and national security.

Biden’s order required developers of AI systems that pose risks to U.S. national security, the economy, public health or safety to share the results of safety tests with the U.S. government, in line with the Defense Production Act, before they were released to the public.

Trump also signed an executive order creating a cryptocurrency working group tasked with proposing a new regulatory framework for digital assets and exploring the creation of a cryptocurrency stockpile.

The much-anticipated action also ordered that banking services for crypto companies be protected, and banned the creation of central bank digital currencies that could compete with existing cryptocurrencies.

The order sees Trump fulfill a campaign trail pledge to be a “crypto president and promote the adoption of digital assets.”

That is in stark contrast to Biden’s regulators that, in a bid to protect Americans from fraud and money laundering, cracked down on crypto companies, suing exchanges Coinbase, Binance, Kraken and dozens more in federal court, alleging they were flouting U.S. laws.

The working group will be made up of the Treasury secretary, attorney general and chairs of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, along with other agency heads. The group is tasked with developing a regulatory framework for digital assets, including stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency typically pegged to the U.S. dollar.

The group is also set to “evaluate the potential creation and maintenance of a national digital asset stockpile … potentially derived from cryptocurrencies lawfully seized by the Federal Government through its law enforcement efforts.”

In December, Trump named venture capitalist and former PayPal executive David Sacks as the crypto and artificial intelligence czar. He will chair the group, the order said.

Finally, Trump signed pardons for 23 anti-abortion protesters on Thursday in the Oval Office of the White House.

The pardons came a day before anti-abortion protesters were due to descend on Washington for the annual March for Life.
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President Donald Trump signed an executive order ending “birthright citizenship” based on what he called “a correct interpretation of the law,” prompting a flurry of lawsuits from pro-immigrant and civil rights organizations. 

Click here for the full story in Spanish. 

  
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LOS ANGELES — Transgender cartel musical “Emilia Perez” topped this year’s Oscar nominations, earning 13 nods in an announcement on Thursday postponed by the devastating Los Angeles wildfires.

French director Jacques Audiard’s Mexico-set musical, released by Netflix, shattered the record for the most Academy Award nominations for a non-English-language movie.

It was followed by epic immigrant saga “The Brutalist” and show-stopping musical adaptation “Wicked,” which each picked up 10 nominations.

Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown” and Vatican thriller “Conclave” bagged eight nods apiece.

Voting deadlines had to be extended this month, as Los Angeles — the home city of the Academy Awards — was devastated by multiple blazes that have killed more than two dozen people and forced tens of thousands to flee.

Nominees were unveiled in subdued circumstances, as a town that typically fixates on the Oscars race was instead fixated on new fires burning north of the city.

Even so, the glitzy Oscars ceremony itself is still set for March 2, and the stars and studios who have spent months and millions of dollars campaigning learned if they have made the coveted final shortlists.

“Emilia Perez,” in which a narco boss transitions to life as a woman and turns her back on crime, picked up nods for best picture, best director and best international film, as well as multiple song, score and sound nods.

Its star, Karla Sofia Gascon, became the first openly trans acting nominee in best actress, and Zoe Saldana was nominated for best supporting actress.

Their more famous co-star, Selena Gomez, who has been criticized for her Spanish-language dialogue, missed out.

Even so, the Netflix film easily surpassed the most nominated non-English-language movie ever — a record previously held by “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “Roma,” each with 10.

In best actor, firm favorite Adrien Brody was nominated for “The Brutalist” along with Timothee Chalamet (“A Complete Unknown”), Ralph Fiennes (“Conclave”) and Colman Domingo (“Sing Sing”).

But in an unexpected pick sure to ruffle a few feathers in the new White House, the fifth and final spot went to Sebastian Stan, for his unsettling transformation into a young Donald Trump in “The Apprentice.” The movie drew threats of lawsuits from Trump’s attorneys, particularly for a scene in which the new U.S. president is shown raping his wife.

In arguably the morning’s biggest surprise, Jeremy Strong, who plays the youthful Trump’s sinister mentor Roy Cohn, was also nominated in his supporting role.

He edged out the likes of Denzel Washington (“Gladiator II”).

Meanwhile, in an intense race for best actress, A-listers Angelina Jolie and Nicole Kidman — who went all-out with their performances in “Maria” and “Babygirl,” respectively — missed out entirely.

