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Jan. 16 (UPI) — The Trump administration, backed by a group of eastern-states’ governors, are planning to ask the PJM Interconnection electric grid operator to hold an auction to help boost the power supply strained by data centers and lower prices for consumers.

The emergency power auction would offer 15-year contracts for electricity generation from newly built power plants. Normally, auctions offer one-year contracts to energy companies. The proposed auction would be open to tech companies to help pay for their extra power use.

Trump also wants regulators to put a cap on the amount that existing power plants can charge.

The auction would be let the tech giants pay to fuel their energy-gobbling data centers that process data for artificial intelligence. The cost of electricity generation for data centers is driving up the price of power to consumers. The White House can’t mandate the auction.

PJM Interconnection is the power grid that serves 13 states and Washington, D.C. It serves 65 million people and includes northern Virginia, which is the largest data center market in the world. The money raised would help finance construction of new power plants.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and governors from the mid-Atlantic region are scheduled to announce an agreement Friday to lobby PJM to take these actions, a White House official told CNBC.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, the administration is leading an unprecedented bi-partisan effort urging PJM to fix the energy subtraction failures of the past, prevent price increases and reduce the risk of blackouts,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said.

In its most recent auction, PJM was 6 gigawatts short of its reliability requirement for 2027, CNBC said. Six gigawatts is equal to six large nuclear plants.

“Instead of a blackout happening every one in 10 years, we’re looking at something more often,” said Abe Silverman, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University who served as general counsel for New Jersey’s public utility board.

Consumer rates are determined by state regulators, but also by the costs that utilities pay for energy from their plants or at auctions. Rates have risen because of the higher demand from AI and data centers.

Former Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth says Israel’s recognition of outposts as new settlements, including Homesh, in the occupied West Bank, is an illegal strategy to prevent a Palestinian state.

Jan. 16 (Asia Today) — Jaseng Korean Medicine Hospital said Thursday it hosted a two-week winter internship program for overseas medical students and pre-medical students, aimed at showcasing the scientific development and global potential of Korean medicine.

Jaseng Korean Medicine Hospital said the 2026 Jaseng Medical Academy Winter Internship Program, which ran from Jan. 5, brought together five participants from four countries – the United States, Canada, Thailand and South Korea.

Participants included students and graduates from the University of Florida, the University of Texas at San Antonio, Northeastern University, Pomona College and Thailand’s Kasetsart University, according to the hospital. They spent two weeks experiencing Jaseng’s clinical system and treatment environment.

The program featured observation of outpatient clinics, lectures on Korean and integrative medicine, hands-on training in treatments such as acupuncture and manual therapy, and question-and-answer sessions with medical staff. Students also worked in teams to develop Continuing Medical Education lecture content, presenting their projects at the conclusion of the program.

Interns visited the Jaseng MediBio Center, where they toured acupuncture needle manufacturing and research facilities and learned about efforts to scientifically standardize Korean medicine, the hospital said.

“The internship program is designed to raise awareness of Korean and integrative medicine among future healthcare professionals worldwide and help them grow into global medical talent,” said Jin-ho Lee, director of the hospital. He added that Jaseng would continue to strengthen international exchange and education to enhance the global competitiveness of Korean medicine.

The hospital said it is the only institution in East Asia accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education. It also plans to co-host the Jaseng International Academic Conference later this year with Indiana University School of Medicine.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Jan. 17 (UPI) — NASA early Saturday morning started the slow roll of the 322-foot-tall Artemis II rocket from Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B for final preparations before its launch to the moon.

The rocket — now fully assembled with the Orion spacecraft atop the Space Launch System rocket — started it’s 1-mile-per-hour journey from the VAB to the launch pad on the crawler-transporter 2 around 7:00 a.m.

The 11-million-pound stack’s four-mile trip could take up to 12 hours to complete, NASA said earlier this week.

Once on the pad, NASA and the four-astronaut crew will run tests on SLS, most significantly a wet dress rehearsal that includes fully fueling and unfueling the rocket, in the run up its launch window opening on Feb. 6.

