Following talks in Jeddah on Tuesday, Ukraine has agreed to a US proposal for a temporary 30-day ceasefire with Russia, while the US will lift restrictions on military aid and intelligence sharing.
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NUUK, Greenland — The center-right Demokraatit Party won the most votes in Greenland’s parliamentary elections, a surprise result as the territory went to the polls in the shadow of President Donald Trump’s stated goal of taking control of the island one way or another.
Read More: History Explains Trump’s Interest in Greenland—And Why Buying It Won’t Be So Easy
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Both Demokraatit—the Democrats—and the second place party, Naleraq—“Point of Orientation”—favor independence from Denmark, but they have differences on the pace of change.
Demokraatit’s upset victory over parties that have governed the territory for years indicates that many in Greenland care just as much about healthcare, education, cultural heritage and other social policies.
The unanticipated results came after huge crowds streamed into the polling station in the capital, Nuuk, throughout the day, warmed by sunny skies. Exhausted voting officials closed the polls well after the planned 8 p.m. local time on Tuesday to make sure everyone in line got a chance to cast their ballot.
Prime Minister Mute Bourup Egede in February called elections a bit early, saying the country needed to be united during a “serious time” that is unlike anything Greenland has ever experienced.
Trump has been outspoken about his desire to control Greenland, telling a joint session of Congress last week that he thought the U.S. was going to get it “one way or the other.”
Read More: Exclusive: Denmark’s PM Opens Up About Fiery Trump Call, Greenland, and NATO’s Future
Greenland, a self-governing region of Denmark, straddles strategic air and sea routes in the North Atlantic and has rich deposits of the rare earth minerals needed to make everything from mobile phones to renewable energy technology.
Egede’s Inuit Ataqatigiit (United Inuit) had been widely expected to win the contest, followed by Siumut—two parties which had dominated Greenland’s politics in recent years.
A break from Denmark wasn’t on the ballot, but it was on everyone’s mind. The island of 56,000 people has been on a path toward independence since at least 2009, and the 31 lawmakers elected will shape the island’s future as it debates whether the time has come to declare independence.
Read More: President Trump Reportedly Wants to Buy Greenland. TIME Reported Similar Plans in 1947
Four of the five main parties in the race sought independence, but disagreed on when and how.
Naleraq is the most aggressively pro-independence, while Demokraatit favors a more moderate pace of change.
“What approach to independence will win the day will ultimately depend on if Demokraatit decides to form a coalition government, and if so, with which party,” said Dwayne Menezes, managing director of the Polar Research and Policy Initiative.
Talk of tariffs combined with fears of inflation sent the U.S. stock market tumbling Monday and again on Tuesday, a day of give and take between the United States and Canada with President Donald Trump defending his use of tariffs. VOA White House correspondent Carolyn Presutti explains.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Tiger Woods had a less invasive surgery for a ruptured Achilles tendon on Tuesday, which will keep him out of the Masters and leaves in question whether he can play in any other major championship the rest of the year.
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Woods posted the development on his social media accounts without saying how long he expected to be out or any other details except that the surgery went well.
“As I began to ramp up my own training and practice at home, I felt a sharp pain in my left Achilles, which was deemed to be ruptured,” Woods said.
He said he had a minimally invasive Achilles tendon repair for a ruptured tendon that the doctor said went smoothly. Such surgeries involve smaller incisions, and the recovery time is quicker. But most recoveries take at least a month before someone can even put weight on their foot.
Two-time Masters champion Bernhard Langer had a tear in his Achilles tendon last year that kept him out for three months.
Dr. Charlton Stucken of the Hospital for Special Surgery in West Palm Beach performed the surgery and said in the post, “The surgery went smoothly, and we expect a full recovery.”
The Masters is April 10-13.
Woods set the tournament record last year by making the cut for the 24th time in a row. He missed the cut in the other three majors in 2024. The British Open in July was the last time he played against top competition. He played with his son in the 36-hole PNC Championship in December. Woods also has played his TGL indoor circuit, the 18-hole Seminole Pro-Member last week and a round with President Donald Trump a month ago.
Woods entered the Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines until withdrawing because he was still processing the Feb. 4 death of his mother, Kultida.