Instead, comeback queen Demi Moore, who charmed the industry with her Golden Globes acceptance speech for body horror-satire “The Substance,” was nominated and is seen as the favorite.

Her rivals include Gascon, “Anora” star Mikey Madison, “Wicked” lead Cynthia Erivo and Brazil’s Fernanda Torres for “I’m Still Here.”
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STATE DEPARTMENT — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to visit Panama and other countries in Central America amid President Donald Trump’s push to reclaim the Panama Canal and Washington’s efforts to curb illegal migration.  

State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce confirmed that Rubio will travel to Panama, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic starting late next week.The trip is expected to mark Rubio’s first foreign visit as secretary of state.  

The State Department said that Rubio is prioritizing engagement within the Western Hemisphere. 

A spokesperson told VOA, “Engaging with our neighbors is a vital element in addressing migration, supply chains and economic growth, which are key to Secretary Rubio’s pursuit of foreign policy focused on making America strong, prosperous, and safe.”  

Trump has said he has not ruled out the possibility of either military or economic measures to achieve his stated goal of bringing the Panama Canal back under U.S. control.  

Earlier this week, Rubio outlined his foreign policy priorities, including halting the mass entry of undocumented migrants into the United States.  

“The State Department will no longer undertake any activities that facilitate or encourage mass migration,” Rubio said in a statement. “Our diplomatic relations with other countries, particularly in the Western Hemisphere, will prioritize securing America’s borders, stopping illegal and destabilizing migration, and negotiating the repatriation of illegal immigrants” to their home countries. 

 
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WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday re-designated Yemen’s Houthi movement, known formally as Ansar Allah, as a “foreign terrorist organization,” the White House said.

The move will impose harsher economic penalties than the Biden administration had applied to the Iran-aligned group in response to its attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and against U.S. warships defending the critical maritime chokepoint.

Proponents of the move say it is overdue, though some experts say it could have implications for anyone seen as aiding the Houthis, including some aid organizations.

“The Houthis’ activities threaten the security of American civilians and personnel in the Middle East, the safety of our closest regional partners, and the stability of global maritime trade,” the White House said in a statement.

The Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have carried out more than 100 attacks on ships plying the Red Sea since November 2023, saying they were acting in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. They have sunk two vessels, seized another and killed at least four seafarers.

The attacks have disrupted global shipping, forcing firms to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa for more than a year.

The group has targeted the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, which are joined by the narrow Bab al-Mandab strait, a chokepoint between the Horn of Africa and the Middle East.

Under the Biden administration, the U.S. military sought to intercept Houthi attacks to safeguard commercial traffic and waged periodic strikes to degrade Houthi military capabilities. But it did not target the group’s leadership.

At the start of his presidential term in 2021, Joe Biden had dropped Trump’s terrorist designations to address humanitarian concerns inside Yemen. Confronted with the Red Sea attacks, Biden last year designated the group as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” organization. But his administration held off on applying the harsher FTO designation.

British charity Oxfam said the move would worsen the suffering of Yemeni civilians, disrupting vital imports of food, medicine, and fuel.

“The Trump administration is aware of these consequences but chose to move forward anyway, and will bear responsibility for the hunger and disease that will follow,” Oxfam America’s director of peace and security, Scott Paul, said in a statement.

David Schenker, who was assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs in the first Trump administration, said Trump’s move on Wednesday was an obvious, early step to respond to what he described as one of Iran’s leading proxy forces in the Middle East.

“While the redesignation likely won’t have a positive impact on the group’s behavior, the measure suggests the new administration is not looking to induce (or cajole) the Iranians to negotiations through blandishment,” Schenker told Reuters.

The Trump administration said the U.S. will work with regional partners to eliminate Houthi capabilities, deprive it of resources “and thereby end its attacks on U.S. personnel and civilians, U.S. partners, and maritime shipping in the Red Sea.”

The designation will also trigger a broad review of U.N. partners, non-governmental organizations and contractors operating in Yemen, the White House said.

“The President will direct USAID to end its relationship with entities that have made payments to the Houthis, or which have opposed international efforts to counter the Houthis while turning a blind eye towards the Houthis’ terrorism and abuses,” the White House said.