“Artemis II will be a momentous step forward for human spaceflight,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a statement. “This historic mission will send humans farther from Earth than ever before and deliver the insights needed for us to return to the moon.”

Artemis II is the second of three missions building to the first human return to the surface of the moon in more than 50 years.

NASA said it designed the Artemis missions for scientific discovery and potential “economic benefits,” as well as to prepare for future crewed missions to Mars.

The crew — Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen — has been at Kennedy Space Center since July training and preparing.

The 10-day Artemis II mission will take the four astronauts farther from Earth than any previous human as Orion enters orbit around the moon before heading back home.

During the mission, the astronauts will be tasked with testing Orion’s systems for deep-space travel, to gather data on how humans fare on the journey and to get a first-hand look at parts of the moon.

The most important part of testing the SLS ahead of launch is the wet dress, which allows NASA officials in mission control to make sure the rocket will function properly during launch.

In 2022, the wet dress rehearsal for Artemis 1 revealed a crucial fuel leak that had to be repaired on the launchpad before the first launch of the SLS, which was uncrewed — and successful.

While the first Artemis II launch window opens on Feb. 6, NASA said it will not announce a specific launch date until all testing, including the wet dress and a formal flight readiness review, is complete.

If NASA misses the February launch window, it already has windows identified in March and April that are suitable for launch.

The Artemis II moon mission, as well as 2027’s Artemis III moon mission, will be broadcast on NASA’s free app, its website and through the NASA+ channel it launched last year on Netflix using high-definition cameras to deliver much better views of the moon than the grainy images beamed back during the Apollo missions.

Thousands of Greenlanders marched against United States President Donald Trump. They carried protest signs, waved their national flag, and chanted “Greenland is not for sale” in defence of their self-governance amid growing fears of a US takeover.

As they completed their march on Saturday from the small city centre of Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, to the US consulate, news broke that Trump, speaking from his home in Florida, had announced a 10 percent import tax from February on goods from eight European countries, in retaliation for their opposition to US control of the Arctic island.

Trump has long argued that the US should own the strategically located, mineral-rich island, which is a self-governing territory of Denmark. He stepped up his calls a day after a US military operation ousted and abducted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro earlier this month.

In Nuuk, Greenlanders of all ages listened to traditional songs as they walked to the consulate.

Tillie Martinussen, a former member of Greenland’s parliament, said she hopes the Trump administration will “abandon this crazy idea”.

“They started out by sort of touting themselves as our friends and allies, saying they wanted to make Greenland better for us than the Danes would,” she said, as chants rang out in the background. “And now they’re just outright threatening us.”

She said the fight to preserve NATO and Greenland’s autonomy was more important than concerns over tariffs, though she stressed she was not dismissing the potential economic impact.

“This is a fight for freedom,” she said. “It’s for NATO; it’s for everything the Western Hemisphere has been fighting for since the second world war.”

Anti-ICE protesters clashed with counter demonstrators in Minneapolis during a pro-ICE rally organised by anti-Islam ‘influencer’ and Jan 6 rioter Jake Lang. Protesters confronted Lang and threw objects at him, prompting him to flee the event.

A rescue team on an air force helicopter has spotted what appears to be a small aircraft window in a forested area on the slope of Mount Bulusaraung.

Indonesian rescuers have recovered wreckage from a missing plane that is believed to have crashed with 11 people on board while approaching a mountainous region on Sulawesi island during cloudy conditions.

The discovery on Sunday comes after the small plane – on its way from Yogyakarta on Indonesia’s main island of Java to Makassar, the capital city of South Sulawesi province – vanished from radar on Saturday.

A rescue team on an air force helicopter on Sunday morning spotted what appeared to be a small aircraft window in a forested area on the slope of Mount Bulusaraung, said Muhammad Arif Anwar, who heads Makassar’s search and rescue office.

Rescuers on the ground then retrieved larger debris consistent with the main fuselage and tail scattered on a steep northern slope, Anwar told a news conference.

