World

Washington — US President Donald Trump on Thursday reiterated his desire to annex the autonomous territory of Greenland from Denmark in the interest of "international security."

"I think it will happen," Trump told reporters at the White House alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, when asked about his vision for the annexation.

He pointed at Rutte and added the NATO chief could be "very instrumental" in the move.

"You know Mark, we need that for international security... we have a lot of our favorite players cruising around the coast and we have to be careful," he said, apparently referring to rising Chinese and Russian interest in the Arctic region.

Trump's threats to take over the resource-rich Arctic island have shined an unprecedented global spotlight on the territory, as he has previously refused to rule out the use of force to "get Greenland."

The US president's comments come days after Greenland's elections, with all the political parties, and the majority of the island's 57,000 inhabitants, backing independence -- though they disagree on how quickly the process should go.

Rutte said that he would not be involved in any question of Greenland becoming part of the United States, saying: "I don't want to drag NATO in that."

However, "when it comes to the high north and the Arctic, you are totally right," Rutte said.

"The Chinese are now using these routes. We know that the Russians are rearming. We know we have lack of icebreakers.

"So the fact that the seven -- outside Russia -- seven Arctic countries working together on this under US leadership is very important to make sure that that region, that part of the world stays safe," Rutte said.

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis marks 12 years as head of the Catholic Church on Thursday, seemingly out of danger after a month in hospital but with his health casting a shadow over his future.

The 88-year-old was for a time critically ill as he battled pneumonia in both lungs at Rome's Gemelli hospital, where he was admitted on February 14.

The Argentine's situation has markedly improved since then, with the Vatican confirming his condition as stable on Wednesday evening, and on Thursday morning reporting once again that he had had a peaceful night.

Talk is now turning to when he might go home, but his hospitalisation, the longest and most fraught of his papacy, has raised doubts about his ability to lead the world's nearly 1.4 billion Catholics.

Slowing down

Francis had before now refused to make any concessions to his age or increasingly fragile health, which obliged him to begin using a wheelchair three years ago.

He maintained a packed daily schedule interspersed with frequent overseas trips, notably a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region in September, when he presided over huge open-air masses.

But experts say his recovery could take weeks given his age and recurring health issues, not helped by having part of one lung removed as a young man.

"The rest of his pontificate remains a question mark for the moment, including for Francis himself," said Father Michel Kubler, a Vatican expert and former editor in chief of the French religious newspaper La Croix.

"He doesn't know what his life will be like once he returns to the Vatican, and so no doubt reserves the option of resigning if he can no longer cope," he told AFP.

Francis has always left the door open to resigning were his health to deteriorate, following the example of Benedict XVI, who in 2013 became the first pope since the Middle Ages to voluntarily step down.

But the Jesuit has distanced himself from the idea more recently, insisting the job is for life.

While in hospital, Francis has delegated masses to senior cardinals but has kept working on and off, including signing decrees and receiving close colleagues.

But he has missed a month of events for the 2025 Jubilee, a holy year organised by the pope that is predicted to draw an additional 30 million pilgrims to Rome and the Vatican.

And it is hard to imagine he will be well enough to lead a full programme of events for Easter, the holiest period in the Christian calendar that is less than six weeks away.

Many believe that Francis, who has not been seen in public since he was hospitalised, has to change course.

"This is the end of the pontificate as we have known it until now," Kubler said.

MOSCOW - US negotiators travelled to Russia on Thursday to present their plan for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine, as Washington pushed Moscow for an "unconditional" pause to the three-year conflict.

Russia has been grinding forward on the battlefield for over a year, claiming on Thursday to have driven Ukraine from the town of Sudzha in its Kursk region.

Earlier this week, Kyiv agreed to a US ceasefire proposal to halt fighting, but Moscow has asked Washington to present details before indicating whether it is acceptable.

Russian news agencies reported Thursday that a plane linked to US President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff had landed at Vnukovo-2, a Moscow airport terminal often used to accept foreign dignitaries.

"Negotiators are flying in and indeed contacts are scheduled," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, without saying who was part of the US team.

Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov spoke to US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz by phone the day before, Peskov added.

Ushakov on Thursday criticised the US-Ukrainian ceasefire proposal, saying it would just be a "breather" for the Ukrainian military.

"It would be nothing more than a temporary breather for the Ukrainian military," Ushakov told state media following his call with Waltz. 

Peacekeepers 'unacceptable' 

US President Donald Trump has expressed optimism that US negotiators can secure a ceasefire, even as Kyiv and Moscow trade almost daily aerial attacks. 

"People are going to Russia right now as we speak. And hopefully we can get a ceasefire from Russia," Trump told reporters on Wednesday during an Oval Office meeting with Ireland's prime minister Micheal Martin.

Setting out its red lines, Russia on Thursday ruled out foreign peacekeepers being deployed to Ukraine as part of a ceasefire or long-term security guarantee.

"It is absolutely unacceptable to us that army units of other states are stationed in Ukraine under any flag," foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a briefing.

"Be it a foreign contingent and a military base... all this would mean the involvement of these countries in a direct armed conflict with our country," she added.

Russia also wants sanctions to be lifted as part of any deal as it grapples with distortions in its economy.

Peskov said Moscow considered the sanctions "illegal", but would not go into detail about possible talks on the matter ahead of the negotiations.

"Let us not get ahead of ourselves," he said.

Sudzha 'liberated' 

As US officials travelled to Moscow, Russia claimed rapid advances in the Kursk region -- where Kyiv launched a cross-border assault last August.

The Russian defence ministry said in a statement on Thursday it had "liberated" Sudzha along with two other settlements in the border region.

