The outgoing prime minister of Greenland on Thursday said he would summon party leaders to strengthen their rejection of US President Donald Trump’s plan to annex the island territory, following his most recent comments on the issue.

In an Oval Office news briefing with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte earlier Thursday, the president expressed confidence the US takeover of Greenland “will happen.”

Responding to a question from a journalist about his vision to annex the territory, Trump said, “I think it will happen.”

“We need that for international security. Not just security, international,” he continued.

Rutte did not comment directly on Trump’s statement, saying he did not “want to drag NATO” into the issue.

However, he did acknowledge the importance of securing the Arctic region. “We know things are changing there, and we have to be there.”

Greenland’s prime minister, Mute Egede, hit back at Trump’s comments in a post on Facebook, saying, “The U.S. president has once again aired the thought of annexing us,” Reuters reported.

“Enough is enough,” he added.

Egede said he had requested to summon party leaders to intensify their rejection of Trump’s plan.

Jens-Frederik Nielsen, the leader of the island’s pro-business Demokraatit party – which won Greenland’s closely-watched parliamentary election Tuesday – also rejected the comments.

“Trump’s statement from the US is inappropriate and just shows once again that we must stand together in such situations,” Nielsen wrote on Facebook, according to Reuters.

Greenland’s election this week followed a race dominated both by Trump’s annexation threat and growing calls from residents for independence from Denmark.

Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to annex Greenland, home to about 57,000 people. All dominant parties in Greenland’s parliament have said they do not want the territory to become part of the United States.

Denmark ruled Greenland as a colony until 1953, when the island achieved greater powers of self-governance. Then, in 2009, it gained more powers pertaining to minerals, policing and courts of law. But Denmark still controls security, defense, foreign and monetary policy. Greenland also benefits from Denmark’s European Union and NATO memberships.

Trump’s idea to annex the territory threw an international spotlight onto the territory’s election and has raised questions about its security as the United States, Russia and China vie for influence in the Arctic.

Measles cases in the European region surged last year to reach their highest levels since 1997, the World Health Organization and the UN’s children agency, UNICEF, said Thursday.

An analysis by WHO and UNICEF found the number of measles cases reported in European region reached 127,352 in 2024, double the reported number from the previous year.

Children younger than 5 accounted for 40% of those who contracted measles in the region, it said, adding that half a million children missed their first dose of the measles vaccine in 2023.

“Measles is back, and it’s a wake-up call. Without high vaccination rates, there is no health security,” Dr. Hans P. Kluge, WHO’s regional director for Europe, said in a statement.

The rise comes after a “backsliding in immunization coverage during the pandemic,” the report said. Vaccination rates in numerous countries have yet to return to pre-Covid levels, increasing the risk of further outbreaks, it warned.

The European region accounted for a third of all measles cases globally in 2024, the report said. Immunization coverage for most of the region, it added, has fallen “below the recommended level for herd immunity, which is a vaccination rate of 95 per cent or higher.”

The situation is acute in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Romania where, the report says, less than 80% of eligible children were vaccinated against measles in 2023.

It stresses vaccination remains the “best line of defense against the virus,” saying that a vaccinated person exposed to measles has at least a 97% percent chance of not contracting it.

China is hosting diplomats from Iran and Russia for talks on Tehran’s nuclear program Friday as Beijing aims to position itself as a power broker on an issue seen internationally as a pressing security concern.

China’s Executive Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu will chair a meeting with counterparts from Iran and Russia in the Chinese capital “on the Iranian nuclear issue,” China’s Foreign Ministry announced earlier this week.

The meeting, expected to be attended by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, comes as countries face pressure to find diplomatic solutions – or trigger a return to sanctions – as a key deadline from a 2015 Iran nuclear deal looms.

President Donald Trump, who pulled the United States out of that agreement during his first term in office, is also pushing for a new deal, while European powers have held multiple rounds of talks with Tehran in recent months on the issue.

There is an increasing sense of urgency around finding a diplomatic path to rein in Iran’s nuclear program amid conflict in the Middle East. The United Nations nuclear watchdog warns that Iran has rapidly expanded its stock of what is considered near-bomb-grade uranium. Iran denies it wants a nuclear bomb and insists that its nuclear energy program is “entirely peaceful.”

It’s onto this stage that China now steps with its own diplomatic push, which observers say fits with Beijing’s aim to position itself as an alternative global leader to the US – a goal Chinese leaders see more opportunity to achieve as Trump shakes up foreign policy with his “America First” agenda.

