Category World News

Voting was extended by half an hour past a 22: 00 GMT deadline on Tuesday amid high voter turnout at several of the 72 polling stations across the mineral-rich island, where 40, 500 people were eligible to cast their ballot.

There were no exit polls, and a final tally of the vote could take between three and five hours to complete, Greenland’s election authority said.

Official results will not be certified for weeks as ballot papers make their way to the capital, Nuuk, from remote settlements by boat, plane and helicopter.

Images and video clips shared on social media showed people queueing in the ice and snow outside polling stations in Nuuk up to 45 minutes before voting closed. Earlier in the day, long queues were also reported at voting centres.

Since taking office in January, Trump has promised to make Greenland – a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark – part of the US, saying it is vital to US security interests.

The vast island, with a population of just 57, 000, has been caught up in a geopolitical race for dominance in the Arctic, where melting ice caps are making its rich resources of rare earth metals more accessible and opening new shipping routes.

Greenland’s prime minister, Mute Bourup Egede, called the election last month, saying the country needed to be united during a “serious time” that is unlike anything Greenland has ever experienced.

While Trump has been outspoken about his desire to control Greenland, both Russia and China have also intensified military activity in the Arctic region.

Greenland is a former Danish colony and a territory since 1953. It gained some autonomy in 1979 when its first parliament was formed, but Copenhagen still controls foreign affairs, defence and monetary policy and provides just under $1bn a year to the economy.

In 2009, Greenland won the right to declare full independence through a referendum, even though it has not done so out of concern that living standards would drop without Denmark’s economic support.

Julie Rademacher, a consultant and former adviser to Greenland’s government, said that early on, the election campaign focused on the anger and frustration aimed at historical wrongdoings by former colonial ruler Denmark.

“But I think the fear of the US imperialist approach has lately become bigger than the anger towards Denmark”, Rademacher said.

The Reuters news agency spoke to more than a dozen Greenlanders in Nuuk, all of whom said they favoured independence, although many expressed concern that a swift transition could damage the economy and eliminate Nordic welfare services like universal healthcare and free schooling.

“We don’t want to be part of the US for obvious reasons, healthcare and Trump”, said Tuuta Lynge-Larsen, a bank employee and Nuuk resident, adding that this election was especially important.

Paris Saint-Germain beat Premier League leaders Liverpool on penalties at Anfield to book their place in the quarterfinals of the Champions League.

PSG beat Liverpool 1-0 on the night on Tuesday to level the aggregate score at 1-1.

Ousmane Dembele scored 12 minutes into the second-leg match after a blunder by the Liverpool defence.

Mohamad Salah scored Liverpool’s first penalty but Darwin Nunes and Curtis Jones saw their spot kicks saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Desire Doue, who won gold at the Olympic Games with France last year, became the youngest scorer of a winning penalty in the Champions League to send PSG through.

In a reverse of the first leg, Liverpool dominated on the night and struck the post through Jarell Quansah’s drive, while drawing a number of saves from the PSG keeper in normal time.

Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Inter Milan all also booked their places in the next round of Europe’s premier competition.

Barcelona cruised past Benfica with Raphinha scoring twice and Lamine Yamal once in a 3-1 win at home.

The Catalan club advanced 4-1 on aggregate score after last week’s 1-0 victory and will play either Borussia Dortmund or Lille in the quarterfinals.

Raphinha’s double made him the leading scorer in the Champions League this season with 11 goals. He had scored the lone goal last week in Lisbon.

The Brazil forward put Barcelona ahead in the 11th, then Yamal added to the lead in the 27th before assisting in Raphinha’s second goal in the 42nd to become the youngest player to score and assist in a Champions League match at 17 years, 241 days.

“My teammates make things much easier for me”, Yamal said. “It was a good goal but sometimes these things come off and sometimes they don’t. For the assist, I tried to shoot and Raphinha turned it into a goal”.

Nicolas Otamendi scored for Benfica in the 13th to become the third-oldest scorer in a Champions League knockout game at the age of 37 years, 27 days, according to UEFA. Yamal’s goal meant he became the second-youngest.

After a 3-0 first-leg win, Bayern Munich had no trouble advancing past German rival Bayer Leverkusen.

Bayern made it to the last eight a record 23 times in the Champions League era after a 2-0 win at Leverkusen to advance 5-0 on aggregate.

