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Sweden Says Türkiye Asking Too Much over NATO Application 

Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson speaks during the annual Society and Defense Conference in Salen, Sweden, 08 January 2023. (EPA)
Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson speaks during the annual Society and Defense Conference in Salen, Sweden, 08 January 2023. (EPA)
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Sweden Says Türkiye Asking Too Much over NATO Application 

Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson speaks during the annual Society and Defense Conference in Salen, Sweden, 08 January 2023. (EPA)
Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson speaks during the annual Society and Defense Conference in Salen, Sweden, 08 January 2023. (EPA)

Sweden is confident that Türkiye will approve its application to join the NATO military alliance, but will not meet all the conditions Ankara has set for its support, Sweden's prime minister said on Sunday. 

"Türkiye both confirms that we have done what we said we would do, but they also say that they want things that we cannot or do not want to give them," Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told a defense think-tank conference in Sweden. 

Finland and Sweden signed a three-way agreement with Türkiye in 2022 aimed at overcoming Ankara's objections to their membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. 

They applied in May to join NATO in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but Türkiye objected and accused the countries of harboring militants, including from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party 

At a news conference later on Sunday, Kristersson said the demands that Sweden could not or did not want to fulfil were outside the scope of the three-way memorandum. 

"From time to time, Türkiye mentions individuals that they want to see extradited from Sweden. To that I have said that those issues are handled within Swedish law," he said. 

Ankara expressed disappointment with a decision late last year from Sweden's top court to stop a request to extradite a journalist with alleged links to Islamic scholar Fetullah Gulen, blamed by Türkiye for an attempted coup. 

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World

Belgium Arrests Suspected Spy Who Sold Chip Secrets to China

The flags of Germany and China are seen in Berlin, Germany, June 19, 2023. (Reuters)
The flags of Germany and China are seen in Berlin, Germany, June 19, 2023. (Reuters)
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Belgium Arrests Suspected Spy Who Sold Chip Secrets to China

The flags of Germany and China are seen in Berlin, Germany, June 19, 2023. (Reuters)
The flags of Germany and China are seen in Berlin, Germany, June 19, 2023. (Reuters)

Authorities in Belgium said on Monday they had arrested a suspected spy who allegedly sold a local chip-maker's trade secrets to a Chinese rival.

Prosecutors said the Chinese-Belgian national, who worked at Belgan, a now bankrupt Belgian producer of gallium nitride semiconductors, was arrested at Brussels airport in May as he was about to board a flight to Beijing.

"There are indications that the person concerned, who held a senior research position within the Belgian company, was simultaneously acting as a director of a Chinese company engaged in a similar manufacturing activity," the federal prosecutor's office said.

The Chinese firm was set up just a few months after the 52-year-old suspect had joined Belgan and was financed by a Chinese investment fund.

"The investigation may point to the unlawful transfer abroad of specialized intellectual property and trade secrets relating to the production of gallium nitride chips -- technology which has applications in sectors including electric vehicles, aerospace and the military," the prosecutor's office said.

This is the second espionage case related to China to emerge in Belgium in the space of a few months.

In July, authorities said they had arrested a Canadian citizen of Chinese origin suspected of carrying out "espionage on behalf of a third country" while on an internship at NATO.

The Belgan case stems from the company's bankruptcy in 2024, which affected more than 400 workers.

The suspect is being held in pre-trial detention on accusations of espionage, participation in a criminal organization, misuse of company assets and the unlawful disclosure of company secrets.

Prosecutors said they were still looking for a second suspect, also a Chinese national, who local media reported to be the firm's last CEO.

In its latest annual report, Belgium's state security agency highlighted several methods allegedly employed by China to acquire strategic Western know-how, including creating so-called "copy-to-China" companies.

It described how "Chinese firms invest in Belgian companies, research centers or spin-offs -- preferably small entities developing promising technologies but facing funding challenges -- to gain access to specific technologies".

They then established a firm in China to produce the same technology on a larger scale, before the original parent company is sold off, the report said.

World

Avalanche Kills 11 Climbers in Southern Russia

Rescuers received reports of the avalanche on Mount Mizhirgi, around 5,000 meters tall, at around on Sunday. (Getty Images)
Rescuers received reports of the avalanche on Mount Mizhirgi, around 5,000 meters tall, at around on Sunday. (Getty Images)
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Avalanche Kills 11 Climbers in Southern Russia

Rescuers received reports of the avalanche on Mount Mizhirgi, around 5,000 meters tall, at around on Sunday. (Getty Images)
Rescuers received reports of the avalanche on Mount Mizhirgi, around 5,000 meters tall, at around on Sunday. (Getty Images)

An avalanche on one of Russia's highest mountains has killed 11 climbers and left six others missing, rescue services said Monday.

