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Biden: US Boosting Force Posture in Europe for Russia Threat

NATO's Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg (L), and Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez (R), greet US President, Joe Biden, before they pose for a family photo during the first day of the NATO Summit at IFEMA Convention Center, in Madrid, Spain, 29 June 2022. (EPA)
NATO's Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg (L), and Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez (R), greet US President, Joe Biden, before they pose for a family photo during the first day of the NATO Summit at IFEMA Convention Center, in Madrid, Spain, 29 June 2022. (EPA)
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Biden: US Boosting Force Posture in Europe for Russia Threat

NATO's Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg (L), and Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez (R), greet US President, Joe Biden, before they pose for a family photo during the first day of the NATO Summit at IFEMA Convention Center, in Madrid, Spain, 29 June 2022. (EPA)
NATO's Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg (L), and Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez (R), greet US President, Joe Biden, before they pose for a family photo during the first day of the NATO Summit at IFEMA Convention Center, in Madrid, Spain, 29 June 2022. (EPA)

President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the US is enhancing its military presence in Europe for the long haul to bolster regional security after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Madrid at the opening of the alliance’s annual leaders summit, Biden said "NATO is strong and united" and that steps to be taken during the gathering will "further augment our collective strength."

Biden opened his participation in the summit by announcing that the US is establishing a permanent headquarters in Poland, sending two additional F-35 fighter jet squadrons to the UK and will send more air defense and other capabilities to Germany and Italy.

"Today I’m announcing the United States will enhance our force posture in Europe and respond to the changing security environment as well as strengthening our collective security," he said.

Stoltenberg, who earlier Wednesday said the alliance was facing its biggest challenge since World War II, welcomed Biden's announcement.

"This really demonstrates your decisive leadership and strength in the trans-Atlantic bond," Stoltenberg said, thanking Biden for the "unwavering support from you and from the United States to Ukraine."

Biden said the US will permanently station the US Army V Corps forward command in Poland, a move that he said would strengthen US-NATO interoperability across the alliance's eastern flank. The move marks the first permanent basing of US forces on NATO’s eastern edge. Biden added that the US is also stepping up its rotational deployments of troops to the Baltic region.

Biden announced after arriving for the summit on Tuesday that the US would base two additional destroyers at its naval base in Rota, Spain, bringing the total number to six.

The US currently has more than 100,000 servicemembers deployed across Europe, up by about 20,000 since just before Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine began four months ago.

Biden predicted that meetings this week would make for a "history-making summit" as leaders were set to approve a new strategic framework, announce a range of steps to boost their defense spending and capabilities, and clear the way for historically neutral Finland and Sweden to join NATO.

Biden said Putin thought NATO members would splinter after he invaded Ukraine, but got the opposite response instead.

"Putin was looking for the Finland-ization of Europe," Biden said. "You’re gonna get the NATO-ization of Europe. And that’s exactly what he didn’t want, but exactly what needs to be done to guarantee security for Europe."

Turkey, the last remaining holdout to approve the Nordic countries’ accession into NATO, reached an agreement on the eve of the summit late Tuesday to support adding them to the 30-nation alliance.

While the White House said the US was not a direct party to the negotiations, a senior administration official said Biden spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday to encourage him to clear the way for Sweden and Finland to join. The two leaders are set to meet Wednesday afternoon to discuss other issues, the White House said.

Biden will also sit down Wednesday with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who are attending the NATO summit as the alliance looks to strengthen its ties in the Indo-Pacific region and address challenges from China.

The White House said the three leaders would also discuss North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

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World

Glitch Delays Restart of World's Biggest Nuclear Plant in Japan

Local Japanese authorities have approved the restart of the world's biggest nuclear power facility, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant, for the first time since the 2011 Fukushima disaster. STR / JIJI Press/AFP
Local Japanese authorities have approved the restart of the world's biggest nuclear power facility, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant, for the first time since the 2011 Fukushima disaster. STR / JIJI Press/AFP
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Glitch Delays Restart of World's Biggest Nuclear Plant in Japan

Local Japanese authorities have approved the restart of the world's biggest nuclear power facility, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant, for the first time since the 2011 Fukushima disaster. STR / JIJI Press/AFP
Local Japanese authorities have approved the restart of the world's biggest nuclear power facility, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant, for the first time since the 2011 Fukushima disaster. STR / JIJI Press/AFP

A technical glitch pushed back the restart of the world's biggest nuclear reactor in Japan, its operator said on Monday, a day before local media reported it would go online.

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said it would need another day of two to check the equipment at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, which media reports said was set to restart on Tuesday.

The plant was taken offline when Japan pulled the plug on nuclear power after a colossal earthquake and tsunami sent three reactors at the Fukushima plant into meltdown in 2011.

The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa facility would be the first nuclear plant that Fukushima operator TEPCO restarts since the disaster.

The company has never publicly announced a date to switch on the plant.

TEPCO has decided to run more checks after detecting a technical issue on Saturday related to an alarm linked to one of the reactors at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, company spokesman Isao Ito told AFP.

The alarm issue had been fixed by Sunday, he added.

After the final checks, the utility will explain to nuclear authorities what had happened and proceed to restart the plant, the spokesman said, without providing an exact timeline.

More than a decade since the Fukushima accident, Japan now wants to revive atomic energy to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and meet growing energy needs from artificial intelligence.