“China is increasingly motivated to deepen its involvement (in the Iran nuclear issue) to safeguard its interests, expand its regional influence and reinforce its image as a responsible global power,” said Tong Zhao, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank in Washington.

By having both Russia and Iran in the room, China “may also aim to highlight the significance of non-Western approaches to resolving global challenges,” he added.

‘Competing to solve the issue’

China has long been an advocate for the 2015 nuclear deal – or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The agreement, originally negotiated between all five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Tehran, restricts Iran’s nuclear program.

Beijing has criticized the US withdrawal from the pact, while opposing American sanctions on Iran. Tehran moved away from its nuclear-related commitments following the US withdrawal.

Under the 2015 deal, countries have until October to trigger a so-called “snapback” of international sanctions on Iran that were lifted under the JCPOA.

“We still hope that we can seize the limited time we have before the termination date in October this year, in order to have a deal, a new deal so that the JCPOA can be maintained,” China’s UN Ambassador Fu Cong told reporters ahead of a special UN Security Council meeting on Iran’s nuclear program on Wednesday.

“Putting maximum pressure on a certain country is not going to achieve the goal,” he said, in a reference to Trump’s approach to isolate Iran economically and diplomatically to stop Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Trump last week told Fox News he had written to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, adding: “there are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily, or you make a deal. I would prefer to make a deal, because I’m not looking to hurt Iran.”

But Iran has signaled in recent days it has no interest in speaking to Trump, with Khamenei criticizing efforts to negotiate from “bully states.”

It’s unclear what form a potential new agreement would take – or how it would be brokered. But not reaching a deal could lead to escalation of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East that’s seen Israel and Iran exchange direct strikes or could see Tehran shift its position on nuclear weapons, observers say.

“Effectively, everyone’s competing to solve this issue,” said Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at the London-based Chatham House think tank. “In the climate of several parallel efforts, this was an opportunity for Russia and China to align and try to put forward their version of what a deal might look like.”

Both Beijing and Moscow are united in “not wanting to see Iran weaponize its nuclear program and trying to diplomatically look for a solution,” but may want a narrower deal focused around Tehran’s nuclear program, while Europe and perhaps the United States would like a broader agreement, according to Vakil.

Iran also sees China and Russia as potential allies in such discussions. Tehran and Moscow have heightened cooperation in recent years as Iranian drones help Russia wage war in Ukraine.

China remains a key economic and diplomatic backer for Iran, but also looks to balance its relationship with Tehran with growing ties to partners like Saudi Arabia. Last week, Russia, China and Iran held what Chinese state media said was their fifth joint naval drill since 2019.

“For Iran, (the meeting in China) is a symbolic opportunity. It can continue to show its alignment with Russia and China … (and) continue to message that it seeks engagement,” Vakil said.

China’s calculus

A show of the trio’s alignment may also benefit Beijing at a time when the Trump administration seeks to undercut Beijing and Moscow’s close ties and push back against what they view as an emerging “axis” between China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.

Russia has also offered to participate in nuclear talks between the US and Iran, a Kremlin spokesperson said, as Moscow-Washington ties warm under Trump.

“The future policy directions of Russia and Iran will significantly influence China’s strategic options in the Middle East and beyond,” said Carnegie Endowments’s Zhao, pointing to this as one reason for Beijing to enhance its communication with Moscow and Tehran on such issues.

“Such coordination also signals solidarity against potential US efforts to sow division among them,” he added.

Beijing has much at stake in the Middle East.

China relies on the region for energy and has worked to deepen its strategic ties there, including with wealthy Gulf states and traditional US allies. Beijing showed its ambitions to become a power player in the region in 2023 when it played a role in brokering a rapprochement between longtime rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia.

China is also likely warily eying the potential that its own firms’ commercial ties to Iran could become entangled in Trump’s pressure tactics in Iran if no deal is reached, observers say.

The meeting in Beijing, however, “is not an indication that China is interested in giving Russia and Iran a free ride here or allowing them to continue to subvert proliferation norms,” said Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, founder of the Bourse and Bazaar Foundation think tank.

“What this reflects is China’s serious concerns that this crisis could accelerate in the Middle East if the Iran nuclear program is not dealt with through negotiations,” he said.