Sudzha, home to around 5,000 people before the fighting, was the largest settlement Kyiv seized after it launched its cross-border assault into Russia last year.

The Kursk region was one of Kyiv's few bargaining chips in swapping land with Russia, which has occupied around a fifth of Ukraine since it took Crimea in 2014 and launched its full-scale assault in February 2022.

Ukraine now risks losing its grip on the border region entirely, ceding dozens of square kilometres in the past seven days, according to military bloggers.

Ukraine did not immediately comment on Russia's claim.

Moscow's rapid advances in the region came after the US paused intelligence sharing and security support for Ukraine, analysts and officials have cautioned against making a direct link.

Washington resumed its support for Kyiv ahead of the talks with Moscow.

Both Moscow and Kyiv kept up hostilities into Thursday.

Russia downed 77 Ukrainian drones overnight, its defence ministry said Thursday, while Ukraine's air force said it downed dozens of drones fired at multiple regions.

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that negotiators were headed to Russia "right now" for talks on a possible ceasefire with Ukraine, after Kyiv agreed to a 30-day truce.

Trump did not give further details on the negotiating team.

"People are going to Russia right now as we speak. And hopefully we can get a ceasefire from Russia," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office during a meeting with Ireland's prime minister.

"And if we do, I think that would be 80 percent of the way to getting this horrible bloodbath finished."

Vice President JD Vance, who was also in the meeting, added that there were "conversations that are happening on the phone and in person with some of our representatives over the next couple of days."

Trump would not say when he would next speak to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, but added that "I hope he's going to have a ceasefire" and that there had been "positive messages" from Moscow.

"It's up to Russia now," said Trump.

Trump was coy about pressuring Moscow to agree to a truce, saying he could slap it with "devastating" sanctions but adding that "I hope that's not going to be necessary."

"I can do things financially that would be very bad for Russia. I don't want to do that because I want to get peace," Trump added.

His comments come less than two weeks after an explosive row between Trump, Vance and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office in front of television cameras.

Trump halted military aid after the argument to pressure Kyiv, which agreed to a US-proposed plan for a 30-day ceasefire at talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered his army to "fully liberate" Russia's Kursk region, after days of pushing back Ukrainian troops that have held territory there since August.

"I am counting on the fact that all the combat tasks facing our units will fulfilled, and the territory of the Kursk region will soon be completely liberated from the enemy," Putin said in televised remarks during a visit to Russian troops fighting there.

Ukraine's army chief hinted on Wednesday that some of his troops were pulling back in Russia's Kursk region, after Moscow claimed rapid advances there over recent days.

"In the most difficult situation, my priority has been and remains saving the lives of Ukrainian soldiers. To this end, the units of the defence forces, if necessary, manoeuvre to more favourable positions," commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky said in a Facebook post, in language typically used to describe a withdrawal.

SIBI, Pakistan - Pakistan security sources said on Wednesday the military had freed 190 train passengers taken hostage by gunmen as a deadly siege in the mountainous southwest stretched through its second day.

More than 450 passengers were on board when a militant separatist group captured the train in a remote frontier district of Balochistan province on Tuesday afternoon, with an unknown number of hostages still being held.

"So far, 190 passengers have been rescued, and 30 terrorists have been killed. Due to the presence of women and children with suicide bombers, extreme caution is being exercised," a security source told AFP.

"The operation continues to eliminate the remaining militants."

An AFP photographer in Quetta, the provincial capital, witnessed about 140 empty coffins being transported by train to the incident site on Wednesday.

The assault was immediately claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), which released a video of an explosion on the track followed by dozens of militants emerging from hiding places in the mountains and storming onto the carriages.

Attacks by separatist groups who accuse outsiders of plundering natural resources in Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, have soared in the past few years. 

The deaths of three people have been confirmed so far -- the train driver, a police officer and a soldier -- according to paramedic Nazim Farooq and railway official Muhammad Aslam.

A security official in the area also told AFP: "Information suggests that some militants have fled, taking an unknown number of hostages into the local mountainous areas."

Muhammad Kashif, a senior railway government official in Quetta, said on Tuesday afternoon that the 450 passengers on board had been taken hostage.

Passengers who walked for hours through rugged mountains to reach safety described being set free by the militants.

"Our women pleaded with them, and they spared us," Babar Masih, a 38-year-old Christian labourer told AFP on Wednesday. "They told us to get out and not look back. As we ran, I noticed many others running alongside us."

Muhammad Bilal, who was travelling with his mother on the Jaffar Express train, described their ordeal as "terrifying".

"I can't find the words to describe how we managed to escape," he told AFP. 

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump said Monday that the detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a leader of pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University in New York, is "the first arrest of many to come."

"We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Khalil, one of the most prominent faces of the university's protest movement that erupted last year in opposition to Israel's war in Gaza, was arrested by immigration officials over the weekend.

The Department of Homeland Security said the action was taken "in support of President Trump's executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism, and in coordination with the Department of State."

Khalil, a Columbia graduate, held a permanent residency green card at the time of his arrest, according to the Student Workers of Columbia union.

Trump threatened in his post further action against other campus protesters, some of whom he alleged without evidence to be "paid agitators."

"We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country -- never to return again," he wrote.

US campuses including Columbia's were rocked by student protests against Israel's war in Gaza following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack. The demonstrations ignited accusations of anti-Semitism.

Protests -- some of which turned violent and saw campus buildings occupied and lectures disrupted -- pitted students protesting Israel's conduct against pro-Israel campaigners, many of whom were Jewish.