The Houthis in recent days have signaled they were scaling back attacks in the Red Sea following a multiphase cease fire deal between Israel and Hamas. Earlier on Wednesday, the group released the crew of the Galaxy Leader commercial ship more than a year after they seized their Bahamas-flagged vessel off the Yemeni coast.  
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New U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed China’s “dangerous and destabilizing actions in the South China Sea” with his Philippine counterpart on Wednesday and underscored the “ironclad” U.S. defense commitment to Manila. 

“Secretary Rubio conveyed that (China’s) behavior undermines regional peace and stability and is inconsistent with international law,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement on the call with Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo. 

The Philippines has been embroiled in wrangles at sea with China in the past two years and the two countries have faced off regularly around disputed features in the South China Sea that fall inside Manila’s exclusive economic zone. 

Rubio’s call came after he hosted counterparts from Australia, India and Japan in the China-focused “Quad” forum on Tuesday, the day after President Donald Trump returned to the White House. The four recommitted to working together. 

Quad members and the Philippines share concerns about China’s growing power and analysts said Tuesday’s meeting was designed to signal continuity in the Indo-Pacific and that countering Beijing would be a top priority for Trump. 

In the call with Manalo, Rubio “underscored the United States’ ironclad commitments to the Philippines” under their Mutual Defense Treaty and discussed ways to advance security cooperation, expand economic ties and deepen regional cooperation, the statement said. 

China’s foreign ministry said its activities in the waters were “reasonable, lawful and beyond reproach.” 

Speaking at a regular press conference, ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the United States was “not a party” to the South China Sea dispute and had “no right to intervene” in maritime issues between China and the Philippines. 

“Military cooperation between the U.S. and the Philippines should not undermine China’s sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea, nor should it be used to endorse the illegal claims of the Philippines,” Mao said. 

The Philippines, a U.S. defense treaty ally, is among the first countries to engage with the new U.S. administration to discuss critical security matters, Manila’s defense department said in a statement. 

Its defense secretary Gilberto Teodoro and U.S. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz met at the White House on Thursday to reaffirm the enduring alliance between their two countries. 

Just ahead of Trump’s inauguration, the Philippines and the United States carried out their fifth set of joint maritime exercises in the South China Sea since launching the joint activities in 2023. 

Security engagements between the allies have soared under Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who has moved closer to Washington and allowed the expansion of military bases that American forces can access, including facilities facing the democratically governed island of Taiwan, which China claims as its own. 

Visiting the Philippines last week, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said a trilateral initiative to boost cooperation launched by Japan, the U.S. and the Philippines at a summit last year would be strengthened when the new U.S. administration took over in Washington. 
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A new wildfire erupted Wednesday in Southern California, scorching more than 39 square kilometers of trees and brush in the mountains north of Los Angeles. 

The Hughes Fire is the latest wildfire to erupt in parched Southern California. It is burning near Lake Castaic, a recreation area about 65 kilometers from the Eaton and Palisades fires that are continuing to burn in the region for a third week. 

The fire, less than 1 square kilometer when first reported, quickly grew to 20 square kilometers with the aid of the Santa Ana winds, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said. It was later reported to be 39 square kilometers in size.

“This fire had a robust response today, and as you can see behind us, the responders are doing great work to try to contain this fire,” Joe Tyler, director of Cal Fire, said. “Certainly, we are not out of the woods yet.”

Winds were gusting at 67 kph Wednesday afternoon and expected to increase to 96 kph in the evening and throughout Thursday, the National Weather Service posted on X.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said that 31,000 people were ordered to evacuate, and about 23,000 were under evacuation warnings.

Kayla Amara drove to a Castaic neighborhood to retrieve items from a friend’s home. As she was packing, she grabbed a hose and began watering down the property.

“I hope there’s a house here to return to,” Amara said as police cars raced through the streets and flames engulfed trees in the distance.

Before the Hughes Fire, firefighters and Southern California residents were bracing for the possibility of more wildfires fueled by the strong dry winds. Rain is forecast, but meteorologists have warned it would not be enough to end the fires. Forecasters predict a 60% to 80% chance of rain in the region beginning Saturday, with rainfall totals in most areas not exceeding 0.8 centimeters.