Inter moved on past Feyenoord with a 2-1 victory at San Siro to advance 4-1 on aggregate.

Bayern and Inter will meet in the last eight.

Harry Kane scored his 10th Champions League goal of the season and set up another as Bayern Munich cruised into the quarterfinals.

Leverkusen never looked likely to overturn the three-goal deficit from the first leg, even before Kane bundled in the ball at a free kick in the 52nd after Leverkusen’s Patrik Schick misjudged an attempted clearance.

Kane set up Alphonso Davies for Bayern’s second goal with a flicked cross in the 71st as the all-German rivalry became a one-sided contest. Bayern could have scored more as Jamal Musiala hit the crossbar with one shot and the post with another.

A goal at the start of each half saw Inter easily advance, with Marcus Thuram scoring a stunning eighth-minute opener. The Inter forward received the ball midway inside the Feyenoord half and then weaved his way into the area before unleashing a powerful effort into the top right corner.

Jakub Moder levelled from the penalty spot shortly before half-time after being tripped by Hakan Calhanoglu.

Canada’s incoming prime minister, Mark Carney, says he will confront the challenge his country is facing from the United States.

US President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs on an array of goods coming from Canada.

Carney has promised to push back with trade taxes of his own, and is seeking to unite Canadians against this challenge from the United States.

With elections on the horizon in Canada, how will this play out politically?

And can Canada’s close relationship with the US survive this turmoil?

Presenter:

James Bays

Guests:

Jen Hassum – Executive director of the Broadbent Institute, a progressive think tank

Amy Koch – Republican strategist who served as majority leader of the Minnesota Senate

The wave of violence broke out last Thursday, when armed groups loyal to deposed former President Bashar al-Assad ambushed security forces in the province of Latakia, killing at least 16 members of the security forces, according to the Ministry of Defence.

The attacks escalated into sectarian violence, with pro-government forces rampaging through coastal provinces heavily populated by Alawites, as well as the nearby provinces of Hama and Homs, killing people, sometimes entire families, on streets, in homes, on rooftops.

Of the roughly 1, 000 civilians killed, nearly 200 were in Baniyas, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor.

Al Jazeera was not able to independently verify the death toll.

“In a number of extremely disturbing instances, entire families – including women, children and individuals hors de combat – were killed, with predominantly Alawite cities and villages targeted in particular”, UN human rights office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan said on Tuesday.

He said initial reports indicated that the perpetrators, who have not been identified, were both members of armed groups supporting Syria’s interim authorities and those associated with the former government.

“They appear to have been carried out on a sectarian basis, in Tartous, Latakia and Hama governorates – reportedly by unidentified armed individuals, members of armed groups allegedly supporting the caretaker authorities ‘ security forces, and by elements associated with the former government”.

On Sunday, the country’s new presidency led by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa announced the formation of a fact-finding committee to “investigate the violations against civilians and identify those responsible for them”. It said it would present its findings within 30 days and that those found to be responsible for violations would be referred to the judiciary.

“The new Syria is determined to enshrine justice and the rule of law, protect the rights and freedoms of its citizens, prevent unlawful revenge and guarantee that there is no impunity”, Yasser al-Farhan, the spokesperson of the new fact-finding committee, told a news conference in Damascus on Tuesday.

Farhan added that the committee was working on “gathering and reviewing evidence” related to the wave of violence.

When al-Assad fell last December, Syrian analysts feared there would be revenge attacks against the Alawite community – the second-largest religious group in Syria after Sunni Muslims.

So far, the UN human rights office has documented the killing of 111 civilians and expects the toll to be significantly higher, Al-Kheetan said. Of those, 90 were men, 18 were women, and three were children, he added.

“Many of the cases documented were of summary executions. They appear to have been carried out on a sectarian basis”, Al-Kheetan told reporters. In some cases, men were shot dead in front of their families, he said, citing testimonies from survivors.

Human Rights Watch on Tuesday also called on Syria’s new authorities to ensure accountability for the mass killings.

“Syria’s new leaders promised to break with the horrors of the past, but grave abuses on a staggering scale are being reported against predominantly Alawite Syrians in the coastal region and elsewhere in Syria”, HRW’s Deputy Regional Director Adam Coogle said in a statement.