“The discovery of the aircraft’s main sections significantly narrows the search zone and offers a crucial clue for tightening the search area,” Anwar said. “Our joint search and rescue teams are now focusing on searching for the victims, especially those who might still be alive.”

The plane, a turboprop ATR 42-500, was operated by Indonesia Air Transport and was last tracked in the Leang-Leang area of Maros, a mountainous district of South Sulawesi province.

It was carrying eight crew members and three passengers from the Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry who were on board as part of an airborne maritime surveillance mission.

Ground and air rescue teams continued moving towards the wreckage site on Sunday, despite strong winds, heavy fog and steep, rugged terrain that had slowed the search, said Major-General Bangun Nawoko, South Sulawesi’s Hasanuddin military commander.

Photos and videos released by the National Search and Rescue Agency on Sunday showed rescuers were trekking along a steep, narrow mountain ridgeline blanketed in thick fog to reach scattered wreckage.

Indonesia relies heavily on air transport and ferries to connect its more than 17,000 islands. The Southeast Asian country has been plagued by transport accidents in recent years, from plane and bus crashes to ferry sinkings.

Officials say 46 workers are being held, with gang members behind the riots seeking better conditions.

Prisoners in Guatemala have taken at least 46 workers hostage in riots across three detention centres, according to authorities.

Officials said the incidents, which began on Saturday, appeared to be coordinated by gang members in response to their leader seeking a transfer to another facility for better conditions.

There were no reported deaths ​or injuries among the hostages, Interior Minister Marco Antonio Villeda said at ‍a news conference.

Villeda said those behind the riots were members of the Barrio 18 gang, while the Interior Ministry described the unrest as a “direct reaction” to its moves to revoke privileges from gang leaders.

“I am not going to make any deals with any terrorist group. I will not give in to this blackmail, and ​I will not restore their privileges in exchange for them ‌stopping their actions,” Villeda said.

The hostages are mostly guards, but also include a psychologist, a prison official said.

At the Renovacion 1 maximum security prison in Escuintla in Guatemala’s south, police and soldiers formed a perimeter around the prison, as ambulances and firetrucks were ‌standing by to intervene if necessary.

Inmates, some wearing jumpsuits but most in tank tops and shorts, their faces covered ‌by masks improvised with pieces of clothing, watched from ⁠above, perched in the prison’s patrol towers.

One masked inmate, speaking from behind barbed wire, said they were not safe at the prison and were demanding to be moved.

“They can’t even guarantee their own security, ‌so how are they supposed to guarantee ours?” he said, referring to prison authorities.

Guatemala has struggled to control its prison population in recent years amid rampant gang influence. Inmates, meanwhile, have reported harsh and dangerous conditions.

In October, President Bernardo Arévalo accepted the resignations of three top security officials after 20 gang members escaped over a period of days.

“The link between the prison system and the criminality outside has to be cut,” Arevalo said in an interview with The Associated Press news agency earlier this week.

“That’s why all this effort to regain control of the prison system is very important.”

United States President Donald Trump has begun to invite world leaders and other prominent figures to be part of his so-called “board of peace“, reportedly outlining a wider vision for a long-term body that responds to global conflicts beyond Gaza.

Trump had initially unveiled the board as part of phase two of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas to end Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, envisioning that the body would oversee “governance capacity-building, regional relations, reconstruction, investment attraction, large-scale funding, and capital mobilisation” in the enclave.

But letters written by Trump, which were posted to social media on Saturday by two leaders invited to be part of the board – Argentinian President Javier Milei and Paraguay’s leader, Santiago Pena – pointed to wider ambitions. A so-called “charter” that accompanied the letter also pointed to loftier goals, according to several reports.

In Trump’s letter to Milei, the US president said the board would seek to “solidify Peace in the Middle East”, adding that it would “embark on a bold new approach to resolving Global Conflict” at the same time.

The Financial Times, meanwhile, quoted the accompanying “charter” as saying that “the Board of Peace is an international organisation that seeks to promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict”.

