International News

Trump Set For Return To Power, Promises 100 Executive Orders In ‘Hours’

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1 year ago

January 20, 2025

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US President-elect Donald Trump reacts during a MAGA victory rally at Capital One Arena in Washington, DC, on January 19, 2025, one day ahead of his inauguration ceremony. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP)

Donald Trump will be sworn in for a historic second term as US president Monday, promising a new “golden age” for America as the world braces for a return of his unpredictable leadership.

Freezing weather has forced the 78-year-old’s inauguration at the US Capitol indoors, but the first hours of the most extraordinary comeback in American politics will be a blaze of activity.

The Republican vowed to unleash a blitz of executive orders undoing Joe Biden’s legacy upon his return to the White House, and to launch immediate deportations of undocumented migrants.

If Trump painted a dystopian picture of “American carnage” at his first inauguration in 2017, this time around he is offering a more upbeat promise of a “brand new day” for the United States.

“I will act with historic speed and strength and fix every single crisis facing our country,” Trump told a huge inauguration eve rally where he also danced with the Village People band.

But the billionaire populist also returned to some of the dark themes that drove his election victory over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in November.

The incoming 47th US president said he would “stop the invasion of our borders” and reverse “woke” policies including “transgender insanity” in US schools.

‘Golden age’

US President-elect Donald Trump arrives to speak at a MAGA victory rally at Capital One Arena in Washington, DC on January 19, 2025, one day ahead of his inauguration ceremony. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP)

Trump will make history by replacing Biden as the oldest president to be sworn in. He is also just the second president in US history to return to power after being voted out, after Grover Cleveland in 1893.

Ahead of the inauguration, Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will host Trump and his wife Melania for “tea and coffee” at the White House, before they all travel together to the Capitol.

The display of civility will be a stark contrast to 2021 when Trump — who riled a crowd that attacked the US Capitol in a bid to overturn his election loss — refused to attend Biden’s inauguration.

Trump’s triumphal mood has meanwhile not been chilled by the fact that the swearing-in on the steps of the Capitol had to be moved due to predictions of the coldest Inauguration Day for 40 years.

Instead of taking the oath in front of a huge crowd on the National Mall, Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance will do so inside the domed Rotunda of the Capitol, as Ronald Reagan did in 1985.

“As soon as President Trump places his hand on the Bible and swears the Oath to the United States Constitution, the Golden Age of America will begin,” spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said on X.

But there are still many Americans concerned by Trump’s darker promises — the vows of retribution against his political opponents and journalists.

Trump returns to the Oval Office more powerful than ever, capping a journey that saw him defy two assassination attempts and a criminal conviction to win the election.

Once a political outsider, Trump has become the new normal for US politics.

Three of the world’s richest men — tech tycoons Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos — will be alongside Trump for the inauguration.

Tesla, SpaceX and X boss Musk, who will head a cost-cutting effort in the new administration, promised at Sunday’s rally to make America strong “for centuries.”

‘Very happy’

Supporters of US President-elect Donald Trump line up on the National Mall for a MAGA victory rally at Capital One Arena in Washington, DC, on January 19, 2025, one day ahead of Trump’s inauguration. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

Trump — who said during the election campaign he would only be a dictator on “day one” — has promised to sign around 100 executive orders within hours of taking office.

They include declaring a national emergency on the southern US border with Mexico, and undoing the Biden administration’s directives on diversity and oil drilling.

Trump added that supporters would be “very happy” with a decision pardoning January 6 rioters.

For the rest of the world, Trump’s return means expecting the unexpected.

From promising sweeping tariffs, to making territorial threats to Greenland and Panama and calling US aid for Ukraine into question, Trump looks set to rattle the global order once again.

His victory has also emboldened right-wing politicians around the world. Italy’s far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is set to attend the inauguration even though foreign leaders are not normally invited.

AFP

International News

Israel Says It had Struck Two Naval Missile Production Sites In Tehran

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4 hours ago

March 25, 2026

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The Israeli military announced on Wednesday it had struck two naval cruise missile production facilities operating under Iran’s ministry of defence in Tehran.

“In recent days, the Israeli air force acting on IDF intelligence struck two key naval cruise missile production sites in Tehran,” the military said.

It said the facilities were used to “develop and manufacture long-range naval cruise missiles, which are capable of rapidly destroying targets at sea and on land”.

The strikes “represent another step in deepening the damage done to the regime’s military production infrastructure”, the military added.

Last week, the military announced its fighter jets had struck several Iranian naval ships in the Caspian Sea, including vessels equipped with anti-submarine missiles.

AFP

International News

2025 ‘Deadliest Year’ Yet For Red Sea Migrants, UN Reports 922 Deaths

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4 hours ago

March 25, 2026

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The number of migrants who died on the “Eastern Route” from the Horn of Africa to the Arabian Peninsula doubled to a record high of 922 last year, the UN migration agency said Wednesday.

Tens of thousands of migrants from Ethiopia, Somalia and neighbouring countries take the route across the Red Sea each year, mostly from Djibouti to Yemen, in search of work as labourers or domestic workers in wealthy Gulf countries.

