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Two ships on a collision course in the North Sea
- Quentin Top / Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect
4: Markets continued to plunge Monday due to investor uncertainty over US President Donald Trump’s tariff policies. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.4%, the S&P 500 dropped by over 2.5%, and the Nasdaq plummeted as much as 4%, adding to losses of more than 2% last week. The election Sunday of Canadian Liberal leader Mark Carney, who signaled a tough stance on tariffs, also added further volatility ahead of key inflation reports and Federal Reserve data to be released later this week.
2:Prince Frederik of Luxembourg has died from POLG mitochondrial disease, a rare genetic disorder that affects the body’s ability to produce energy and leads to progressive organ failure and significantly reduced life expectancy. Approximately2% of the population carry POLG mutations, but not all will have symptoms:An Australian study found that 10% of adults with the mutation fell ill to varying degrees.
1,000: Military drone attacks have killedover 1,000 civilians in Africa and injured hundreds more in at least 50 strikes between 2021 and 2024, according to a report by Drone Wars UK. Drone strikes have been conducted in conflicts in Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Ethiopia, and the report calls for immediate international action to address their “indiscriminate” use in warfare.
12: Call it too much of a good thing: Japan’s northern ski resorts have experienced record snowfall this season, with some areas receivingover 12 feet of snow. While the heavy snow has attracted a surge of tourists, it has also closed roads, caused avalanches, and proved a headache for ski resorts struggling to groom trails and keep common spaces, such as parking lots, clear for visitors.Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., talks with reporters in Russell building after a senate vote on Wednesday, February 19, 2025.
Republicans need at least eight Democratic votes, assuming no additional GOP lawmakers join Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who has committed to voting against the bill.
Democrats in the House have vowed to oppose the bill unless it includes language mandating that the Trump administration can’t cut the funds they allocate, but a few Dems in the Senate may be willing to side with Republicans. Democratic Sen. John Fetterman,for example, has already committed to backing the bill.
The bill would extend government funding at current levels for seven months while adding $6 billion for defense funding and cutting $13 billion from nondefense spending. While that means some nondefense programs will be cut, it’s not expected to touch Medicaid or Social Security, or to be used as a means for Congress to hop on the DOGE train and start drastically downsizing the government. Those larger budget battles aren’t likely until the fall, when Congress needs to set a budget for next year.
Election campaign posters are pictured on a street ahead of a March 11 general election in Nuuk, Greenland, March 9, 2025.
Greenlanders are heading to the polls on Tuesday.
Home to about 60,000 mostly Inuit-descended Greenlanders, the world’s largest island is a semi-autonomous region of Denmark. US President Donald Trump has recently amped up rhetoric about taking over Greenland, even telling Congress he would “get” the Arctic territory “one way or the other.”
Who’s in the race? The ruling faction in Greenland’s single-chamber Inatsisartut is the Inuit Ataqatigiit, a left-wing party that supports independence but opposes mining projects as a means of becoming less economically reliant on Denmark.
The IA is in a coalition with the center-left Siumut, which historically opposed independence. In a shift last month, the leader of Siumut – seen as more open to mining – pledged to hold an independence referendum.
The largest opposition party is the centrist pro-independence Naleraq.
While there’s been scant public polling showing where each party stands, 56% of Greenlanders backed independence in a January survey, while 85% rejected the idea of joining the US.
Does that mean independence? Not automatically, but it’s trending that way.Prime Minister Múte B. Egede has also stepped up calls to break away from Denmark in recent months. A 2009 Danish law gives Greenland the right to unilaterally call an independence referendum.
What result would be good for Trump? No party is interested in joining the US, but Naleraq is more vocally open to closer ties with Washington.
A boy holds a sign reading "Calin Georgescu President" during an anti-government rally in Bucharest, Romania.
Georgescuhas appealed his exclusion.
The background: Last year, Georgescu – a once-fringe figure – won the first round of the presidential election after an 11th-hour flood of TikTok videos boosted his views: He opposes NATO’s help for Ukraine and admires Romania’s 20th-century fascist leaders. Authorities blamed a Russian influence campaign, without providing clear evidence, and canceled the results.
Why it matters: Foreign policy is one area where Romania’s mostly ceremonial presidency has real power. Romania, a NATO member, borders Ukraine and is a key piece of the alliance’s support for Kyiv.
Georgescu’s ban drew sharp reactions. Hundreds of his supporters clashed with police in Bucharest, and even Georgescu’s main opponent, pro-NATO candidate Elena Lasconi, who called the election annulment “an affront to the very essence of democracy,” has spoken out against the ban.