“Durable peace requires pragmatic judgment, common sense solutions, and the courage to depart from approaches and institutions that have too often failed,” said the charter, which did not directly reference Gaza, according to the newspaper.

Two diplomatic sources also told the Reuters news agency that the invitations included a “charter” that outlined a wider mandate for the body.

“It’s a ‘Trump United Nations’ that ignores the fundamentals of the UN charter,” one diplomat aware of the ‌letter told the news agency,

A senior US official, meanwhile, told The Associated Press news agency that an expanded role for the board of peace remains “aspirational”.

The official added that Trump and his advisers believe such a role is possible, particularly as Washington and other UN members have repeatedly expressed frustration with the international organisation.

However, the official said the board of peace was not intended to replace the UN.

Gaza focus

To be sure, the Trump administration has so far publicly said that the board of peace will initially focus on Gaza.

On Friday, Trump announced that Tony Blair, the United Kingdom’s former prime minister, would be among the board’s founding executive members, alongside Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the US special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff.

Also initially announced were Marc Rowan, the CEO of Apollo Global Management, World Bank Group President Ajay Banga, and Robert Gabriel, a US deputy national security adviser.

Many of those figures were also named to a separate “Gaza executive board”, which is set to oversee a technocratic committee of Palestinians, named the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG). The committee is expected to handle day-to-day governance in Gaza in lieu of Hamas.

The 11-member executive board includes Blair, Kushner and Witkoff, as well as Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan, Qatari diplomat Ali Al Thawadi, UN Middle East peace coordinator Sigrid Kaag, United Arab Emirates Minister of State for International Cooperation Reem Al-Hashimy, and Israeli-Cypriot billionaire Yakir Gabay.

Beyond Argentina’s Milei and Pena, Turkiye and Egypt have confirmed their respective leaders, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, have been invited to join the wider board of peace. A European Union official said that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had also been invited to represent the EU.

Four sources told Reuters that the leaders of France, Germany, ⁠Australia and Canada were also invited to sit on the board, although there was no official confirmation.

The White House said it would announce more members in the coming weeks.

Still, the initial announcement of board members sparked outrage among many in the Middle East for not including any Palestinians, but instead elevating staunch supporters of Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, raised opposition to the Gaza executive board on Saturday, saying its composition “was not coordinated with Israel and runs contrary to its policy”.

A statement from Netanyahu’s office did not specify what exactly it opposed about the board’s makeup.

Jan. 17 (UPI) — Eight NATO member nations will be subjected to tariffs if they don’t remove recently deployed troops from Greenland, President Donald Trump said.

Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom will be assessed 10% tariffs as of Feb. 1, which would more than double to 25% on June 1, if they do not remove their troops from Greenland, Trump said Saturday.

Greenland is a territory owned by Denmark, which Trump wants to make part of the United States for military purposes and says will be occupied by China or Russia if it does not become a U.S. territory.

“World Peace is at stake!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “China and Russia want Greenland, and there is not a thing that Denmark can do about it.”

He said Greenland has “two dogsleds as protection, one added recently,” and could not defend itself against an incursion by Russia or China.

“Only the United States of America … can play in this game, and very successfully, at that!” the president said. “Nobody will touch this sacred piece of land, especially since the national security of the United States, and the world at large, is at stake.”

He said the eight NATO nations targeted with tariffs “have journeyed to Greenland for purposes unknown” and called it a “very dangerous situation for the safety, security and survival of our planet.”

The president said Greenland is needed to deploy the proposed “golden dome” aerial defense system and other modern weapons systems that can support offensive and defensive military operations to protect North America against military attacks.

“This very brilliant, but highly complex system can only work at its maximum potential and efficiency, because of angles, metes and bounds, if this land is included in it,” Trump said.

“The United States of America is immediately open to negotiation with Denmark and/or any of these countries that have put so much at risk, despite all that we have done for them, including maximum protection, over so many decades.”

