Denmark sent soldiers and explosives to Greenland in January so that it could blow up runways in the event of a US invasion, the country’s public broadcaster has said. 

Landing strips in Nuuk and Kangerlussuaq could have been targeted to prevent US military aircraft from landing soldiers and equipment if President Trump had followed through on threats to invade, DR reported.

Military aircraft also transported blood from Denmark to help treat the wounded in case of battle.

The emergency moves were allegedly made in the immediate aftermath of the US capture of Venezuela’s President Maduro, which demonstrated Mr Trump’s willingness to use US military might.

Mr Trump has long advocated for the mineral-rich island of Greenland – a self-governing Danish territory – to become part of the United States.

In the past, he has refused to rule out using military force to take the territory.

Denmark doubles down

The new report, based upon the testimonies of 12 main sources at the top of Denmark’s government and military, appears to show Copenhagen’s willingness to use force to raise the cost of any US action.

Denmark is said to have sought confidential talks with European allies after the re-election of Mr Trump in 2025 to shore up support against any annexation attempt.

A French official is quoted as saying that Denmark had decided to “play the game”.

Danish and European allies formed plans to send soldiers and military hardware to Greenland later in 2026, to show the US how seriously Europe took the defence of the island.

However, sources who spoke to DR claimed that US military action in Venezuela on 3 January of this year changed everything.

In the days after that military action, the US president repeated that the US “needs Greenland for national security,” going on to say he was “very serious” about it.

A more rapid European response now began, with an advance command of Danish, French, German, Norwegian and Swedish soldiers flying to the territory.

A larger, well publicised and announced, main force followed, as well as Danish fighter jets and a French naval vessel.

The deployment was presented as part of Danish-led joint military exercises called Operation Arctic Endurance, but the real reason was to prepare for and deter a possible US invasion, DR claims.

Denmark hoped that having soldiers with as many different flags on their arms as possible would deter US action.

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Instead of just confronting Danish troops, Washington would have had to commit to major hostile action against multiple fellow NATO allies.

While it’s not clear if forces from other European countries would have fought against the US, Danish soldiers were reportedly given live ammunition and permission to engage.

The public nature of Operation Arctic Endurance and intense diplomacy by European leaders, including by the British prime minister, appeared to have worked.

Speaking in Davos at the World Economic Forum on 21 January, Mr Trump said the US “won’t use force” to take Greenland, though he reiterated that the US was “unstoppable”.

Denmark is due to head to the polls on 24 March after the country’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called snap elections.

Opinion polls suggest Ms Frederiksen has received a much-needed popularity boost over her handling of the Greenland-US crisis, after public dissatisfaction over rising living costs and welfare pressures.

MIAMI, Florida – There’s growing unrest in Cuba as the communist government struggles to deal with island-wide blackouts and a collapsing economy. As President Donald Trump alludes to change on the island, the Cuban community in Miami is left wondering what is next.

The island has experienced 67 years of authoritarian rule where the Communist Party of Cuba is the only legal party. Last week, protesters attacked a Communist Party headquarters on the island overnight, ransacking the building and attempting to set it on fire, according to local reports.

“The protesters are more brave today than before,” said Jose Collazo, a Cuban migrant who left the island in the 1960’s. “But if you remember four years ago when they came out, they were brutally repressed.”

Adam Moreno joins people in the Little Havana neighborhood show their support for the protesters in Cuba on March 18, 2024, in Miami, Florida.  (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

TRUMP SAYS HE BELIEVES HE HAS ‘HONOR’ OF ‘TAKING CUBA,’ CALLS CARIBBEAN ISLAND A ‘VERY WEAKENED NATION’

Collazo often spends time at Domino Park in the heart of Little Havana, a neighborhood in Miami with a large population of Cuban immigrants. He and other Cuban Americans meet up for friendly — but highly competitive — games of dominoes and to discuss current affairs.

Lately, there’s been a lot of chatter about the situation in Cuba. On Monday, a nationwide power grid collapse left roughly 10 million people without electricity, according to U.S. Embassy statements and Cuban authorities. Cuban officials have said the outages are linked to fuel shortages and failures at aging power plants.