But it is a divisive issue, with many residents worried about nuclear safety.

About 50 people gathered Monday outside TEPCO's headquarters in the capital Tokyo, chanting "No to the restart of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa!"

"TEPCO only mentions a possible delay. But that's not enough," said Takeshi Sakagami, president of the Citizens' Nuclear Regulatory Watchdog Group.

"A full investigation is needed, and if a major flaw is confirmed, the reactor should be permanently shut down," he said at the rally.

The reactor has cleared the nation's nuclear safety standard.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has voiced her support for the use of nuclear power.

Japan is the world's fifth-largest single-country emitter of carbon dioxide, and is heavily dependent on imported fossil fuels.

World

Trump Says 'World Is Not Secure' Unless US Controls Greenland

Danish soldiers walk in front of Joint Arctic Command in Nuuk, Greenland, January 16, 2026. REUTERS/Marko Djurica
Danish soldiers walk in front of Joint Arctic Command in Nuuk, Greenland, January 16, 2026. REUTERS/Marko Djurica
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Trump Says 'World Is Not Secure' Unless US Controls Greenland

Danish soldiers walk in front of Joint Arctic Command in Nuuk, Greenland, January 16, 2026. REUTERS/Marko Djurica
Danish soldiers walk in front of Joint Arctic Command in Nuuk, Greenland, January 16, 2026. REUTERS/Marko Djurica

President Donald Trump told the Norwegian prime minister in a message published Monday that the world would not be secure unless the US controlled the Danish autonomous territory of Greenland.

"The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland," Trump said in the message to Jonas Gahr Store.

The authenticity of the message was confirmed to AFP by Store's office.

World

Death Toll in Spanish Train Collision Rises to at Least 39 as Rescue Efforts Continue

Members of the Spanish Civil Guard, along with other emergency personnel, work next to one of the trains involved in the accident, at the site of a deadly derailment of two high-speed trains near Adamuz, in Cordoba, Spain, January 19, 2026. (Reuters)
Members of the Spanish Civil Guard, along with other emergency personnel, work next to one of the trains involved in the accident, at the site of a deadly derailment of two high-speed trains near Adamuz, in Cordoba, Spain, January 19, 2026. (Reuters)
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Death Toll in Spanish Train Collision Rises to at Least 39 as Rescue Efforts Continue

Members of the Spanish Civil Guard, along with other emergency personnel, work next to one of the trains involved in the accident, at the site of a deadly derailment of two high-speed trains near Adamuz, in Cordoba, Spain, January 19, 2026. (Reuters)
Members of the Spanish Civil Guard, along with other emergency personnel, work next to one of the trains involved in the accident, at the site of a deadly derailment of two high-speed trains near Adamuz, in Cordoba, Spain, January 19, 2026. (Reuters)

Spanish police said Monday that at least 39 people are confirmed dead in a high-speed train collision the previous night in the south of the country, and rescue efforts were continuing.

Video and photos showed twisted train cars lying on their sides under floodlights. Passengers reported climbing out of smashed windows, with some using emergency hammers to break the windows, according to Salvador Jiménez, a journalist for Spanish broadcaster RTVE, who was on board one of the derailed trains.

He told the network by phone Sunday that “there was a moment when it felt like an earthquake and the train had indeed derailed.”

The crash occurred when the tail end of a train carrying some 300 passengers on the route from Malaga to the capital, Madrid, went off the rails at 7:45 p.m. It slammed into an incoming train traveling from Madrid to Huelva, another southern Spanish city, according to rail operator Adif.

The collision took place near Adamuz, a town in the province of Cordoba, about 370 kilometers (about 230 miles) south of Madrid.

Spanish police said 159 people were injured, of whom five were in critical condition. A further 24 were in serious condition, authorities said. Transport Minister Óscar Puente said the death toll was not final.

In Adamuz, a sports center was turned into a makeshift hospital and the Spanish Red Cross set up a help center offering assistance to emergency services and people seeking information. Members of Spain’s civil guard and civil defense worked on site throughout the night.

Puente early Monday said the cause of the crash was unknown.

He called it “a truly strange” incident because it happened on a flat stretch of track that had been renovated in May. He also said the train that jumped the track was less than 4 years old. That train belonged to the private company Iryo, while the second train, which took the brunt of the impact, was part of Spain’s public train company, Renfe.

According to Puente, the back part of the first train derailed and crashed into the head of the other train, knocking its first two carriages off the track and down a 4-meter (13-foot) slope. He said the worst damage was to the front section of the Renfe train.

When asked by reporters how long an inquiry into the crash’s cause could take, he said it could be a month.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez expressed his condolences to the victims' families. “Tonight is a night of deep pain for our country,” he wrote on X.

Spain has the largest rail network in Europe for trains moving over 250 kph (155 mph), with more than 3,100 kilometers (1,900 miles) of track, according to the European Union.

The network is a popular, competitively priced and safe mode of transport. Renfe said more than 25 million passengers took one of its high-speed trains in 2024.

Train services Monday between Madrid and cities in Andalusia were canceled.

Spain’s worst train accident this century occurred in 2013, when 80 people died after a train derailed in the country’s northwest. An investigation concluded the train was traveling 179 kph (111 mph) on a stretch with an 80 kph (50 mph) speed limit when it left the tracks.