The president wants to buy the whole of Greenland, which has been rejected by leaders in Denmark and Greenland.

The United States has a military base on Greenland, which has become more strategically important due to new shipping lanes emerging near it and more natural resources becoming accessible in the region as the world continues to warm.

U.S. officials have tried to buy Greenland for more than 150 years, but Denmark consistently has opposed such offers.

Jan. 17 (UPI) — Ongoing altercations between protesters and federal law enforcement spurred Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to mobilize the state’s National Guard on Saturday.

The National Guard units were not deployed as of Saturday evening but eventually are expected to help state and local police to maintain peace in Minneapolis and elsewhere.

Walz urged protesters and others to “stay safe and stay peaceful today” amid the protests and continued federal immigration law enforcement activities by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies.

“Our public safety team has the resources, coordination, and personnel on the ground to maintain public safety and respond if needed,” Walz said. “Thanks to local law enforcement for keeping the peace.”

The governor on Jan. 9 ordered the state’s National Guard members to be “staged and ready” for a potential deployment after an ICE officer shot and killed anti-ICE activist Renee Good as she tried to flee as federal officers tried to arrest her for obstructing them on Jan. 7.

A second ICE-involved shooting in Minneapolis that did not cause a fatality happened Wednesday night when a Venezuelan who ICE said had illegally entered the United States fled during a targeted traffic stop.

That man and two others assaulted the ICE officer with a snow shovel and a broom handle, and the officer shot the primary suspect in the leg to end the attack.

National Guard units on Saturday were “staging to support local law enforcement and emergency management agencies,” the Minnesota Department of Public Safety said in a social media post.

A federal judge on Friday restricted ICE’s use of crowd-dispersal tools, such as tear gas and pepper spray, to protect peaceful protesters and banned ICE from initiating traffic stops of protesters who have not broken any laws.

While a federal judge has restricted ICE activities, the Department of Justice on Friday opened an investigation of Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and others for potentially conspiring to impede ICE and other federal law enforcement in Minnesota.

President Donald Trump also has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota if protest violence continues, but he said there was no need to do so as of Friday, KSMP-TV reported.

Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of Denmark to show support for Greenland and reject United States President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to take control of the self-governing Danish territory.

Waving the flags of Denmark and Greenland, the protesters formed a sea of red and white outside Copenhagen city hall on Saturday, chanting “Kalaallit Nunaat” – the Arctic island’s name in Greenlandic.

Rallies were also organised throughout the day in the Danish cities of Aarhus, Aalborg and Odense, as well as in Greenland’s capital, Nuuk.

“I am very grateful for the huge support we as Greenlanders receive … We are also sending a message to the world that you all must wake up,” said Julie Rademacher, chair of Uagut, an organisation for Greenlanders in Denmark.

“Greenland and the Greenlanders have involuntarily become the front in the fight for democracy and human rights,” she added.

The demonstrations come as Trump said 10 percent tariffs would be imposed on several European allies opposing US control of Greenland from February 1, hitting ​Denmark, ‌Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

The US president, who says the move is critical for his country’s interests, added that those tariffs ‌would rise to ‌25 percent on June ⁠1 and would continue until an agreement is reached ‌for the US to purchase Greenland.

While Greenland and Denmark have rejected the idea of the island being “owned” by the US, efforts to get the US administration to change its stance have so far appeared to fail.

The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland left a meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington, DC, this week, saying that they “didn’t manage to change the American position”.

“It’s clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told reporters.

According to the latest poll published in January of last year, 85 percent of Greenlanders oppose the territory joining the US, while only 6 percent were in favour.

Reporting from Nuuk, the Greenlandic capital, Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands said Saturday’s rally was expected to be a large one.

“This is … the capital city, but [home to] only about 19-20,000 people. Everyone we spoke to yesterday said that they were going to be coming out and marching today,” Challands said.

“This essentially is Danes and Greenlanders coming together. Everyone here believes that at some point, there should be some form of independence [for Greenland],” he added.