What’s next: Romania’s Constitutional Court will rule on the appeal by Wednesday.
The bigger question: Is it OK for a democracy to ban a leading candidate in the name of … democracy?
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk attends a European Union leaders special summit to discuss Ukraine and European defense in Brussels, Belgium, on March 6, 2025.
When Poland joined NATO in 1999, it appeared the country could count on the most successful military alliance in history to protect its borders against future threats. At the time, an American renunciation of NATO was hard to imagine.
On Friday, Tusk warned his country that a “profound change of American geopolitics” forces his government to prepare to double the size of its military and to “reach for opportunities related to nuclear weapons.” In the past, Poland’s leaders have suggested hosting the nuclear weapons of others, but the hint that Poland might develop its own arsenal in response to potential Russian aggression and a feared US retreat from Europe is something new.
Tusk’s jarring comments reflect a spiral in relations between Tusk’s government and the Donald Trump administration. A series ofaccusations and insults flew over the weekend between Poland’s foreign minister, Trump adviser Elon Musk, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio over the Musk-owned Starlink satellite system that supports Ukraine’s forces on the battlefield.
The PM’s suggestion that Poland might look to nuclear weapons in part reflects political worries. Poland will hold a first round ofpresidential elections in May, and Poles look likely to back a leader they believe can stand up to both Trump and Vladimir Putin.
But acquiring nuclear weapons would be time-consuming, politically fraught, and enormously expensive for Poland.
Former Bank of Canada and Bank of England Governor Mark Carney listens to outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's speech just before being elected to succeed Trudeau as Liberal Party leader on Sunday, March 9, in Ottawa, Canada.
Mark Carney, former governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, won the leadership of Canada’s Liberal Party on Sunday, succeeding outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Carney, 59, decisively defeated former deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, former Minister of Democratic Institutions Karina Gould, and former MP and businessman Frank Baylis, garnering a whopping 85.9% of the vote. The campaign was dominated by US President Donald Trump’s threats of tariffs and territorial annexation.
In his victory speech in Ottawa, Carney said “Donald Trump has put unjustified tariffs on what we build, what we sell, how we make a living. He is attacking Canadian families, workers, and businesses, and we cannot let him succeed. And we won’t.” He added, “My government will keep our tariffs on until the Americans show us respect.”
Carney is expected to be sworn in as prime minister by March 19. His immediate priorities include forming a cabinet and winning a seat in Parliament, but his minority government also faces a non-confidence vote when Parliament is scheduled to reconvene on March 24. For this reason, Carney is expected to call an election before that date. He will face off against Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre in what is an increasingly tight race.
What issues will be on the table? Trump, Trump, and more Trump. Thirty-six percent of voters say Trump is the most important issue for them, with jobs and the economy second at 29%. The most recent poll found the Liberals closing in on the Conservatives, 34.3 to 36.5%. Two months ago, the Conservatives had a 25% lead, which evaporated following Trudeau’s resignation and Trump taking power in Washington.
What has Carney proposed? Carney would implement retaliatory tariffs targeting key US industries and diversify Canada’s trade partnerships. He also pledged to boost stagnant wages and lower high housing costs, and in his speech he said he would eliminate the carbon tax on families, farmers, and small and medium-sized businesses and scrap a controversial capital gains increase.
Syrian fighters and civilians carry the coffin of a member of the Syrian security forces during his funeral in Hama province after he and 11 other colleagues were killed in an ambush by groups loyal to the ousted President Bashar al-Assad in Latakia.
The fighting started when some of Assad’s supporters — many of whom now feel under threat in this new Syria — ambushed a government security patrol near Latakia, prompting reprisals from Sunni militants in the Alawite heartland. New leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, whose Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham seized power just three months ago, urged combatants to drop their weapons.
“We find ourselves facing a new danger — attempts by remnants of the former regime and their foreign backers to incite new strife and drag our country into a civil war,” al-Sharaa said Sunday, amid reports that foreign fighters were involved. Government forces said they have restored control of the coastal region.
The long and winding road to peace: It was just three months ago when al-Sharaa’s forces swept into power, ending Assad’s reign of terror. The interim leader has since tried to promote peace and national unity – even visiting Latakia last month, where he appeared to receive a hero’s welcome. But real progress will depend on al-Shaara’s ability to provide inclusive governance and enforce the rule of law to address the causes of sectarian tensions.