The National Weather Service said dangerous fire conditions would persist in the region through Thursday or Friday. Cal Fire spokesman David Acuna said officials are concerned that the Palisades and Eaton fires could break their containment lines.  

The chance of thunderstorms bringing heavier rainfall has raised fears of mudslides, with debris flowing down hilly areas that have been scorched by two weeks of wildfires. 

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said an executive order she signed Tuesday is designed to curb the flow of toxic debris from the region’s fires and protect the area’s beaches and oceans.

“This is to prevent additional damage to areas already ravaged by fire and also to protect our watershed, beaches and ocean from toxic runoff,” the mayor said. 

City workers will remove toxic materials and set up barriers to direct the flow of debris into the sewer system. 

In addition, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has approved emergency measures facilitating the installation of flood control infrastructure and the removal of sediment in the burned areas. 

Residents are being encouraged to be ready to evacuate at a moment’s notice with their prepared emergency evacuation kits. They are also being encouraged to look at the city’s website to learn how to protect themselves from ash in the air that can include heavy metals, arsenic and other harmful substances, according to L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer. 

The fires that broke out in Southern California on January 7 have killed at least 28 people and destroyed thousands of buildings. The death toll is expected to climb as emergency workers comb through the ashes. 

President Donald Trump, who has been critical of the response to the fire, is expected to travel to Los Angeles this week.  

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press.
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President Donald Trump nominated conservative activist and writer L. Brent Bozell III as head of the United States Agency for Global Media, which supervises five U.S. government-funded international media entities, including the Voice of America.

“As Founder and President of the Media Research Center for 38 years, few understand the Global Media landscape in print, television, and online better than Brent,” Trump posted on his Truth Social media platform Wednesday night.

In addition to Voice of America, USAGM oversees the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting.
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Nuuk, Greenland — A blizzard whips the Danish, Greenlandic and Faroe Islands flags above the Joint Arctic Command headquarters overlooking the harbor of Nuuk, the capital of Greenland.

The small military outpost staffed by around 80 personnel oversees Danish security for the vast Arctic island of some 2.1 million square kilometers.

Greenland’s government is largely autonomous, but the island is part of the Danish Kingdom, and Denmark retains responsibility for its security.

U.S. President Donald Trump has made clear his determination to take ownership of the island for the United States and hasn’t ruled out using economic or military force.

Speaking hours after his inauguration, Trump reiterated his view that U.S. control was necessary for “international security” because, he explained, “You have Russian boats all over the place. You have China boats all over the place, warships. And [Denmark] can’t maintain it.”

Russian missiles

The United States has long viewed Greenland as vitally important for its defense, explained Marc Jacobsen, an analyst at the Royal Danish Defense College in Copenhagen.

“There’s no doubt that it’s geostrategically important in defending the U.S. national security against Russian missiles,” Jacobsen told VOA. “The shortest route for Russian missiles towards the U.S. is via the North Pole, via Greenland.”

Russia has invested heavily in its Arctic military footprint in recent years. Its northernmost Nagurskoye air base on Siberia’s northern coast hosts nuclear-capable strategic bombers, missile and surveillance systems.

Russian nuclear submarines patrol the Arctic seas, while a growing fleet of nuclear-powered ice breakers projects Kremlin power across the region.

China and Russia have conducted joint military drills in the Arctic. Beijing is also seeking access to valuable minerals beneath the ice.

“There is definitely a threat, especially from Russian military capacities in that region. And NATO countries are right now moving to increase their capacity,” Jon Rahbek-Clemmensen, also of the Royal Danish Defense College, told VOA.

Denmark’s defense

Denmark’s military capabilities on Greenland consist of four aging naval patrol vessels, a surveillance plane and dog sled patrols.

Copenhagen announced plans last month to invest in new surveillance drones, two new ships and additional personnel, along with upgrading an existing air base to accommodate F-35 fighter jets. The exact cost has yet to be decided, but the government said it would spend a “double-digit billion amount” in Danish kroner, or at least $1.5 billion.

Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen admitted, however, that the government has failed to invest in Greenland’s security.

“We have neglected for many years to make the necessary investments in our ships, in the aircraft that will help to monitor our kingdom, and that is what we are now trying to do something about,” he told reporters on Jan. 9.