“But for the moment, Denmark and Greenland are saying that their best way out of this crisis is to remain united.”

Some US lawmakers – including members of Trump’s own Republican Party – also have raised opposition to the president’s push to take control of Greenland, saying it threatens global stability and the US commitment to NATO.

A bipartisan group of US Congress members travelled to Denmark on Friday, led by Democratic Senator Chris Coons, who said there was no security threat to Greenland to justify the Trump administration’s stance.

“Greenland is a part of Denmark. Denmark is our NATO ally. That should be the end of this discussion, in my view,” Coons told reporters in Copenhagen.

Trump has repeatedly accused Denmark of failing to do enough to secure Greenland’s territorial waters in the Arctic.

European NATO members are deploying troops in Greenland for a military exercise designed to show that they will “defend [their] sovereignty”, French armed forces minister Alice Rufo said this week.

Britain, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden have announced they are sending small numbers of military personnel to prepare for future exercises in the Arctic.

Jan. 17 (UPI) — Representatives of the European Union and South American nations signed a free trade agreement on Saturday, but it won’t be official until approved by the European Parliament.

The free trade agreement would support trade between Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, collectively called “Mercosur,” and E.U. member nations, but the E.U.’s parliamentarians could reject it.

Mercosur is a Spanish acronym that is short for “Southern Common Market,” and the European Parliament might take months to ratify the agreement, if it does at all, some European officials have warned.

E.U. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa participated in the signing ceremony held in Asuncion, Paraguay, along with representatives of the four South American nations subject to the agreement.

If ratified by the E.U., the deal would affect more than 700 million people in Europe and South America, but it still has significant opposition to overcome.

Officials in France and Poland are especially averse to the free trade agreement, which they said could place their domestic farmers and producers of beef and poultry food products at a competitive disadvantage to agricultural goods produced in South American nations that have more lax regulations, EuroNews reported

Opponents also say the deal could lead to increased deforestation in the Amazon rainforest and other environmentally sensitive areas.

Many French and European farmers displayed their objections to the trade agreement by entering Brussels and Paris on their tractors and other farm implements in December to protest the proposed deal.

An initial agreement was reached late last year after roughly 25 years of effort to reach its current status, and recent tariff policies announced by U.S. President Donald Trump have made the E.U.-Mercosur trade agreement more viable, according to leaders on both sides of the agreement.

Domestic political issues in France also are weakening opposition to the trade agreement there, and a former E.U. trade negotiator told The Washington Post that a consensus no longer is needed among the 27 E.U. member states regarding the trade agreement.

“Other member states were of the view that we cannot really delay this much further,” Ignacio Garcia Bercero said. “There would be a huge loss of credibility for the European Union if it cannot go ahead at this time.”

The current global political climate makes it more important for the deal to be approved as the United States and China become more aggressive in promoting their respective global economic and political goals, he added.

Jan. 17 (UPI) — Syrian forces have pushed Kurdish fighters out of several cities and villages in the Aleppo region on Saturday after Kurdish leaders announced they were withdrawing.

The Syrian military took control of Maskana and continued its advance on other communities controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces, which largely is made up of Kurds, CNN reported.

The SDF’s media center reported the Kurdish forces are “engaged in intense clashes” with the Syrian military and accused government officials in Damascus of violating a recent truce agreement.

“As a result of the Damascus government’s treachery and violation of the internationally sponsored agreement, groups of our fighters remain besieged in the towns of Deir Hafer and Maskana, despite the agreement stipulating a 48-hour deadline for our forces to withdraw,” the SDF said in an earlier post.

“The Damascus government violated the agreement and attacked our fighters using tanks,” the SDF continued.

“We hold the Damascus government and the international powers sponsoring the agreement fully responsible for the safety and lives of our besieged fighters,” it said. “We emphasize the necessity of ensuring their safe passage, along with their weapons, to areas in North and East Syria.”