Woods had a sixth back surgery last September. He had issues with the Achilles tendon before, injuring the left one from hitting a shot at the Masters with an awkward stance. He also cited the left Achilles tendon in withdrawing from The Players Championship in 2011, when he was out for two months.
Woods badly damaged his right leg and ankle in a February 2021 car crash outside Los Angeles.
WASHINGTON — A union for U.S. Agency for International Development contractors asked a federal judge Tuesday to intervene in any destruction of classified documents after an email ordered staffers to help burn and shred agency records.
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Judge Carl Nichols set a Wednesday morning deadline for the plaintiffs and the government to brief him on the issue. A person familiar with the email who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal verified that it was sent to at least some essential personnel.
It comes as the Trump Administration has been dismantling USAID, cutting off most federal funding and terminating 83% of humanitarian and development programs abroad, pulling all but a few hundred staffers off the job, and shutting down the agency’s Washington headquarters.
Read More: Inside the Chaos, Confusion, and Heartbreak of Trump’s Foreign-Aid Freeze
Lawsuits are mounting over the abrupt shutdown of most U.S. foreign assistance and the targeting of the aid agency. In the latest court challenge, Personal Services Contractor Association, representing thousands of contractors now furloughed or fired from USAID, asked the judge to stop any document destruction to preserve evidence.
The email was sent under the name of Erica Carr—the acting executive secretary at USAID—and bears a USAID logo.
“Thank you for your assistance in clearing our classified safes and personnel documents” at USAID headquarters in Washington, it begins.
It directed staffers to report to work starting Tuesday. “Shred as many documents first,” then stuff remaining classified material into designated bags for burning if the demand on the shredder becomes too great, the email instructed.
Staffers were told to write “secret” on the bag with a marker.
The State Department did not immediately respond to questions about the email, including whether officials were following the legally required procedures in any destruction of documents.
The collection, retention and disposal of classified material and federal records are closely regulated by federal law. Improper handling or disposal can be charged as a crime.
Rep. Gregory Meeks, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, accused the Trump Administration of not complying with federal records law.
“Haphazardly shredding and burning USAID documents and personnel files seems like a great way to get rid of evidence of wrongdoing when you’re illegally dismantling the agency,” Meeks said in a statement.
A group representing USAID workers, the American Foreign Service Association, said in a statement that it feared documents being destroyed could be relevant to the ongoing lawsuits over USAID’s firings and program terminations.
The classified documents at USAID emerged last month when the Trump Administration put the agency’s top two security officials on leave after they refused to grant members of Elon Musk’s government-cutting teams access to classified material.
The Associated Press reported that the classified material included intelligence reports. Kate Miller, who serves on an advisory board for DOGE, said at the time that no classified material was accessed “without proper security clearances.”
The wide firings at USAID have left relatively few staffers with access to agency systems.
—Amiri reported from the United Nations. Associated Press writer Lindsay Whitehurst contributed from Washington.
WASHINGTON — The Education Department plans to lay off more than 1,300 of its employees as part of an effort to halve the organization’s staff—a prelude to President Donald Trump’s plan to dismantle the agency.
Department officials announced the cuts Tuesday, raising questions about the agency’s ability to continue usual operations.
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The Trump Administration had already been whittling the agency’s staff, though buyout offers and the termination of probationary employees. After Tuesday’s layoffs, the Education Department’s staff will sit at roughly half of its previous 4,100, the agency said.
Read More: The Department of Education’s History Shows It is Essential
The layoffs are part of a dramatic downsizing directed by Trump as he moves to reduce the footprint of the federal government. Thousands of jobs are expected to be cut across the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Social Security Administration and other agencies.
The department is also terminating leases on buildings in cities including New York, Boston, Chicago and Cleveland, officials said.
Department officials said it would continue to deliver on its key functions such as the distribution of federal aid to schools, student loan management and oversight of Pell Grants.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon said when she got to the department, she wanted to reduce bloat to be able to send more money to local education authorities.
“So many of the programs are really excellent, so we need to make sure the money goes to the states,” McMahon said in an interview Tuesday on Fox News.
McMahon told employees to brace for profound cuts in a memo issued March 3, the day she was confirmed by the Senate. She said it was the department’s “final mission” to eliminate bureaucratic bloat and turn over the agency’s authority to states.
The department sent an email to employees Tuesday telling them its Washington headquarters and regional offices would be closed Wednesday, with access forbidden, before reopening Thursday. The only reason given for the closures was unspecified “security reasons.”
