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US will get Greenland one way or the other: Trump

18 killed in Pakistan attack

PESHAWAR: Thirteen civilians and five soldiers were killed when suicide bombers drove two explosive-laden cars into an army compound in northwestern Pakistan, the military said yesterday. Four children were among those killed in Tuesday’s attack, which involved four suicide bombers. The attack took place in Bannu, a district in the turbulent Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province close to Afghanistan and next to the formerly self-governed tribal areas, once a hotbed for militancy. “The terrorists entered Bannu Cantt from two different directions and, after an intense operation lasting several hours until this morning, all attackers were eliminated,” Chief Minister Pakhtoon Yar Khan said, adding that four children and three women were killed. Plumes of grey smoke rose into the air after the two explosions, with gunfire heard throughout the night. “In this intense exchange of fire, five brave soldiers, after putting up a heroic resistance, embraced martyrdom in the line of duty,”the military said in a statement yesterday, adding that 13 civilians were also killed. The statement said 16 “terrorists”, including four suicide bombers, were killed, while a nearby mosque and residential area were severely damaged. Thousands of people, including security officials, attended funerals for 12 of the civilians held at a sports complex in Bannu yesterday afternoon. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif denounced the attackers as “cowardly terrorists who deserve no mercy”. The attack was claimed by a faction of the Hafiz Gul Bahadur armed group, which actively supported the Afghan Taliban in its war against the US-led Nato coalition between 2001 and 2021. – AFP BYRON BAY: A rare tropical cyclone veered towards Australia’s densely populated eastern coast yesterday, sparking emergency warnings, closing hundreds of schools, and threatening to flood thousands of homes. Tropical Cyclone Alfred would strike tomorrow near bustling Brisbane city, forecasters said, the first typhoon to hit the region in more than 50 years. Flooding rains, destructive winds and violent waves were expected to batter a densely populated 300km stretch of coastline straddling the border of Queensland state and New South Wales. Almost 20,000 homes in Brisbane city alone are at risk of being inundated, according to city council modelling. – AFP RAIN OFFERS HOPE FOR WILDFIRE RELIEF IN JAPAN OFUNATO: As Japan battled its worst wildfire in half a century yesterday in a region hit by record-low rainfall, wet weather has given hope for some relief. Rain and snow were falling yesterday with more wet weather forecast through today. The blaze around the northern city of Ofunato in the Iwate region has raged for more than a week, killing one person and forcing nearly 4,000 to evacuate their homes. It has engulfed around 2,900ha, making it the largest wildfire since at least 1975, when 2,700ha burned on Hokkaido island. At least 84 buildings are believed to have been damaged, although details are still being assessed, according to the fire agency. – AFP BRISBANE READIES FOR TROPICAL CYCLONE

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump urged Greenland on Tuesday to choose to join the United States but vowed to take the Danish ruled island “one way or the other” – whatever the locals decide. In a partisan speech to Congress, Trump offered only passing lines on world affairs, focusing on his domestic goals like rounding up undocumented immigrants and slashing government spending. But he underlined his expansionist vision of the United States, as he repeated his aspirations to take Greenland and claimed an initial victory on retaking control of the Panama Canal. One week before general elections in Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark with an independence movement, Trump said he had a message for the “incredible people” of the sparsely populated but mineral-rich and strategically-placed island. o President underlines expansionist vision in speech

Panama – and we’re taking it back,” he said. Trump had earlier not ruled out military force to seize either the Panama Canal or Greenland. Trump has paradoxically sought to cast himself as a peacemaker. He has vowed to end the war in Ukraine and has rattled allies by suspending aid to the country, which Russia invaded three years ago. Trump and Vice-President JD Vance berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky when he visited the White House on Friday, calling him ungrateful. Addressing Congress, Trump read a message from Zelensky in which the Ukrainian leader sought to repair the damage and voiced a willingness to a sign a deal in which the United States would take much of Ukraine’s mineral wealth. “It’s time to end this senseless war. If you want to end wars, you have to talk to both sides,” Trump said. The Trump administration has cancelled more than 90% of development assistance, a key source of US non-military influence. Trump has described aid as not in the US interest. – AFP

“We strongly support your right to determine your own future, and if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America,” Trump said. But he made clear he would not give up if persuasion fails, saying: “One way or the other we’re going to get it. “We will keep you safe, we will make you rich, and together, we will take Greenland to heights like you have never thought possible before.” US threats to take Greenland would once have been unthinkable, with Denmark a treaty ally of the United States under Nato. But Trump has made clear he has little patience for European allies, which he again denounced for not spending more on their militaries, with Trump instead seeing a return to an era of big powers taking what they want. He has similarly vowed to take back the Panama Canal, the crucial link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans that the United States handed to Panama at the end of 1999. Trump declared triumph after Hong Kong firm CK Hutchison decided to sell its Panama ports to a US-led consortium. “We didn’t give it to China. Gave it to

BR I E F S

Xi (left) and Li confer during the opening session of the NPC yesterday. – AFPPIC

China lawmakers bullish despite ‘turbulent’ world BEIJING: Chinese lawmakers said they were confident in the country’s prospects despite a host of gnarly challenges, after a morning of meticulously choreographed fanfare at an annual political gathering in Beijing. spending plans for the year ahead. An official “work report” presented in a speech to delegates by Premier Li Qiang showed that Beijing is eyeing national growth this year of “around 5%” – the same as 2024. with open arms,” Liu said. Earlier, nearly 3,000 representatives rose to their feet and fervently applauded as President Xi Jinping and other top leaders entered the cavernous auditorium.

Attendees then sang along as a military band played China’s national anthem ahead of Li’s speech. Yin Jianmin, an NPC representative from the poor, arid northwestern province of Gansu, told AFP outside the hall that Li’s words showed her that “China is strong and will develop better and better”. “At the same time, the report pointed out a very bright road for our Chinese private entrepreneurs,” she said. Yin, 64, currently serves as head of a natural gas company and was in Beijing to attend her third annual “Two Sessions”. “I also hope that entrepreneurs from all over the country will come to Gansu to invest and develop,” she said. – AFP

The world’s second-largest economy has charted an uneven course since the pandemic, bogged down by lacklustre domestic consumption and a prolonged debt crisis in the vast property sector. Many economists view the newest goal as ambitious. And just a few weeks in, US President Donald Trump’s second term threatens to significantly exacerbate trade headwinds facing the export powerhouse this year. But Liu said after the session that he “warmly welcomed”Trump’s second term. “No matter who is president (of the United States), as long as they are beneficial to global development and help global stability, unity and economic development, I will welcome them

Following the opening session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing’s opulent Great Hall of the People, representatives emerged into Tiananmen Square, brightly lit by the mid-morning sun. “The international situation is very turbulent now, especially the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israeli-Palestinian war,” said Liu Hui, an NPC delegate from the central province of Jiangxi, told journalists. “But China is very stable internally, and we also have strong confidence, such as in improving our economy.” Yesterday’s proceedings – part of the country’s biggest annual political gathering known as the “Two Sessions” – saw the government disclose highly anticipated