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Europe
Norway
30 January 2025 The two-party, center-left, minority government coalition that has ruled the Nordic country since the 2021 parliament elections has collapsed following the Center Party's rejection of three EU directives on clean energy. Center Party leader and Finance Minister Vedum says he can not accept the directives that are part of EU's fourth energy package. The regulations are aimed at making the continent, including Norway, more energy efficient. The Fourth Energy Package is also known as 'Clean Energy for all Europeans.' "I believe it is wrong to give away more power to Brussels," Vedum has repeatedly underlined over the last weeks. He argues that Norway should halt and reverse integration in European energy policies. The Center Party has scored low on polls over the past year and it is now believed to flag its anti-European policies ahead of the upcoming September 2025 elections. The Center Party has its core support among farmers and agrarians and is strongly opposed also to the European Economic Area (EEA) Agreement, the deal that was negotiated after Norway's 'no' in the 1994 referendum on EU membership. 'Politics in Oslo today increasingly appear dominated by politicians who question basic pillars in Norway's international cooperation". PM Støre will now form a new government with members only from his Labour Party. (Source: The Barents Observer - Norway)
Sweden
30 January 2025 Quran-burning activist Momika, an Iraqi refugee in Sweden after carrying out several Quran burnings, has been shot dead on the evening of January 29. (Source: Brussels Signal)
Ukraine
Jan. 30, 2025 A Russian drone blasted a hole in an apartment building in northeastern Sumy city during a nighttime attack, killing at least six people and wounding nine others. The battlefield fighting has been especially fierce in recent times in the eastern Donetsk region, which Russian forces partly occupy and appear bent on capturing completely in coming months. A Russian artillery strike on the Donetsk city of Kramatorsk wounded 13 people. In Odesa region, Russian drones damaged a hospital and two apartment buildings. (Source: Los Angeles Times - U.S.)
North America
United States
(Thursday), January 30, 2025 During his first week in office, Trump and the presidents of Russia and Ukraine continued to stake out their negotiating positions ahead of a widely anticipated U.S.-led push to end the conflict. Russian President Putin, said on Friday that he was “ready for negotiations” and suggested meeting with Trump in person, describing his relationship with the U.S. leader as “businesslike, pragmatic, and trustworthy.” Last week, at World Economic Forum in Davos President Zelensky berated European leaders for not investing more in the continent’s defense, later saying that it would take a 200,000-strong European peacekeeping force to deter Russia from attacking again in the wake of a settlement. Trump threatened to impose “high levels” of taxes, tariffs, and sanctions on Russian imports if a deal isn’t reached soon. Experts say they see no sign that Putin is ready to climb down from his ultimate goal of permanently bending Ukraine to his will. Moscow’s war aims remain unchanged as the third anniversary of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine looms: It’s about Ukraine not in NATO and NATO not in Ukraine. The Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C., directed to an article originally published in December by the country’s former president, Medvedev, in which he wrote that “Ukraine today stands at a crossroads: to align with Russia or to vanish from the world map altogether” and that the country should “resist opposing themselves to the pan-Russian project, and drive out the demons of political Ukrainianism.” The Biden administration, which led the Western coalition in supporting Kyiv, has packed its bags. Russian forces are making gradual gains in eastern Ukraine. The Russian leader believes that he is very close to achieving his objective of forcing the capitulation of Kyiv. Putin is not opposed to talks with Trump, so long as they secure the same outcome. Trump’s threat of tariffs would have limited impact, Putin unlikely to be bowed by economic pressure. Moscow was exporting $2.8 billion worth of goods to the United States last year, down from almost $30 billion in 2021. Moscow has continued to find workarounds, including by turning to Iran, China, and North Korea to sell its energy and procure weapons. A surge in defense spending, which will account for some 40 percent of the state budget this year, has fueled economic growth, driving up wages - particularly among the working class - which has helped pacify the population. Trump’s lieutenants have floated ideas for how to end the war. In April 2024, retired Lt. Gen. Kellogg, sketched out the broad contours of a deal that would see Ukraine temporarily lose control of Russian-occupied territories in exchange for unspecified security guarantees from the United States, while Ukraine’s NATO membership would be taken off the table for an extended period. He since been tasked by Trump to serve as special envoy for Russia and Ukraine. Whether Putin would be willing to abandon his efforts to keep Ukraine out of NATO by force in exchange for a diplomatic agreement to put the question of the country’s membership in the alliance on ice will likely depend on the details of such an agreement. (Source: Foreign Policy - U.S.)
By Mackinnon
Jan. 30, 2025 Secretary of Defense Hegseth and NATO Secretary General Rutte held an introductory call yesterday to discuss their shared commitment to building a stronger, more lethal NATO Alliance. Both leaders stressed the importance of raising Allied defense spending and expanding defense industrial base capacity on both sides of the Atlantic. Secretary Hegseth emphasized that the United States is fully committed, under President Trump's leadership, to pursuing these objectives in the face of today's threats. Both leaders agreed to work closely together and to meet in person soon. (Source: U.S. Department of Defense)
January 30, 2025 Yesterday, United States President Trump ordered the construction of a 30,000-bed facility at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba to detain migrants, because “we don’t even trust the countries to hold them [and] we don't want them coming back.” It suggests an intention to hold people in limbo for a long time. Guantánamo is a remote, highly controlled overseas US military installation, which the US government has used to evade legal protections and public scrutiny. “The name Guantánamo is synonymous with shame and infamy as the site of torture where prisoners are still being held for years without charge or trial,” said Frelick, refugee and migrant rights director at Human Rights Watch. “When detention becomes prolonged and indefinite and untethered from proper oversight, it violates human rights and may amount to torture.” (Source: Human Rights Watch, a non-governmental organization. Headquartered in New York, U.S.)
30 January 2025 American Airlines Flight 5342 was approaching Washington's Reagan National Airport at around 9pm yesterday when the military chopper and plane collided in mid-air, before falling into the Potomac River. The plane held four crew members and 60 passengers, while the helicopter was carrying three soldiers on a 'training flight'. Conspiracy theorists have rushed to social media. Some allege the helicopter appeared to 'chase' the Bombardier plane as it approached for landing. Others have demanded to 'know who was on that passenger plane', suggesting that the incident was a 'targeted hit'. (Source: Daily Mail - United Kingdom)
Thursday, January 30, 2025 At least 28 bodies were pulled from the icy waters of the Potomac River after an American Airlines jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided with an Army helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington DC. (Source: Morning Star - United Kingdom)
Global
30 January 2025 The places that don’t celebrate New Year’s Day - Enkutatash; Losar; Lunar New Year; Nowruz; Nyepi; Songkran - on 1 January. (Source: Geographical - the magazine of the Royal Geographical Society, based in London, United Kingdom)
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