Trump campaigned on a promise to close the department, saying it had been overtaken by “radicals, zealots and Marxists.” At McMahon’s confirmation hearing, she acknowledged only Congress has the power to abolish the agency but said it might be due for cuts and a reorganization.
Whether the cuts will be felt by America’s students—as Democrats and advocates fear—is yet to be seen. Already there are concerns the Administration’s agenda has pushed aside some of the agency’s most fundamental work, including the enforcement of civil rights for students with disabilities and the management of $1.6 trillion in federal student loans.
McMahon told lawmakers at her hearing that her aim is not to defund core programs, but to make them more efficient.
Even before the layoffs, the Education Department was among the smallest Cabinet-level agencies. Its workforce included 3,100 people in Washington and an additional 1,100 at regional offices across the country, according to a department website.
The department’s workers had faced increasing pressure to quit their jobs since Trump took office, first through a deferred resignation program and then through a $25,000 buyout offer that expired March 3.
Jeanne Allen of the Center for Education Reform, which advocates for charter school expansion, said the cuts were important and necessary.
“Ending incessant federal interference will free up state and local leaders to foster more opportunities to give schools and educators true flexibility and innovation to address the needs of students, wherever they are educated,” Allen said.
Some advocates were skeptical of the department’s claim that its functions would not be affected by the layoffs.
“I don’t see at all how that can be true,” said Roxanne Garza, who was chief of staff in the Office of Postsecondary Education under President Joe Biden.
Much of what the department does, like investigating civil rights complaints and helping families apply for financial aid, is labor intensive, said Garza, who is now director of higher education policy at Education Trust, a research and advocacy organization. “How those things will not be impacted with far fewer staff … I just don’t see it.”
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s threat Tuesday to double his planned tariffs on steel and aluminum from 25% to 50% for Canada led the provincial government of Ontario to suspend its planned surcharges on electricity sold to the United States.
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As a result, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said the U.S. President pulled back on his doubling of steel and aluminum tariffs, even as the federal government still plans to place a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imports starting Wednesday.
Read More: What Are Tariffs and Why Is Trump In Favor of Them?
The drama delivered a win for Trump but also amplified concerns about tariffs that have roiled the stock market and stirred recession risks. Tuesday’s escalation and cooling in the ongoing trade war between the United States and Canada only compounded the rising sense of uncertainty of how Trump’s tariff hikes will affect the economies of both countries.
Trump shocked markets Tuesday morning, saying the increase of the tariffs set to take effect Wednesday was a response to the 25% price hike that Ontario put on electricity sold to the United States.
“I have instructed my Secretary of Commerce to add an ADDITIONAL 25% Tariff, to 50%, on all STEEL and ALUMINUM COMING INTO THE UNITED STATES FROM CANADA, ONE OF THE HIGHEST TARIFFING NATIONS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Tuesday afternoon that U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called him and Ford agreed to remove the surcharge. He said he was confident that the U.S. President would also stand down on his own plans for 50% tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.
“He has to bounce it off the President but I’m pretty confident he will pull back,” Ford said on Trump’s steel and aluminum tariff threat. “By no means are we just going to roll over. What we are going to do is have a constructive conversation.”
After a brutal stock market selloff Monday and further jitters Tuesday, Trump faces increased pressure to show he has a solid plan to grow the economy. So far the President is doubling down on tariffs and can point to Tuesday’s drama as evidence that taxes on imports are a valuable negotiating tool, even if they can generate turmoil in the stock market.
Trump suggested Tuesday that tariffs were critical for changing the U.S. economy, regardless of stock market gyrations.
The U.S. President has given a variety of explanations for his antagonism of Canada. He has said that his separate 25% tariffs on all imports from Canada, some of which are suspended for a month, are about fentanyl smuggling and objections to Canada putting high taxes on dairy imports that penalize U.S. farmers. He also continued to call for Canada to become part of the United States, which has infuriated Canadian leaders.
“The only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State,” Trump posted Tuesday. “This would make all Tariffs, and everything else, totally disappear.”
Tensions between the United States and Canada
Incoming Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said his government will keep tariffs in place until Americans show respect and commit to free trade after Trump threatened historic financial devastation for his country.