The entrance to Domino Park in Little Havana on March 18 in Miami, Florida. (Amy Galo)

Then, there’s the ongoing economic crisis which has been made even worse in recent months after President Trump threatened tariffs on any country that sends oil to Cuba. 

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“They’re living like in the Stone Age. Cave people. That’s how they live. It’s sad to see the people  [living with] malnutrition, living in ragged clothes,” said Collazo.

The escalating tension on the island comes amid remarks by Trump that he expects to have the “honor” of “taking Cuba in some form” and “I can do anything I want” with the neighboring country.

“Cuba right now is in very bad shape. They’re talking to Marco,” Trump told reporters, “We’ll be doing something with Cuba very soon.… We’re dealing with Cuba.”

Anti-government protesters gather at the Maximo Gomez monument in Havana, Cuba. Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets in several cities in Cuba to protest against ongoing food shortages and high prices of foodstuffs.  (AP Photo/Eliana Aponte)

On Tuesday, Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, also made comments about the island, saying “they have to get new people in charge” in Havana. 

Meanwhile, Pentagon officials told lawmakers there are no plans to invade Cuba, even as they described it as a long-standing security concern.

CUBAN ACTIVIST TO TRUMP: ‘MAKE CUBA GREAT AGAIN’ BY ENDING COMMUNIST RULE

The U.S. flag and Cuban flag on display outside of Domino Park in Miami, Florida. (Amy Galo)

“In all the years I’ve been here— I’m going on 47 years— I think this is the first time I’ve seen really good things happening for Cuba,” said Francisco Botella, a Cuban migrant who lives in Miami. “You can tell it’s a very precarious situation this time around. Now the system is going down, way down.”

Hearing U.S. leaders discuss the situation brings members of the Cuban exile community like Botella and Collazo hope.

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“I think this is the end for Cuba. I really think it’s over. Either the communist leaders leave, or what happened to Maduro will happen to them,” said Botella.

Cuban officials have continued to blame U.S. sanctions for the country’s economic hardships, while analysts say the government is facing mounting pressure from ongoing blackouts, shortages of basic goods, and growing public frustration.

Canadian opposition leader and former Prime Minister candidate Pierre Poilievre blasted “fake refugees” during a Thursday appearance on the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast.

At one point, Poilievre appeared poised to become the next prime minister and lead his Conservatives to a majority government after former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his plans to step down. But in a turnaround sparked in part by President Donald Trump’s threats of annexation and his tariffs on America’s close ally and northern neighbor, Liberal Mark Carney won.

Since then, Poilievre has been keeping his political ambitions alive, appearing primed for another bid at Canada’s highest office and working to do outreach to Americans to encourage them to ditch tariffs on Canadian goods. Rogan spoke with Poilievre about the various policy changes he would implement to help everyday people in his country if he got voted into office. 

While he talked about issues like cutting down on inflation and bureaucracy, the rise of “fake refugees” is an issue for Canadians that is coming from the outside and taking advantage of their generosity.

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Pierre Poilievre appeared on the Joe Rogan podcast.

“We’re giving a lot of money to fake, fake refugees, people who come in and don’t actually – they’re not actually fleeing danger,” he said. “Like I love real refugees, my wife was a refugee, but I have no time for people who are pretending but they’re not really.”

When Rogan asked for clarification on what it means to pretend to be a refugee, Poilievre summarized, “They’re not actually endangered in their home country. So they’ve come to be declared themselves as students and then wanting to stay, declaring refugee status.”

While the politician said he ultimately sympathizes to a certain degree, one should focus on putting Canadians first.

“They just want to have a better life, so I don’t begrudge them as people, but we can’t spend money on enhanced social services, advanced programs that we as Canadians don’t get for people who are not paying in,” he said. 

“If they’re not real refugees, they shouldn’t be brought in as refugees,” he added, calling to distinguish between people who are actually in danger in their home countries and those merely seeking to take advantage of the system.

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Pierre Poilievre, noted that while he has sympathy for legitimate refugees such as his wife, there are many people taking advantage of the system.  (David Kawai/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The politician confirmed to Rogan that this problem is on such a large scale it has impacted the Canadian economy. 

“Right now it’s a challenge because we had a big number of international students and temporary foreign workers that came in in very large numbers,” he said. “In like two or three years. We were bringing in about a million people a year, which in America’s terms would be 10 million, like just if you’re doing per capita.”