“2025 was the deadliest year ever recorded on the Eastern migration route… with 922 people dead or missing — double the number from the previous year,” Tanja Pacifico, head of mission for the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Djibouti, told AFP.

The majority of victims were from Ethiopia, the second most-populous country in Africa with more than 130 million people. It is plagued by multiple internal conflicts and deep poverty.

“IOM remains fully committed to working alongside the government of Djibouti to promote safe and dignified migration pathways, in order to prevent further tragedies,” said Pacifico.

Many migrants who cross the Red Sea find themselves stuck in Yemen, the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula, which has been embroiled in a civil war for nearly a decade, and some even choose to return.

Rapid economic growth in Ethiopia — estimated to reach around 10 percent in 2026 — could encourage less migration, IOM says, but that is mitigated by high inflation, also around 10 percent in February.

AFP

International News

Denmark Faces Lengthy Negotiations To Form A Government

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4 hours ago

March 25, 2026

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Election workers recount ballots in the Marselisborg Hallen in Aarhus, Denmark on March 25, 2026. (Photo by Mikkel Berg Pedersen / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP) /

Denmark’s political parties began the thorny process of forming a government Wednesday, with the centrist Moderates as kingmaker after the prime minister’s Social Democrats scraped through a general election without a majority.

Greenland’s Inuit Ataqatigiit party member Naaja Nathanielsen (C) looks on in a polling station in Nuuk, on March 24, 2026, during the parliamentary election in Denmark (Photo by Oscar Scott Carl / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP) / Denmark OUT

Danes were braced for a weeks-long process as Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen seeks to consolidate power in the deeply splintered parliament after Tuesday’s snap vote.

Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen arrives at Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen to inform the king about the election result one day after the parliamentary election on March 25, 2026. (Photo by Martin Sylvest / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP)

A left-wing bloc made up of five parties, including Frederiksen’s Social Democrats, won 84 seats; the right-wing and far-right claimed 77; and the Moderates won 14 in the election.

The Social Democrats posted their worst election score since 1903—though they remained Denmark’s largest single party, with 38 seats in the 179-seat parliament.

Chairwoman of the Social Democrats Mette Frederiksen attends a party leader debate hosted by Publicists’ Club one the day after the parliamentary election at the Confederation of Danish Industry’s building in Copenhagen on March 25, 2026. (Photo by Liselotte Sabroe / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP)

Frederiksen formally tendered her coalition government’s resignation to King Frederik on Wednesday, telling a televised party leader debate she wanted to try to form a centre-left government.

“The most realistic scenario” would be a coalition with the five parties on the left and the centre-right Moderates, she said.

But it is not certain the Moderates, led by Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, would agree to that.

“I don’t believe that Denmark needs policies aligned with” the leftist Red-Green Alliance, Lokke said.

Chairman of the Moderates Lars Loekke Rasmussen attends a party leader debate at the Confederation of Danish Industry’s building in Copenhagen on March 25, 2026, the day after the parliamentary election. (Photo by Liselotte Sabroe / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP) / Denmark OUT

King Frederik was to meet party leaders individually later Wednesday to determine who should be asked to try to form the next government.

“My expectation is that Mette Frederiksen will become prime minister,” University of Copenhagen political science professor Rune Stubager told reporters.

“But I don’t know with the backing of which parties, like the left wing or the right wing,” he said.

He noted that Lokke, a two-time former prime minister, would likely vie for the position of prime minister, even though he has adamantly denied any interest in the job.

“Danes want me and not another prime minister. I still have the backing to be able to continue on behalf of the Danish people,” Frederiksen insisted during the debate.

Frederiksen has for the past four years headed an unprecedented left-right coalition made up of her Social Democrats, the Moderates and the Liberals.

The Liberals have refused to continue in a Social Democrat-led government.

‘Too Hard To Say’

Danes are now prepared for long negotiations. After the 2022 election, the talks lasted six weeks.

“It’s a long process, which means the government won’t be formed and it will be quite difficult to pass laws during this period,” lamented Jesper Dyrfjeld Christensen, a 54-year-old engineer.

“It’s really too hard to say who will be part of the coalition,” admitted Stubager.

With 12 parties in parliament, the political landscape is jagged — though Denmark is accustomed to minority governments.

“To some extent, this is the way Danish politics works. You have a minority government in the centre which forms a majority with the left on some issues and with the right on others,” he explained.

The negotiations are expected to focus on economic and pension issues, pollution and immigration, he said.

The traditional far-right party, the Danish People’s Party, which has heavily influenced policy since the late 1990s but slumped in the 2022 election, more than tripled its result to 9.1 per cent of votes.

The three anti-immigration groups together garnered 17 per cent, a stable figure for Denmark’s populist right over the past two decades.

“If negotiations take place in the left-wing bloc with the moderates, then there will be more focus on green issues than on immigration,” Stubager said.

“But if, instead, the Moderates negotiate with the parties on the right, then the central issue will be immigration.”

Four seats in Denmark’s parliament are held by its two autonomous territories — two for Greenland and two for the Faroe Islands.

While the Faroese renewed the mandates of the two outgoing lawmakers, with one for each bloc, Greenland overwhelmingly backed the left-wing party and Naleraq, which advocates rapid independence from Denmark.

AFP