Carney has sought closer ties with China and Middle Eastern countries as well as India and Europe as he tries to reduce his country’s dependence on the United States

International News via Reuters:

Canada and the five Nordic countries said on Sunday they have agreed to deepen cooperation in military procurement and other areas, in the latest push by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to build new global alliances.

Carney has sought closer ties with China and Middle Eastern countries as well as India and Europe as he tries to reduce his country’s dependence on the United States and forge a trading order led by what he calls middle-power countries.

The push has found enthusiastic partners in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland – all countries with relatively small populations, export-led economies and military forces that cannot match the bigger powers on their own.

FREDERIKSEN: ‘WE HAVE TO BUILD SOMETHING NEW’

“The old world order is gone and will probably not come back,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told reporters after a meeting of the six nations’ premiers in Oslo.

“So we have to build something new and it has to be a world order that is built on the values that we represent,” she said.

Frederiksen, who faces a tough re-election battle this month, praised Carney for his speech at the Davos World Economic Forum in January that called for what he called “middle powers” to join forces.

“People in Denmark – and I guess the same goes for the rest of the Nordic countries – have been talking about it; they have been reading your speech,” she said.

In a joint statement, the countries said they aimed to work more closely together on defence procurement. 

“We all agree that if we individually spend that money or we spend it in an uncoordinated way, it’s not going to be value for taxpayers. It also will not protect our people as much as we should,” Carney told reporters.

“We will still do a lot of procurement with the United States… but in all cases looking to procure much more in partnership,” Carney said.

The group reiterated their support for Ukraine, international trade, building green economies and enhancing Arctic security.

All have territories in the polar region and have condemned U.S. President Donald Trump’s push to take over Greenland, a Danish autonomous territory.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said the effort showed the middle powers coming up with concrete proposals for cooperation.

“This is not about building new institutions. This is about what Prime Minister Carney calls a variable geometry,” he told Reuters.

“So … in certain areas we go together, we deepen cooperation with different participants,” he added, citing Australia, Japan and South Korea as other possible partners.

Additional reporting by Terje Solsvik in Oslo; Editing by Andrew Heavens

Gulf Arab states have faced more than 2,000 missile and drone attacks since the outbreak of the war on February 28

International News via Reuters:

Iran’s relations with Gulf states will require a “serious review” in light of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, limiting the power of external actors so the region can become prosperous, Tehran’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia told Reuters on Sunday.

Asked if he was concerned that relations would be harmed by the war, Ambassador Alireza Enayati said: “It’s a valid question, and the answer may be simple. We are neighbors and we cannot do without each other; we will need a serious review.”

“What the region has witnessed over the past five decades is the result of an exclusionary approach [within the region] and an excessive reliance on external powers,” he said in a written response to questions, calling for deeper ties between the Gulf Cooperation Council’s six members, along with Iraq and Iran. 

Gulf Arab states have faced more than 2,000 missile and drone attacks since the outbreak of the war on February 28, with targets including U.S. diplomatic missions and military bases but also critical Gulf oil infrastructure, ports, airports, hotels and residential and office buildings.

The United Arab Emirates, which normalized relations with Iran’s arch-foe Israel in 2020, has faced the brunt of the attacks. But all Gulf Arab states have been impacted, and all have condemned Iran.

Behind the scenes, analysts and regional sources say there is also growing frustration at the U.S., long their security guarantor, at dragging them into a war they did not endorse but for which they are paying a hefty price.

In Saudi Arabia, attacks have been concentrated on the eastern region where most of the kingdom’s oil is produced, as well as the Prince Sultan Airbase hosting U.S. forces east of Riyadh, and the Diplomatic Quarter on the Saudi capital’s western edge, according to Saudi defense ministry statements.

Saudi Arabia and Iran re-established full diplomatic relations in 2023 after years of enmity that saw them back rival political and military factions across the region.  

IRAN ‘NOT RESPONSIBLE’ FOR ATTACKS ON SAUDI OIL SECTOR

Enayati denied that Iran was responsible for the attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure, including the Ras Tanura refinery on the east coast and dozens of attempted drone attacks on the Shaybah oil field in the desert near the UAE border.

“Iran is not the party responsible for these attacks, and if Iran had carried them out, it would have announced it,” he said. He did not say who had carried out the attacks.

Saudi Defense Ministry statements have not assigned blame for individual incidents. Enayati said Iran was only attacking U.S. and Israeli targets and interests. 

Enayati said he personally was in ongoing contact with Saudi officials, with relations “progressing naturally” in many areas. He highlighted Saudi cooperation regarding the departure of Iranians who were in the kingdom for religious pilgrimage and the provision of medical assistance to others.