The Aleppo region, where Saturday’s fighting occurred, is located in northwestern Syria and about 220 miles north of Damascus.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa earlier said he would unify the nation that had been divided during 14 years of civil war that mostly ended in late 2024 when former President Bashar al-Assad fled the country as forces led by al-Sharaa captured Damascus.

Syrian forces also took control of Deir Hafer and several other locales in the region and declared the area west of the Euphrates River to be closed to all but the nation’s military, according to Al Jazeera.

An unknown number of fighters for both sides died in the fighting, and the Syrian Interior Ministry reported its soldiers captured an SDF weapons supply depot.

Although the SDF is being eliminated in Syria, al-Sharaa has declared Kurdish to be the national language of Syria and restored the citizenship of all Syrians who are Kurds.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said imports of electricity and additional power equipment must be accelerated as Russian attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure have left the country reeling from its worst wartime energy crisis.

In a social media post on Saturday, Zelenskyy said the capital Kyiv and the Kharkiv and Zaporizhia regions were particularly hard-hit by power outages linked to the intensified Russian strikes.

“We need to accelerate as much as possible the increase in electricity imports and the provision of additional equipment from partners,” he said. “All decisions for this are already in place, and the increase in imports must proceed without delay.”

The Ukrainian government has declared an energy emergency as the damaged power grid is meeting only 60 percent of the country’s electricity needs.

The situation has also been exacerbated by exceptionally cold temperatures, leaving families across Ukraine struggling to stay warm.

Since it invaded its neighbour in February 2022, Russia has routinely targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure during the winter, seeking to put pressure on Ukrainian leaders to agree to Moscow’s demands.

The United Nations and other observers have condemned this year’s Russian assault on Ukraine’s energy, stressing that children and the elderly are most vulnerable.

Russia’s attacks are “causing terrible human suffering”, NATO chief Mark Rutte said earlier this week, adding that the military alliance was “committed to ensuring that Ukraine continues to get the crucial support needed to defend today and ultimately secure a lasting peace”.

Thousands without power

Zelenskyy said 400,000 people were experiencing “difficulties with electricity” in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, after overnight Russian strikes.

The mayor of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekhov, said three people were wounded in a Russian attack on a critical infrastructure facility in the city’s industrial district on Saturday.

“We’re talking about serious strikes on the system that keeps the city warm and lit,” he wrote on Telegram, adding that the system is “constantly operating at its limits”.

Each new strike, Terekhov added, means “maintaining a stable supply will become even more difficult, and recovery will be longer and harder”.

Authorities also said 56,000 families in the Bucha area outside Kyiv were without power after the latest Russian attacks.

Ukraine’s energy ministry has said most regions of Ukraine had electricity restrictions.

“Due to constant massive attacks by the Russian Federation, a state of emergency has been declared in the Ukrainian energy sector,” the ministry said.

Ukrainian negotiators in US

Meanwhile, Ukrainian negotiators arrived in the United States on Saturday for another round of talks with senior members of President Donald Trump’s administration, which has been pushing for a deal to end the nearly four-year conflict.

Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Zelenskyy’s office, said the delegation would meet with US envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and US Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll.

“Ukraine needs a just peace. We are working to achieve results,” Budanov said in a post on the Telegram app.

Zelenskyy said the team’s main task in the US was “to present the full and accurate picture of what Russian strikes are causing” in Ukraine.

“Among the consequences of this terror is the discrediting of the diplomatic process: people lose faith in diplomacy, and Russian attacks constantly undermine even the limited opportunities for dialogue that existed before,” he said on social media.

“The American side must understand this.”

Ukraine and the US have drafted a 20-point peace proposal, but Russia has yet to comment on it as Washington’s efforts to end the fighting have so far failed to achieve an agreement.

The Russian government has made several demands over the past months, including territorial concessions and assurances that Ukraine won’t seek NATO membership.

On Saturday, Zelenskyy again blamed Moscow for a lack of progress. “Ukraine has never been and will never be a roadblock to peace, and it is now up to our partners to determine whether diplomacy moves forward,” he said.