“We will hopefully create an investment package where we will strengthen our ability to monitor what is happening in the Arctic, and also for some new capacities to be put into place.”

Denmark hopes the upgrades will go toward “meeting American demands for increasing the surveillance of Greenland,” Jacobsen said.

US Space base

The U.S. military has been present in Greenland since World War II, when American forces were deployed to the island following Denmark’s fall to Nazi Germany. At the height of the U.S. deployment, Greenland hosted more than 10,000 U.S. service personnel.

The Pituffik Space Base on Greenland’s northwest coast, formerly known as the Thule Air Base, is the United States’ northernmost military facility. It now hosts around 200 military personnel, alongside missile warning, defense and space surveillance systems.

“The military protection of Greenland de facto relies on the U.S.,” Rahbek-Clemmensen said. “And the big question is then whether the U.S. wants to enhance that presence, perhaps to be able to do other types of military operations in that area.”

That may be why, he added, Danish officials appear to be approaching the issue in a manner that maintains good U.S. relations.

“The Danish government has been trying to touch on that word ‘control’ that Trump uses, which is a very ambiguous term,” he added. “What does control mean? Does it mean owning a piece of territory? Or does it mean having a certain amount of military equipment on that territory?”

US-Danish relations

At Denmark’s Arctic command center in Nuuk, the U.S. flag flies alongside the Danish, Greenlandic and Faroe Islands colors. The building also hosts the U.S. Consulate — a sign that, for the time being, U.S.-Danish relations remain cordial.

Before Trump’s inauguration, the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen said there were no plans to expand U.S. military presence in Greenland.

That could change under the new president.

For now, Denmark and its European allies are hoping that Trump’s comments are part of a strategy to force NATO allies to spend more on defense.

“There’s an important element which is about his personality, which he brings into the way that U.S. diplomacy, or his diplomacy, is carried out,” Jacobsen said.

“In a positive light, if the USA increases its presence in the Arctic, it will increase the NATO presence, because the seven Arctic states — besides Russia — we are all members of NATO now.”
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U.S. President Donald Trump this week repeated his assertion that American control of Greenland is vital for “international security.” As Henry Ridgwell reports, Denmark, which owns the island, has admitted failing to invest in its security, amid growing threats from Russia and China.
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WASHINGTON — Top Republican lawmakers are calling for U.S. security agencies to quickly change course under President Donald Trump to better confront threats from terror groups such as the Islamic State and al-Qaida.

The House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday issued an update threat assessment, highlighting the New Year’s Day truck ramming attack in New Orleans, which killed 14 people, as well as the June 2024 arrest of eight Tajik nationals with suspected Islamic State ties.

“Make no mistake — all of the lights are still blinking red,” said committee chair Republican Representative Mark Green in a statement.

“The New Orleans terrorist attack was a stark reminder that the terror threat to America is alive and persistent,” said Green. “Foreign terrorist organizations and jihadist networks abroad remain committed to recruiting and radicalizing individuals on U.S. soil.”

Green’s comments harken back to a 2023 warning from then-FBI Director Christopher Wray, made in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack on Israel, which officials said seemed to inspire terror groups around the world.

“I’ve never seen a time where all the threats, or so many of the threats, are all elevated, all at exactly the same time,” Wray said at the time.

Last year, Wray warned the FBI was increasingly concerned about a coordinated terror attack on the U.S. like the March 2024 Islamic State terror attacks on a Moscow concert hall.

The Department of Homeland Security’s 2025 annual threat assessment, issued this past October, warned, “The terrorism threat environment in the United States over the next year will remain high.”

And it attributed the biggest danger to individuals who are not necessarily affiliated with established terror groups.

“The threat will continue to be characterized primarily by lone offenders or small cells motivated to violence by a combination of racial, religious, gender, or anti-government grievances; conspiracy theories; and personalized factors,” it said.

Green on Wednesday blamed the increased threat on the administration of former President Joe Biden, saying terror groups have been “emboldened by the national security blunders of the past four years.”

The committee’s “Terror Threat Snapshot” cited more than 50 terrorism cases in 30 U.S. states since April 2021 and 187 terrorism arrests, attacks and plots in Western Europe since the start of 2023.