Rescuers received reports of the avalanche on Mount Mizhirgi, around 5,000 meters (16,400 ft) tall, at around 5 pm (1400 GMT) on Sunday.

Unverified video on social media showed what appeared to be a mound of snow and ice crashing down a mountainside in the area, as people in the background could be heard swearing.

"Tragically, 11 people were killed. The fate of six climbers remains unknown," the local branch of Russia's emergency ministry said in a statement.

"Search and rescue operations are being complicated by difficult terrain and the risk of avalanches," it added.

A group of 33 climbers were in the area at the time.

Ten managed to evacuate on their own, while six had to be transported out by rescue services, according to the local branch of Russia's emergency ministry.

Prosecutors have opened a case into criminal negligence.

Mount Mizhirgi, near the Georgian border, is Russia's eighth-tallest mountain.

Surrounded by pristine forest and glaciers, the area is popular with hikers.

World

EU to Give Greenland a Cash Boost amid Trump Annexation Drive

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (R), President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen (C), and Greenland's government leader Jens-Frederik Nielsen (L) visit the inspection ship Thetis in Nuuk, Greenland, 06 September 2026. EPA/Mads Claus Rasmussen DENMARK OUT
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (R), President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen (C), and Greenland's government leader Jens-Frederik Nielsen (L) visit the inspection ship Thetis in Nuuk, Greenland, 06 September 2026. EPA/Mads Claus Rasmussen DENMARK OUT
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EU to Give Greenland a Cash Boost amid Trump Annexation Drive

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (R), President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen (C), and Greenland's government leader Jens-Frederik Nielsen (L) visit the inspection ship Thetis in Nuuk, Greenland, 06 September 2026. EPA/Mads Claus Rasmussen DENMARK OUT
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (R), President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen (C), and Greenland's government leader Jens-Frederik Nielsen (L) visit the inspection ship Thetis in Nuuk, Greenland, 06 September 2026. EPA/Mads Claus Rasmussen DENMARK OUT

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is expected to unveil on Monday a boost in EU investments in Greenland and closer political ties with the Danish Arctic territory, which Donald Trump has insisted should belong to the United States.

Von der Leyen arrived in Greenland on Sunday for a two-day visit serving as a show of support for the governments of Greenland and Denmark, which have strongly rebuffed Trump’s campaign to annex the world’s largest island, said Reuters.

The head of the 27-nation European Union's executive body, von der Leyen is expected to unveil plans to invest in sectors including critical minerals, satellite communications and renewable ‌energy in ‌Greenland, a semi-autonomous part of the Danish realm.

On Sunday in Nuuk, ‌the ⁠capital, von der ⁠Leyen said the package would be "substantial" but gave no details. Greenland Premier Jens-Frederik Nielsen said his country wanted to build on its "close friendship and good partnership" with the EU.

Von der Leyen's visit reflects the increasing geopolitical importance of the Arctic to major powers, such as the United States, Russia, China and Europe, as melting ice opens new shipping routes to make the region’s mineral wealth more accessible.

"Greenland's stunning landscapes and natural beauty will stay with me for ⁠a long time. But so will the visible scars of climate ‌change on the ice sheet," von der Leyen ‌posted on X after a boat trip under clear blue skies in a fjord scattered with ‌chunks of ice.

"As the ice melts, a new reality is taking shape."

TRUMP'S PUSH ‌TO ACQUIRE GREENLAND SPARKED CRISIS

Trump, the US president, sparked a crisis in US-European ties and turmoil within the transatlantic NATO military alliance this year when he stepped up his demands for the US to control Greenland, arguing that fellow NATO member Denmark could not defend it.

European officials stressed Greenland ‌is part of NATO territory, meaning it is covered by the alliance’s mutual defense pact, and that the US already has ⁠the right to increase ⁠its military presence there under a longstanding treaty.

Tensions lowered after Trump and NATO boss Mark Rutte agreed in Davos in January that the United States, Denmark and Greenland would begin talks to resolve their differences and NATO would step up its role in Arctic security.

However, the trilateral talks have yet to yield an agreement and, at a NATO summit in Türkiye in July, Trump restated his insistence that the US should control Greenland.

While Denmark is a member of the EU, Greenland left the bloc in 1985. But its people, as Danish citizens, are also citizens of the EU.

The EU has long provided funding to Greenland, mainly to pay for fishing rights and support its education system. The package to be announced by von der Leyen will represent not only a big increase in funding but a broadening of the sectors that will receive EU cash, according to EU officials.