Stanley Nwabali denies Mohamed Salah, saving two penalties as Nigeria beats Egypt for third place at 2025 AFCON.

Goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali saved two penalties including the first from Mohamed Salah for Nigeria to beat Egypt 4-2 in a penalty shootout for third place at the Africa Cup Nations.

Ademola Lookman scored the winning penalty in Saturday’s match.

Salah and Omar Marmoush had their penalty kicks saved by Nwabali at the start of the shootout after the teams drew 0-0 in normal time. No extra time was played for the consolation of a bronze medal.

It was the Super Eagles’ second consecutive penalty shootout following a scoreless draw after losing the semifinal to Morocco on penalties on Wednesday.

Nwabali produced a strong hand to stop a well-taken penalty from Salah, then thwarted Marmoush’s effort straight down the middle with his foot.

Salah had been kept quiet by Nigeria’s defenders and was unable to add to his 11 Africa Cup goals altogether.

Victor Osimhen remained on Nigeria’s substitutes’ bench, suggesting he was carrying an injury from the semifinal defeat to Morocco. Osimhen was taken off in extra time of that game just before the penalty shootout.

The Super Eagles ended the Africa Cup on a positive note in contrast to the last edition, where they lost in the final to host Ivory Coast.

Morocco and Senegal will contest the final in Rabat on Sunday. Sadio Mane’s goal was enough to send Senegal through with a 1-0 win over Egypt in their semifinal.

The relationship between Canada and China has been acrimonious for years, but now the two countries seem to be embarking on a new chapter.

Prime Minister Mark Carney concluded what he described as a “historic” visit to Beijing this week, hailing a new strategic partnership with China that he said could set both nations up for a “new world order”.

Many argue that United States President Donald Trump’s tariffs have pushed Canada and China to forge this new partnership. So, who stands to gain the most?

Presenter: James Bays

Guests:

Einar Tangen – Senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, a Canadian think tank

William Lee – Chief economist and managing director at Global Economic Advisors

Jean Charest – Former Canadian deputy prime minister

Protesters rallied in Denmark and Greenland against US President Donald Trump’s threats to annex Greenland. Trump said he would impose tariffs from Feb. 1 on the UK, Denmark and other nations until a deal is reached ‘for the complete and total purchase of Greenland’.

US president says 10 percent tariffs to be imposed on eight countries over opposition to US control of semi-autonomous Danish territory.

President Donald Trump has said a number of European allies will be hit with a series of increasing tariffs for opposing United States control of Greenland, as he escalates his campaign to acquire the semi-autonomous territory of Denmark.

In a ‍post on ⁠Truth Social on Saturday, Trump said 10 percent tariffs would come into effect on February 1 on ​Denmark, ‌Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

He added those tariffs ‌would rise to ‌25 percent on June ⁠1 and would continue until an agreement is reached ‌for the US to buy Greenland.

There was no immediate reaction by the European countries.

Trump’s announcement came as thousands of people rallied in cities across Denmark to reject the Republican’s repeated threats to take control of Greenland.

In the capital, Copenhagen, protesters waved the flags of Denmark and Copenhagen and chanted slogans such as “Kalaallit Nunaat” – the Arctic island’s name in Greenlandic.

The protests took place hours after a bipartisan US congressional delegation in Copenhagen sought to reassure Denmark and Greenland of their support.

“I hope that the people of the Kingdom of Denmark do not abandon their faith in the American people,” said Senator Chris Coons, adding that the US has respect for Denmark and NATO “for all we’ve done together.”

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has insisted for months that the US should control Greenland. Earlier this week, he said that anything less than the Arctic island being in US hands would be “unacceptable.”

According to the latest poll published in January of last year, 85 percent of Greenlanders oppose the territory joining the US, while only 6 percent were in favour.

While Greenland and Denmark have rejected the idea of the island being “owned” by the US, efforts to get the US administration to change its stance have so far appeared to fail.

The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland left a meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington, DC, this week, saying that they “didn’t manage to change the American position”.

“It’s clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told reporters.