Read More: How Canada Got Hooked on the U.S. Economy
Carney, who will be sworn in as Justin Trudeau’s replacement in coming days, said Trump’s latest tariffs are an attack on Canadian workers, families and businesses.
“My government will keep our tariffs on until the Americans show us respect and make credible, reliable commitments to free and fair trade,” Carney said in a statement.
Canadian officials are planning retaliatory tariffs in response to Trump’s specific steel and aluminum tariffs. Those are expected to be announced Wednesday.
Carney was referring to an initial $30 billion Canadian (US$21 billion) worth of retaliatory tariffs that have been applied on items like American orange juice, peanut butter, coffee, appliances, footwear, cosmetics, motorcycles and certain pulp and paper products.
Trump also has targeted Mexico with 25% tariffs because of his dissatisfaction over drug trafficking and illegal immigration, though he suspended the taxes on imports that are compliant with the 2020 USMCA trade pact for one month.
Asked if Mexico feared it could face the same 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum as Canada, President Claudia Sheinbaum, said, “No, we are respectful.”
Trump participated in a question and answer session Tuesday afternoon with the Business Roundtable, a trade association of CEOs that he wooed during the 2024 campaign with the promise of lower corporate tax rates for domestic manufacturers. But his tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China—with plans for more to possibly come on Europe, Brazil, South Korea, pharmaceutical drugs, copper, lumber and computer chips—would amount to a massive tax hike.
The stock market’s vote of no confidence over the past two weeks puts the President in a bind between his enthusiasm for taxing imports and his brand as a politician who understands business based on his own experiences in real estate, media and marketing.
“The tariffs are having a tremendously positive impact—they will have, and they are having.” Trump told the gathering of CEOs, saying the import taxes would cause more factories to relocate to the United States.
Read More: Why Trump’s Threats to Canada Will Continue to Backfire
Worries about a recession are growing
Harvard University economist Larry Summers, President Bill Clinton’s treasury secretary, has put the odds of a recession at 50-50. The investment bank Goldman Sachs revised down its growth forecast for this year to 1.7% from 2.2% previously. It modestly increased its recession probability to 20% “because the White House has the option to pull back policy changes if downside risks begin to look more serious.”
Trump has tried to assure the public that his tariffs would cause a bit of a “transition” to the economy, with the taxes prodding more companies to begin the yearslong process of relocating factories to the United States to avoid the tariffs. But he set off alarms in an interview broadcast Sunday in which he didn’t rule out a possible recession.
The stock market slide continues
The promise of great things ahead did not eliminate anxiety, with the S&P 500 stock index tumbling 2.7% on Monday in an unmistakable Trump slump that has erased the market gains that greeted his victory in November 2024. The S&P 500 index fell roughly 0.8% on Tuesday, paring some of the earlier losses after Ontario backed down on electricity surcharges.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 478 points, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.2%.
Trump has long relied on the stock market as an economic and political gauge to follow, only to look past it as he remains determined so far to impose tariffs. When he won the election last year, he proclaimed that he wanted his term to be considered to have started Nov. 6, 2024, on Election Day, rather than his Jan. 20, 2025, inauguration, so that he could be credited for post-election stock market gains.
Trump also repeatedly warned of an economic freefall if he lost the election.
“If I don’t win you will have a 1929 style depression. Enjoy it,” Trump said at an August rally in Pennsylvania.
—Associated Press writer Fabiola Sanchez contributed to this report from Mexico City. Gillies reported from Toronto.
(NewsNation) — Former United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he has “always been confident” that United States President Donald Trump could get the Ukrainians to sign up to “some sensible things.”
On Tuesday, Ukraine agreed to accept a deal for a temporary ceasefire in its war with Russia in exchange for the U.S. resuming intelligence sharing and security assistance.
“I’ve been one of the tiny minority of European commentators, politicians, Turners, to think that actually there was method in the madness of Donald Trump, and that he did have a plan,” Johnson said on “On Balance” Tuesday.
“I’m a believer in the president, Donald Trump’s ability to get things done,” Johnson said. “When I was Foreign Secretary, I saw how he dealt with Ukraine.”
While Johnson said he “may be proved wrong,” he added that “Trump is the kind of President who has the guts to stand up to Putin.”
“I think he’s in a very strong position to exert leverage on the Russians,” Johnson said.
