31/12/2025

WEDNESDAY | DEC 31, 2025

/thesuntelegram FOLLOW / Malaysian Paper

ON TELEGRAM m RAM

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Drug boat dock destroyed: Trump

WASHINGTON: The United States on Monday said it had approved a US$1.8 billion (RM7.3 billion) sale of patrol aircraft to Denmark, despite renewed tension after an envoy of President Donald Trump called again for seizing Greenland. The State Department said it approved a request from Denmark to buy the P-8A patrol and reconnaissance system from Boeing, which would include up to three aircraft. The sale would “support the foreign policy goals and national security objectives of the US by improving the security of a Nato ally that is a force for political stability and economic progress in Europe”, the State Department said in a notification to Congress. However, Europeans have been shocked by Trump’s tone on Greenland, which is an autonomous Danish territory. Trump earlier this month appointed Louisiana governor Jeff Landry as a special envoy to Greenland. Landry immediately vowed to work to make the Arctic island “a part of the US,“ leading Denmark to summon the US ambassador. – AFP Denmark to buy planes despite Greenland rift An army spokeswoman later told AFP that investigations had been conducted against 55 suspects and dismissal proceedings initiated against 19, of whom three had already left the service. – AFP BERLIN: Germany’s Defence Ministry on Monday condemned “unacceptable” abuses in an elite paratrooper regiment amid ongoing investigations into alleged sexual misconduct and right-wing extremism. The army confirmed that the probe into the unit based in the southwestern town of Zweibruecken was launched after two female soldiers filed a complaint in June. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily on Monday said several dozen soldiers were being investigated for abuses including sexual assault, “right wing extremist and antisemitic incidents”, violent rituals and drug abuse. Defence Ministry spokesman Kenneth Harms said disciplinary action had been taken against several members of the regiment, there had been “initial dismissals” and the commander had been replaced this year. “Right-wing extremism and inappropriate sexual behaviour are the offences in question. “Neither is acceptable in the Bundeswehr and it is therefore imperative to investigate the incidents thoroughly. “Anyone who has committed misconduct or even criminal offences, or who, as a superior, has looked the other way or tolerated such behaviour, will be dealt with appropriately.” Paratrooper unit faces extremism, abuse claims

GENEVA: Washington on Monday pledged an initial US$2 billion (RM 8.1 billion) for United Nations humanitarian aid in 2026, far less than it has provided in recent years, warning UN agencies to “adapt, shrink or die”. With its pledge, announced at the US mission in Geneva alongside UN aid chief Tom Fletcher, the US is pursuing an overhaul of how it funds UN humanitarian work. Instead of handing funds to individual agencies, the US would funnel its contributions through the UN aid agency OCHA, headed by Fletcher, which earlier this year launched a so-called Humanitarian Reset to improve efficiency and accountability. The US funds, welcomed by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, would then be distributed to 17 selected countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Myanmar, Sudan and Ukraine. The UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund, which provides swift aid as new emergencies erupt or when existing crises rapidly deteriorate, would also receive a tranche of money. PALM BEACH: President Donald Trump on Monday said the United States has hit and destroyed a docking area for alleged Venezuela drug boats. The operation could amount to the first land strike of the military campaign against trafficking from Latin America. Trump’s confirmation of the incident comes as he ramps up a pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who has accused Trump of seeking regime change. “There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,“ he told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida as he hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “So we hit all the boats and now we hit the area.” He would not say if it was a military or CIA operation, or where the strike occurred, saying only that it was “along the shore”. Asked if he had spoken to Maduro recently, following an earlier phone call in November, Trump said they had talked “pretty recently” but added that “nothing much comes out of it.” Trump had been asked to elaborate on apparent throwaway comments he made in a radio interview broadcast on Friday last week that seemed to mention a land strike for the first time. “They have a big plant or a big facility where they send, you know, where the ships come from. Two nights ago we knocked that out. So we hit them very hard,“ Trump told billionaire John Catsimatidis on the WABC radio station in New York. The president did not say in the interview where the facility was located or give any other details. There has been no official comment from the Venezuelan government. The Pentagon earlier referred questions to the White House. The White House did not respond to requests for comment from AFP. Trump has been threatening for weeks that ground strikes on drug

International law experts and rights groups say the strikes likely amount to extrajudicial killings, a charge that Washington denies. After Trump spoke on Monday, the US military announced on social media platform X that it had carried out another strike on a boat in the Eastern Pacific, killing two and bringing the total killed in the maritime campaign to at least 107. It did not specify where exactly the strike took place. – AFP

o Separate maritime strike by US military kills two in Eastern Pacific

what Washington says are drug smuggling boats. However, the administration has provided no evidence that the targeted boats were involved in drug trafficking, prompting debate about the legality of the operations.

cartels in the region would start “soon,“ but this is the first apparent example. US forces have also carried out numerous strikes in both the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since September, targeting

CELEBRATORY CLASH ... Revellers dressed in mock military garb take part in the Els Enfarinats winter festival, which involves a faux battle using flour and eggs in the southeastern Spanish town of Ibi. – AFPPIC

UN agencies warned to ‘adapt, shrink or die’

the people on the front lines of emergencies.“ When Fletcher launched the UN’s annual Global Humanitarian Appeal for 2026 earlier this month, he requested US$23 billion (RM93 billion) to help 87 million of the world’s most vulnerable people, with a heavy focus on dire conflict situations such as those in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, Haiti and Myanmar. The amount and scope were dramatically reduced compared to recent years, as the UN strives to adapt to a new reality since Trump returned to the White House. The UN has emphasised that the smaller appeal does not mean needs have shrunk. It estimates that some 240 million people – in conflict zones, suffering from epidemics, or victims of natural disasters and climate change – need emergency aid. In 2025, the UN’s appeal for more than US$45 billion (RM182 billion) was only funded to the US$12 billion (RM49 billion) mark, the lowest in a decade. That only allowed it to help 98 million people, 25 million fewer than the year before. – AFP

According to UN data, the US remains the top humanitarian aid donor in the world in 2025, but that amount fell significantly to US$2.7 billion (RM10.9 billion), down from about US$11 billion (RM44 billion) in 2023 and 2024, and from more than US$14 billion (RM57 billion) in 2022. Other key donor countries have also been tightening their belts, triggering major upheaval in the global aid sector. “Individual UN agencies will need to adapt, shrink, or die,“ said the State Department in a statement. Fletcher, who is British, said the US pledge was an “extraordinary” commitment, while Guterres said it would help save lives. “Every dollar counts, and we are committed to making the most of this support to deliver real results for people in desperate need,“ said Guterres’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric. Fletcher said reform of the humanitarian system was in the pipeline, and US taxpayers would be able to see how their money was saving lives. “We are making humanitarian action faster, smarter and closer to

“It anchor commitment,“ senior US official for foreign assistance, humanitarian affairs and religious freedom Jeremy Lewin told reporters. “There are other countries that we will add, as we continue to get more funding into this mechanism.” Among the crises not listed were Yemen and Afghanistan, in which Lewin stressed the need to “prevent diversion to the Taliban and other US-designated foreign terrorist organisations”. Gaza was also absent, but Lewin said there would be more focus on aid for the war-ravaged Palestinian territory as US President Donald Trump’s truce plan with Israel moves forward. “This new model will better share the burden of UN humanitarian work with other developed countries and will require the UN to cut bloat, remove duplication and commit to powerful new impact, accountability and oversight mechanisms,“ US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on social media platform X. Lewin invited other countries to match or beat US funding for UN aid. is an initial