Oslo — Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Sunday that she was grateful for Canada’s support amid “unacceptable pressure” from US President Donald Trump to take over Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory.
Canada and the five Nordic countries on Sunday said they have agreed to closer co-operation to enhance their military industrial production in support of collective defence, security and resilience.
The six nations at a meeting in Oslo also vowed to continue to provide economic, civilian, military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, a joint statement by Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Canada said. Reuters
Zelensky wants money for drone experts in the Gulf
Kyiv — Ukraine wants money and technology in return for helping Middle Eastern nations defend against Iranian kamikaze drones, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, after Kyiv sent specialists to four countries in the region.
Zelensky told reporters in comments cleared for release on Sunday that each of the three teams sent to the Middle East comprised dozens of people who will conduct expert assessments and demonstrate how drone defences should operate.
Gulf states have expended large quantities of air defence missiles to counter Iran’s attack drones and have sought Ukraine’s expertise in downing them. Kyiv downs Russian drones every night using an array of weaponry including cheaper, smaller drones or jamming equipment. Reuters
Russia ‘supplying Iran with Shahed drones’
Seattle — Russia is supplying Iran with Shahed drones to use against the US and Israel, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN in an interview excerpt aired on Saturday.
Zelensky told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria that it is “100% facts” that Iran has used Russian-made Shaheds to attack US bases.
Shahed drones have been linked to other attacks on countries in the region, though their manufacturers are not always clear.
Iran pioneered the Shahed drone, a much cheaper alternative to expensive missiles. They first saw mass use in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, where thousands of them have been launched by Russian forces since fall 2022, according to the Ukrainians. Reuters
Airline chiefs call for end to US government shutdown
Washington — The CEOs of major US airlines urged Congress on Sunday to move quickly to end a 29-day partial government shutdown that has forced 50,000 airport security officers to work without pay, warning it could further disrupt US air travel.
Absences by Transportation Security Administration officers have already disrupted travel at some major airports over the last week, raising alarm as the busy spring break travel season continues.
“Too many travellers are having to wait in extraordinarily long — and painfully slow — lines at checkpoints,” the CEOs of American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Alaska Air and others wrote in an open letter to Congress. Reuters
Ministry delays resumption of Iraq oil exports
Cairo — Iraq’s oil ministry said on Sunday that the Kurdish ministry of natural resources had refused to resume oil exports for the time being.
The Kurdish ministry placed conditions that have no relevance to exporting crude, the Iraqi ministry said in a statement.
Iraq’s oil ministry also said it was ready to resume exports of no more than 300,000 barrels through the Ceyhan pipeline to Turkey.
Oil production from Iraq’s main southern oilfields, where most of its crude is produced and exported, has plunged 70% to just 1.3-million barrels per day, sources said on March 8, as the country is unable to export via the Gulf due to the Iran war. Reuters
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