Still, there are limits to Beijing’s capacity to be a broker on this issue even as it looks to amplify its role. It’s a comparatively inexperienced player in a region where the US has long been the dominant power, and despite its economic links to Tehran, observers say it has little sway over the country’s policy.

“The Russians and Iranians understand that this is a relatively new role that China is taking as a mediator for these larger international disputes. There’s a lot of realism about the extent to which China can actually be the architect of these negotiations,” said Batmanghelidj.

But they’re both “very happy to participate in the spectacle of China emerging as this new player,” he said.

Editor’s Note: Warning: This story contains descriptions of rape and sexual violence.

Sixteen-year-old Darkuna watched, terrified, as six gun-wielding men ransacked her home. “For God’s sake, what do you really want?” she cried.

One of the fighters looked directly at the girl and responded: “I want you.”

After stealing the family’s valuables, each of the armed men raped Darkuna and her 18-year-old sister. Their parents, helpless, were forced to watch.

Darkuna is a pseudonym for the teenager, who provided this testimony to the United Nations’ children’s agency UNICEF via a partner organization on the ground in Goma, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Fighting has escalated in the mineral-rich region since the rebel coalition Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC), of which the notorious M23 armed group is a key member, captured key territory earlier this year – including Goma, which as of late January was home to about 3 million people, of whom 1 million were displaced, according to a February Relief Web report.

The conflict has exacerbated what’s been described as an epidemic of rape and sexual violence that aid groups say often victimizes the youngest and most vulnerable.

Their accounts shed light on how rape is a horrifically common aspect of the conflict in the DRC, often committed with impunity against women and girls of all ages.

‘My grandmother could do nothing’

In January, the rampaging AFC rebel coalition stormed Goma and clashed with the Congolese military. Electricity, basic services and water were cut off, while running street battles plunged the city into days of unrelenting violence that claimed some 7,000 lives. The bodies of the dead filled the streets.

“Two men with guns forced their way into our home. My grandmother could do nothing but watch as they raped me. She cried, but she was powerless. We kept it a secret. I didn’t tell anyone. My grandmother was too ashamed and afraid,” Mudaralla’s account reads.

“My grandmother’s biggest fear is that I might be pregnant or have contracted an infection. I don’t know what the future holds.”

Mudaralla’s rape remained a secret until about a month after the assault, when a community outreach worker, affiliated with UNICEF, visited her neighborhood and encouraged her to receive treatment. Countless more girls suffer in silence and, even for those who seek help, medical care and psychological support are scant.

Some 400,000 people were displaced by the outbreak of fighting earlier this year, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR.

In the chaos, hundreds of children were separated from their families, leaving them even more at risk of sexual violence by parties to the conflict, according to UNICEF.

Children raped while fetching water

For families that managed to remain together, there is no safe place to go and little infrastructure to protect them from the armed factions. Aid workers with Save the Children say fetching water from a well is one of the most dangerous activities for children in the conflict zone.

“My two daughters, one aged 15 and the other aged 13, became victims of rape this morning,” a mother’s testimony reads. “When they were going to draw water, six armed men isolated them and raped them in turn. I wanted to intervene, but I had just escaped death after being shot at twice. My daughters are in very critical condition. Please pray for them.”

Another account received by Save the Children details the assault of a young girl who, while drawing water near her home, was captured by armed fighters who tried to force themselves on her. When she resisted, the men shot the girl twice in the back. She survived and received medical treatment.

The AFC rebel group, which is accused of serious human rights violations, continues its rapid advance in the eastern regions of the DRC, most recently claiming control of the strategic city of Bukavu, where aid workers say they are already receiving reports of more child rape victims.

For survivors there is little prospect of justice. While allegations of rape are skyrocketing amid the latest fighting, sexual violence has haunted the DRC through decades of conflict, particularly in its mineral-rich east. In 2024 alone, tens of thousands of children received support after surviving sexual violence or rape, according to Save the Children.

Rape is a weapon of war wielded by all parties to the conflict at a staggering rate, but most cases of sexual violence are never investigated or prosecuted, and very few are even reported, according to the UN.

Rights groups say impunity protects and encourages perpetrators, fueling a cycle of rape and violence that has been accelerated by the surge in fighting.

This year, with the conflict spiraling out of control, aid workers fear a generation of children will be physically and mentally scarred by such attacks.

“Every day, we witness the devastating impact of sexual violence on children – some too young to even understand what has happened to them. We are providing urgent essential care, but no one should remain indifferent,” Toure said.