He said Tehran was in contact with Riyadh regarding Saudi Arabia’s publicly stated position that its land, sea and air would not be used to attack Iran, without elaborating on the discussions. 

His message to Gulf states was that the war “has been imposed on us and the region.”

To resolve the conflict, the U.S. and Israel must halt their attacks and regional countries should not be involved, while international guarantees must be secured to prevent their recurrence, he said.

“Only then can we focus on building a prosperous region,” he said. 

Reporting by Timour Azhari in RiyadhEditing by Gareth Jones

Orban faces what could be his toughest bid for re-election after three years of stagnation, a surge in the cost of living and a pro-EU rival seen by many as a viable alternative

International News via Reuters:

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban sought on Sunday to mobilise voters for what he called an “historic” vote on April 12, while opposition supporters hoping to end the nationalist leader’s 16-year rule turned out in droves at a rival rally.

Orban faces what could be his toughest bid for re-election after three years of stagnation, a surge in the cost of living and a pro-EU rival seen by many as a viable alternative.

Both Orban’s right-wing Fidesz and centre-right challenger Peter Magyar’s Tisza used Hungary’s March 15 national day for a show of force as the campaign enters a pivotal stage. Most surveys put Tisza ahead by a wide margin.

Orban has cast the vote as a choice between war and peace, accusing his rivals of plotting to drag Hungary into the war raging in neighbouring Ukraine since Russia’s February 2022 invasion, accusations which the opposition denies.

Dismissing his rival’s poll lead, Orban said Fidesz should aim to exceed its 2022 election landslide.

“We must win not like we did four years ago but better. We need not as many votes as four years ago but more,” he said. “We must score a historic victory, because the next government will have a historic responsibility.”

Orban said his supporters’ rally was the largest of its kind, filling a main square outside parliament.

Opposition supporters thronged a majestic avenue stretching from near the Danube River to Heroes’ Square in one of the largest rallies against Orban, exposing deep rifts in Hungary.

A Fidesz supporter called Orban “Europe’s best politician,” while some attending Magyar’s rally wondered if they had a future in Hungary if Orban gets re-elected.

Orban has long been at loggerheads with the EU over a range of issues, including Ukraine. Defying Brussels, he has maintained cordial ties with Moscow, refuses to send weapons to Ukraine, and says Kyiv can never join the EU.

While most polls have shown a Tisza lead, Fidesz points to surveys showing it on course to victory, though its opponents say these have mainly been conducted by institutes with financial or personal ties to the ruling party.

Magyar has dismissed Orban’s campaign as laughable “propaganda”, but Tisza has trodden cautiously on Ukraine, saying it opposes any fast-track EU accession for Kyiv and that it would put the issue to a binding referendum if it wins power.

Magyar, speaking in a venue where Orban shot to fame in 1989 by calling for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the country, said Hungary’s place was squarely in the European Union and NATO.

“Holding onto power at all costs. It is all that matters to him now,” Magyar said of Orban. “Provoking with war, threatening with war, stoking war. This is his ultimate weapon against the Hungarian people.”

Some opposition supporters also thought the election would be a watershed moment.

“I think this country cannot bear four more years of Fidesz rule,” Noemi Szemerszki said.

Reporting by Gergely Szakacs; Editing by Gareth Jones and Alexander Smith

In the video, taken at a cafe in Jerusalem’s outskirts and posted on Netanyahu’s Telegram account, his aide asks him about the rumours

International News via Reuters:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted a video of himself getting a cup of coffee and chatting with his aide on Sunday, after rumours that he was dead or injured were aired by Iranian state media and spread online in Iran.

In the video, taken at a cafe in Jerusalem’s outskirts and posted on Netanyahu’s Telegram account, his aide asks him about the rumours.

Netanyahu responds with a pun on the word dead — which in Hebrew slang can be used to describe “being crazy about” someone or something — as he reaches for a cup of coffee.

“I’m crazy about coffee. You know what? I’m crazy about my people,” Netanyahu tells the aide.

Reuters verified the video’s location from file imagery of the cafe, which matched the interiors seen in the video. The date was verified from multiple videos and photos of Netanyahu’s visit posted by the cafe on Sunday.

Since the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28, Netanyahu has visited at least two towns hit by Iranian missiles, a hospital, port and military bases, but there was little to no media access, and videos were distributed by his office.

Netanyahu, who rarely gives interviews to Israeli press or holds news conferences, convened his first press conference since the start of the war via a video link on Thursday, a similar format to the one he used in June during Israel’s 12-day war with Iran.

Emergency safety restrictions in Israel since the start of the war ban public gatherings and have kept most people at home or close to shelters and safe rooms, with schools shut across most of the country.

Reporting by Maayan Lubell and Elwely Elwelly in Dubai; Editing by Aidan Lewis