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Danish defense minister says country will spend $1.5 billion to ensire ‘stronger presence’ in Arctic
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Donald Trump has posted his traditional rambling Christmas message calling out various foes, taunting adversaries, and reiterating his desire for U.S. territorial expansionism — including retaking the Panama Canal, incorporating Canada into the union, and buying Greenland.
A Danish official said an announcement that the country is boosting defense spending for Greenland, was an “irony of fate.”
Troels Lund Poulsen, the Danish defense minister, told the paper Jyllands-Posten Tuesday that the country plans to spend a “double-digit billion amount” in krone — about $1.5 billion — to make sure they have a “stronger presence” in the Arctic.
Trump said the “ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity” for the U.S., which operates a base in the territory’s northwest.
After seemingly joking about Canada becoming the “51st” state, the incoming president fired off ominous messages in recent days alleging the Panama Canal and Greenland pose serious economic and national security threats to the United States and might be targeted for some kind of annexation or purchase.
Meanwhile, college campuses across the country are calling the nation’s more than 1 million international students back to school before Trump’s inauguration, warning that the possibility of an imminent travel ban targeting certain countries could impact their return.
The “Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks Act” was attached to a broader bipartisan government funding bill with support from both Republican and Democratic members of Congress.
Elon Musk’s X platform was even involved in lobby efforts to support the legislation, including other actions on child safety.
But his pressure campaign against that government funding bill prompted Republicans to strike that language from the measure altogether. Efforts to revive the spending bill did not include it.
Ted Cruz and AOC are unlikely allies forcing Big Tech to take down nonconsenual images, but Elon Musk’s antics derailed their efforts, Alex Woodward reports
President-elect Donald Trump’s net worth ballooned from $2.5 billion to $6.1 billion during a year marred by legal struggles and assassination attempts.
Trump’s majority stake in his social media company, Trump Media & Technology Group Corp (TMTG) the parent company of Truth Social, was the main driver of this growth.
The president-elect began the year with a net worth of about $2.5 billion, according to Forbes. That was a decrease from his previous term in the White House when it reached $4 billion. His net worth was not as volatile before he became the owner of a publicly traded company, the outlet noted.
Gustaf Kilander has the details.
President-elect’s net worth, tied to the value of TMTG shares, fluctuated heavily during 2024
More than 1,500 people who have been criminally charged in connection with a mob’s assault on the Capitol — fuelled by his bogus narrative that the 2020 presidential election was rigged and stolen from him — are now awaiting potential pardons for alleged crimes live-streamed to millions of viewers.
Trump could issue mass amnesty to hundreds of defendants as soon as his first day in office, maintaining that even violent offenders could be granted clemency on a “case-by-case” basis.
Here are some of their stories:
Hundreds of defendants admitted to their crimes or were convicted by juries after attacking police, threatening lawmakers or conspiring against the government. Trump could wipe their slates clean, Alex Woodward reports
More than 1.1 million international students are enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities in the 2023 and 2024 year, and many schools are calling them back to campus before Trump returns to the White House, according to CNN.
International students typically rely on nonimmigrant visas that allow them to study in the U.S. but are not a legal pathway for permanent resident status.
At Cornell University, students who are traveling abroad have been advised to return for the spring semester by January 21 or to “communicate with an advisor about your travel plans and be prepared for delays.”
“A travel ban is likely to go into effect soon after inauguration,” the university warned students late last month, according to a memo obtained by CNN. “The ban is likely to include citizens of the countries targeted in the first Trump administration: Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Myanmar, Sudan, Tanzania, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, Yemen, and Somalia. New countries could be added to this list, particularly China and India.”
More than 17,000 international students studied at the University of Southern California during the last academic year — the largest number of international students in the state — and school administrators have urged foreign students in an email to return to campus one week before Trump’s presidency, according to an email reviewed by CNN.
“One or more executive orders impacting travel … and visa processing” may be issued, the email said.
Trump has promised to reinstate a ban on travel into the United States from majority-Muslim countries he implemented in his first administration through a series of executive actions targeting immigration. Joe Biden later rescinded them.
On the campaig trail, the president-elect threatened to take aim at students involved in campus protests against the Israel-Hamas war, and then students who would otherwise be eligible for permanent resident status after graduation will be screened to “exclude all communists, radical Islamists, Hamas supporters, America haters and public charges.”
Trump has also promised to “ban refugee resettlement from terror-infested areas like the Gaza Strip” and to launch an aggressive nationwide deportation operation targeting people living in the country illegally.
“We didn’t take people from certain areas of the world because I didn’t want to have people ripping down and burning our shopping centers and killing people,” he said earlier this year.
Donald Trump rattled North American diplomatic relations over the weekend with a threat to retake the Panama Canal, two and a half decades after the US transferred control of the vital global trade route to Panama.
In a series of posts on Truth Social, the president-elect accused the country of “ripping off” the US.
Josh Marcus reports.
Major Trump project in Panama City brought lawsuits, shoving matches and money-laundering allegations before Trump lost it in hostile takeover
Donald Trump made a dig at former president Barack Obama as he went on a Christmas Day Truth Social posting spree.
The president-elect initially seemed to adopt a toned-down festive message, simply posting, “MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!” on Truth Social on Wednesday morning.
In the afternoon, however, he shared a lengthy post where he wished “Merry Christmas to the Radical Left Lunatics,” but refused the same sentiment to the “37 most violent criminals” pardoned by Joe Biden, instead telling them to “GO TO HELL.”
Rhian Lubin has the story.
Trump reeled off 34 posts on his social media platform within a one-hour period
President Joe Biden spent Christmas Eve signing 50 bills into law, including one piece of legislation supported by Paris Hilton and another designating the bald eagle as the U.S. national bird.
The Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act, backed by Hilton, a socialite and activist, is designed to hold teenage treatment centers and care facilities accountable. Hilton spent time on Capitol Hill promoting the measure.
Gustaf Kilander reports.
The Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act is designed to hold teenage treatment centers and care facilities accountable
GOP senator Tommy Tuberville has been mocked for claiming that Donald Trump brought Christmas “back in America.”
The Trump loyalist posted the festive message on social media platform X on Christmas Eve.
Rhian Lubin reports.
People were quick to confirm that they have, indeed, celebrated Christmas during the period when Trump was not president
President-elect Donald Trump mocked Canada in his annual Christmas message by suggesting that the Trump-supporting ex-hockey star Wayne Gretzky be a candidate for prime minister “or governor.”
“I just left Wayne Gretzky, ‘The Great One’ as he is known in Ice Hockey circles,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Christmas Day. “I said, ‘Wayne, why don’t you run for Prime Minister of Canada, soon to be known as the Governor of Canada – You would win easily, you wouldn’t even have to campaign.’”
Gustaf Kilander reports.
President-elect says hockey great ‘had no interest, but I think the people of Canada should start a DRAFT WAYNE GRETZKY Movement’
The re-emergence of Donald Trump’s territorial ambitions related to Greenland has added another strange new wrinkle to the presidential transition process.
And while it’s highly unlikely that the president-elect will have any success in convincing the governments of either Greenland or Denmark to sever the ties between the European country and its autonomous North American territory, it’s worth looking into the process of how the U.S. acquires new territories — and how that territory could be classified.
John Bowden reports.
President-elect has indicated the U.S. will make Greenland purchase a priority in post about new ambassador to Denmark
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