Democrats expressed some disappointment, arguing the comments have not been backed up by the committee’s actions to date.

“It’s a bit confusing,” according to one staffer, who spoke to VOA on the condition of anonymity in order to respond to the chair’s comments. “Why haven’t they had substantive hearings on foreign terrorism and homegrown violent extremism?”

Meanwhile, a new report Wednesday by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies cautioned that while there is reason to be concerned about the exploits and ambitions of groups such as the Islamic State and al-Qaida, the threat inside the United States does not appear to be growing.

“Longer-term trends suggest that jihadist terrorism in the United States is not resurgent,” according to the report.

“Groups such as the Islamic State and al-Qaida have filled more of an inspirational role rather than directly orchestrating attacks on the United States,” it said. “The average lethality of jihadist terrorist attacks has also fallen since the peak of the [Islamic State] caliphate.”

The CSIS report found there were a yearly average of 38 recorded attacks or plots in the U.S. from 2020 to 2023, but only 21 recorded plots or attacks during the first 11 months of 2024.
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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Justice Department has threatened local and state authorities with prosecution if they fail to cooperate with President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, which include a pledge to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. 

Citing a constitutional clause concerning division of power, acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove said in a memorandum that “federal law prohibits state and local actors from resisting, obstructing, and otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands.” 

“The Department of Justice shall investigate incidents involving any such misconduct for potential prosecution,” Bove added in the memo issued late Tuesday and published by U.S. media on Wednesday. 

Trump announced new restrictions on immigration and asylum in the United States hours after taking office on Monday, including a plan to send troops to the U.S.-Mexico border and end birthright citizenship. 

The Republican president vowed during his White House campaign to carry out the largest mass deportation of migrants in U.S. history. 

Bove said a newly created Sanctuary Cities Enforcement Working Group would identify “state and local laws, policies, and activities that are inconsistent with Executive Branch immigration initiatives and, where appropriate, to take legal action to challenge such laws.” 

A number of Democratic-controlled “sanctuary cities” in the United States restrict cooperation with federal immigration authorities. 

“Laws and actions that threaten to impede Executive Branch immigration initiatives, including by prohibiting disclosures of information to federal authorities engaged in immigration enforcement activities, threaten public safety and national security,” Bove said. 

Bove, who served as one of Trump’s personal lawyers before being named to the Justice Department, also directed the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces to participate “in the execution of President Trump’s immigration-related initiatives.” 

The FBI and other agencies should “review their files for identifying information and/or biometric data relating to non-citizens located illegally in the United States” and turn it over to the Department of Homeland Security to facilitate removals, he said.
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Forecasters issue new round of warnings about fire conditions in southern California 

TEASER: Chance of rain in the coming days could calm fires, but bring threat of mudslides 

PUBLISHED: 01/22/2025 at  6:01 am 

BYLINE:  VOA News 

WRITER: Fern Robinson, Chris Hannas 

ASSIGNING EDITOR:   

DATELINE:   

SCRIPT EDITORS: wpm 

PLATFORMS: WEB X TV __ RADIO __           

EDITOR NOTES: new lede & grafs 2-4, edits graf 7, trims))  

Firefighters and residents in southern California braced Wednesday for the possibility of more wildfire activity fueled by dry and strong winds, while the prospect of some rain in the forecast brought the potential for some relief from the fire threat but also the dangers of mudslides in fire-ravaged areas. 

The National Weather Service said dangerous fire conditions would persist in the Los Angeles area through Thursday or Friday. 

Forecasters said there was a 60% to 80% chance of rain in the region starting Saturday, with rainfall totals in most areas not exceeding 8 millimeters. 

A chance of thunderstorms bringing locally heavier rainfall has raised fears of mudslides with debris flowing down hilly areas that have been scorched by two weeks of wildfires. 

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said an executive order she signed Tuesday is designed to curb the flow of toxic debris from the region’s fires and protect the area’s beaches and oceans.     

“This is to prevent additional damage to areas already ravaged by fire and also to protect our watershed, beaches and ocean from toxic runoff,” the mayor said. City workers will remove toxic materials and set up barriers to direct the flow of debris into the sewer system. 

The fires have killed at least 27 people and destroyed thousands of buildings. 

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press. 

 
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