- Advisers to UK prime minister Keir Starmer were reportedly left in "tears of laughter" after hearing a phone conversation between their boss and Donald Trump. Across the North Sea, however, Danish officials were not so amused, saying that Trump was "aggressive and confrontational" in discussing the status of Greenland with Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen. The Danes had previously been fairly dismissive of Trump's musings, but are described as "utterly freaked out" by the president's aggression. Some in this Reddit thread think that part of the issue is that Trump has a hard time being told no by anyone, but especially by a woman. For his part, Trump says the failure to turn the territory over to the US would be a "very unfriendly act". One thing is clear - if he does decide to use military force to take the island, there's little that could stop him - not even Article 5 of the NATO treaty, for it requires unanimity among NATO members in order to compel action. The fact that the US was the aggressor apparently wouldn't disqualify them from the vote - apparently nobody thought to consider the possibility of aggression between NATO members, so they didn't make a rule about that when they drew up the treaty.
- Trump is openly calling for ethnic cleansing in Gaza, suggesting "We just clean out that whole thing" and asking for Jordan to take in the territory's residents.
- Days after ordering an end to his country's membership in the World Health Organization, the president is having second thoughts about his decision. Perhaps there's still one or two people around him that can talk sense into him; how long that situation will last remains to be seen, though.
- Friedrich Merz, the leader of Germany's centre-right Christian Democratic Union, wants to introduce an immigration bill and has expressed willingness to work with anyone in order to get it passed, including the far-right AfD. This is raising additional fears that the "cordon sanitaire", the unwritten rule in most of Europe that you don't work with Nazis, is breaking down and that the CDU might be willing to seek AfD support to form a government after the coming election.
- US Coast Guard Admiral Linda Fagan, the first woman to head any division of the US military, has been removed by the Trump administration. An official quoted by Fox News attributed her sacking to "excessive focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion" as well as failure to address "border security threats"; just as likely, though, the MAGA crowd wanted her gone simply because she was a woman leading one of the armed services.
- The Anti-Defamation League, perhaps realizing that their initial handling of Elon Musk's Nazi salute with kid gloves was not a good look for a Jewish organization that claims to be all about promoting human rights, is now being a tiny bit more critical, calling Musk's gesture an "inappropriate and highly offensive joke". I guess that's a bit of an improvement, but I'm not so sure he was joking.
- Mark Carney seems to be the front runner in the federal Liberal leadership race, at least among MPs. He has won the endorsements of 16 cabinet members, while Chrystia Freeland has gained five. Another prospective candidate, Nepean MP Chandra Arya, has had his run blocked by the party for reasons that have not been made public.
- A Hamilton man who attempted to rob a bank, but came away empty-handed, was forced to flee on foot after the bike he had left waiting for him outside the bank was stolen; evidently there is no honour among thieves. Both the would-be robber and the bike thief remain at large.