He added that this caused a massive housing shortage to the point where one might find 26 students living on one basement. 

When asked how one might remedy this, he said, “Well, when their work permit and their visitor visa runs out, then we have to encourage them to head back lawfully.”

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Canadian Pierre Poilievre noted that Canada has taken in massive amounts of people in recent years, to the point that the American equivalent would be have taken in 10 million per year. (REUTERS/Amber Bracken)

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“Right, but you don’t want to do it ICE style?” Rogan asked.

“No, no, I don’t think we need to do that,” Poilievre said. “I just think we have to be orderly and lawful about it.” 

When asked by Rogan whether Canadians are on board with that, the politician agreed, saying, “We’re a nation of immigrants, but we’re also a nation of laws and we — there’s a general consensus, like across the spectrum in Canada that there was, the population growth was too fast for like four or five years. And so we’re, we’re trying to unwind that now.”

Scientists in the UK have created the first lab-grown oesophagus and implanted it in pigs, which have been able to use it to swallow food.

In the study, scientists from Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) and University College London (UCL) demonstrated that a pig donor oesophagus can be de-cellularised, repopulated with a recipient’s own cells, and implanted in the recipient to restore oesophageal function.

It represents a major step towards personalised regenerative treatments for children born with life-threatening oesophageal conditions and could pave the way for translation to other disease areas.

Other studies have previously shown parts of this technology, but this is the first time the full process has been completed with such success, the study’s authors said.

In the study, eight recipient animals recovered well and developed working swallowing muscles to squeeze food towards the stomach with full integration of the engineered tissue within three months.

Immunosuppression was not required as the implant was developed using the recipient’s cells, and the tissue grew with the animals.

The first step in this new technology is to create a scaffold, which acts as a tube-shaped base for the new organ.

Scientists use a donor pig’s oesophagus, which is very similar to a human’s.

Through a process called decellularisation, the donor tissue is carefully stripped of all the pig cells, while keeping the underlying support structure intact.

Next, the scaffold is repopulated with a recipient pig’s muscle cells, taken from a small biopsy.

These cells are multiplied in a lab and then injected directly into the scaffold.

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The graft is then placed in a bioreactor, a special container that pumps vital growth fluids through the tissue for one week.

During this time, the cells settle and spread, and they adapt to their new home.

Overall, the process takes two months to complete.

Research with pigs has shown very encouraging results, providing a blueprint for human treatment. All eight animals survived the critical first 30 days after transplant.

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By the six-month mark, the lab-grown grafts had developed functional muscle, nerves, and blood vessels.

This allowed the transplanted oesophagus to contract and move food like a native food pipe.

The transplanted animals could eat normally and grow at a healthy rate.

For the first time ever, this research team were able to map the genes in the structure of the implanted tissue, using a technique called spatial transcriptomics, to show that the genes turned on in the new oesophagus were in line with what would be expected in ‘natural’ tissue.

The engineered oesophagus was shown to contract, producing movement and pressure with sufficient strength and co-ordination to allow normal swallowing.

If this technology is adapted for use in humans, different sizes of scaffold, derived from donor pigs, could be stored ready to be developed and personalised for newborns or children of varying sizes and age, whenever needed.

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Sean, father of Casey Mcintyre, two, from London, who has undergone multiple operations, said: “People can never tell Casey has spent half of his life in hospital, and hopefully he won’t remember, but the memories will never leave us.

“We’ve had to learn things as new parents that we never considered would be part of our family life, from feeding him through a stomach tube to what to do if the hospital call with an urgent update in the middle of the night.

“To look at him, he’s just amazing, and we are very proud of him. Whatever the team did for him was really a miracle, but the idea that there could be one operation early in your child’s life, that could transplant a working piece of oesophagus, and then we could move on, would be life-changing.”

Aoife Regan, GOSH charity’s director of impact and charitable programmes, said: “We are thrilled to see the success of this research, which is offering more hope to children with a highly complex and rare condition, which can significantly affect their quality of life and childhood.

“At GOSH Charity, we want every child treated at GOSH to have the best chance, and best childhood possible, and providing funding for key projects like this one, demonstrates the impact innovative research can have on those that need it most.”

The study was published on Friday in Nature Biotechnology.